Blackcaps, Buzzards and Bee-flies at the patch today

At 8am this morning I was sharing my breakfast with the wood circle Robins.

Today we had egg mayonnaise sandwiches on brown bread....

 

 

One of the Magpies was on the favoured perch near it's nest, putting off any other birds that might consider landing there.....

 

As soon as he flew off though, a Green Woodpecker flew in.....

 

and was then joined by a Stock Dove.....

 

which didn't stay long at all.....which is no surprise. However what was surprising was the fact both Magpies didn't chase off the woodpecker. They both sat in another tree nearby and just watched the Green Woodpecker as it occasionally called or had a preen.....

 

If a Carrion Crow or Jackdaw dares land on that perch, the Magpies see them off straight away, yet it allowed the woodpecker to stay for ages. In fact when I approached the tree from the other direction 30 minutes later, the Green Woodpecker was still there........

 

The Buzzards were very active this morning after yesterday's noticeable absence. I've found a nice log to sit on and watch the nest, but where the birds cannot see me. This also means I cannot get any photos of the nest but that's fine by me as I don't want to disturb the birds at all. From my discreetly distanced log I saw both birds in the nest tree today and when one of them flew off it was hotly pursued by a Carrion Crow........

 

 

There were lots of Blackcaps around this morning. Some have started singing to claim territories. The one I managed to photograph below was too busy picking insects from the blossom to bother about singing. This is the male with the black cap. There were two females also feeding in the same shrub but I couldn't get a decent photo. The females have brown caps.

 

 

and I got to add another new photo to the 'Birds Bums' album.......

 

It's now becoming a regular occurrence for the model car enthusiasts to set up at the edge of the woods on a Sunday morning. From what started with three people and a couple of cars a few weeks ago, has now grown to at least seven people and just as many cars plus the odd drone. I wouldn't mind but the cars are so noisy !! There's the whole of Cranford Park to play with cars, yet this group insist on being right at the edge of the woods, which in turn means I strain to hear any birds calling.

 

I retreated back to the wood circle, where Ian Riley and Rooney found me. Ian contacted me recently to say he often hears owls at the other end of the park, and today he described in more detail where he hears them. So big thanks Ian, great to finally meet you and your lovely dog, Rooney.....

 

 

and as promised Ian, here are a couple of photos of the many Muntjac tracks I saw today.....

 

Although the sun was out for nearly all of the morning, it was still quite chilly and I only found two butterflies out and about.

The lovely Comma......

 

 

and a rather tatty Small Tortoiseshell....

 

I found a new Hoverfly species for the year.....

 

This little striped beauty is Helophilus pendulus.

 

The sun had also bought out quite a few Bee-flies, one of my favourite little critters.

I even managed a photo of one feeding using that long proboscis to get to the nectar. They may look like bees and they are often called the 'bee mimic', but they are completely harmless to humans.

 

Other bits and bobs seen today but not photographed were two Kestrels, a Common Whitethroat (just wait a week or two and my blog post will be full of these), several Goldcrests, two Mistle Thrush, three Song Thrush, many Blackbirds, many calling Chiffchaffs, a skein of eight Canada Geese flying over, many pairs of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits, lots of singing Wrens, five Chaffinches, a possible Hobby but I'm not going to swear to it, lots and lots of Marm.....oops sorry I mean Ring-necked Parakeets (happy now Mum and Kish ?) and a quick blue flash of a Kingfisher as it flew down the River Crane.

 

I also heard a Little Owl and a Nuthatch, but despite looking intensely I couldn't locate either of them.

 

A very pleasant four hour catch up around the park and woods, except for the incessant noise of the model cars. I bumped into another dog walker who swears he saw a Spotted Flycatcher yesterday and who also advised me as to the best places in the park to see the Woodcock. So watch this space !!