Wednesday morning saw me sitting outside at 7.30am waiting for the Hares to appear. Did they ? Nope, but with the reserve empty except for me, the House Martins came down to pick at the grit and allow me to get some lovely close up photos with my longer auto focus lens....
The five young Swallows that were still in the nest above the entrance to the two man hide overlooking the Teal Pond had fledged, but there were still two coming in to the hide to rest up every now and then......
It was another glorious day with blue skies and very little wind.
There are a few species of butterfly at Caerlaverock at the moment - I saw Green-veined Whites, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, and lots of Red Admirals including the one below.....
and of course my eyes were drawn to every hoverfly I saw.......
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| ID not confirmed but this could be either Megasyrphus or a Syrphus sp. |
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| Helophilus pendulas - female |
From the Camplbell hide I had distant views of a Common Buzzard, a pair of Ravens and this hovering Kestrel....
and perched right outside the same hide, almost hidden by the long grass, was this beautiful Chiffchaff....
Several times during my stay I saw Roe Deer but they were generally in the distant and not easily photographed. This one below was in the long grass in Tower Field and just viewable from the Avenue Tower. I managed to fire off a few shots before she disappeared from view but not before I realised she had a fawn with her. Unfortunately my only photo of the fawn was completely out of focus but it looked a good size and was bouncing around behind its mother. Fawns, or kids, are born late May to June so this one was only a couple of months old.....
I know House Sparrows are pretty boring to some, but they are not as common as they used to be and today, like yesterday, I didn't tire of watching them. The photo below reminds me of the saying 'Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil'.......
One of the Tree Sparrows along the Peter Scott trail gave me an outstanding photo opportunity.....
and then posed next to a rather tatty House Sparrow for a nice comparison shot.....
Some of the male Chaffinches are looking far from tatty. This beautifully coloured male was also along the Peter Scott trail.....
I had heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker yesterday but didn't see it, but today it came down to the feeders. This is a juvenile with the all red cap. And from studying GS Woodpeckers a few years ago, I can say for certain this is a female. The red cap is very forward on the head and she will lose all of the red feathers which will be replaced by black feathers. Young male's red caps are a little more set back and they retain the red feathers on their napes as adults.....
In the Corner Field I counted 131 Lapwings at 9am from the Silver & Gold Hide.
By 2pm there were just 34.....
This lovely male Blackcap was in the Wildlife Garden.....
From the Folly Pond Hide early evening I watched a family of Pied Wagtails on the nearest waters edge. Across the pond there was another adult with three juveniles....
My evening was completed with the regular Badgers visiting at 9.30pm. I will never tire of the memories of seeing these stunning mammals just feet away from me.......
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| iPhone photo through glass |
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| iPhone photo through glass |
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| iPhone photo through glass |
Another wonderful wildlife day at Caerlaverock, and by now I'm wondering why I only booked a three night stay.........
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