Green-winged Orchid

Green-winged Orchid, originally uploaded by WildPhotoMonkey.

This is a test message entry etc

Watching Autumn

Watching Autumn, originally uploaded by WildPhotoMonkey.

A walk around Penshurst with Helen in fine, mild weather gave some autumnal views.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Bough Beech Reservoir, Kent 061109 3

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Bough Beech Reservoir, Kent 061109 3, originally uploaded by WildPhotoMonkey.

On the feeder at Bough Beech.

Monster Rock

IMG_2345, originally uploaded by WildPhotoMonkey.

This is a monster shaped rock seen at High Rocks

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

First Damselfly

The first damselfly species for the pond was seen yesterday in the form af a male Large Red Damselfly. Also noted were a number of small Newtpoles and 2 Froglets. Speckled Wood and Small White butterflies were also evident.

Birds & Bees

Bee species

Orange Ladybird

The sunny weekend brought out the insects with a smart Cream-spot Ladybird and a Bee with a long tongue. Butterflies were scare still and no dragonflies as yet.

Newts

Female

Male

Our newts are great at the moment, providing lots of interest as they court each other and fight. We've also seen them laying their eggs. Tawny Owl was heard again last night.

Nesting Magpies

A pair of Magpies have built a nest in the ivy overlooking the patio and are very agressively seeing off other birds and squirrels. It was fun to see their antics in breaking off twigs and collecting moss from the lawn.

Magpie's nesting

Hoots Mon

At 2230hrs last night Josh alerted me to a Tawny Owl hooting loudly from the wood in the back garden. Only the 2nd record for the garden, the last being in November 2008.

Great Northern Diver and Newts in the Pond

On Sunday stopped off at Bough Beech Reservoir and finally managed to see the juvenile Great Northern Diver that has been present since November last year. This was a new bird for me at BB and my first for 2 years.

In the garden pond, 2 newts were seen and the introduced frog-spawn is started to hatch. Whilst in the garden the first Harlequin Ladybird for the year was found.

Parakeets at Knole

Weekend family stroll at Knole Park to see the deer found 6 Ring-necked Parakeets around their normal nesting area, otherwise it was fairly devoid of birds. Plenty of deer though.

Winter Wonderland

An early morning drive down to Dungeness saw -10C registering on the car thermometer.
First stop was Northpoint GPs where the small patch of unfrozen water was largely occupied by Mute Swans and a few wildfowl but a lone Barnacle Goose was also picked out.

At the Dungeness RSPB Reserve, Burrow's Pit had huge numbers of wildfowl in unfrozen patches with 30+ Pintail and a Goldeneye.

The New Excavations sported a showy Slavonian Grebe which caught a frog and swallowed it whole, 2 female Red-crested Pochards and 4 Little Grebes.

The Christmas Dell Hide turned up Black-necked Grebe and a redhead Smew and the nature trail around to Hooker's Pit yielded a Water Rail swimming in an unfrozen ditch and a superb Woodcock flushed up and did 3 circuits around our heads as the sunshine came out.

New Diggings had 2 areas of unfrozen and amongst the wildfowl were 4 Goosanders, several Smew (incl a drake), several Goldeneye and a lone Ruddy Duck.Other highlights were 3 Stonechats, 3 Marsh Harriers, 2 Foxes (one walking around on the ice) and 20+ Little Grebe from Dengemarsh Hide.

The Swan herd at Lydd revealed one Whooper Swan amongst 40+ Bewick's whilst at Scotney GPs a drake Red-crested Pochard and 6 Scaup were found on the Kent side.

On the way home at Jurys Gap the tide was in, sea was calm and we picked out at least one distant Red-throated Diver.

Leaving the area at 1pm the temperature had crept up to -0.5C which felt positively balmy.

Wierton Waxwings

The six Waxwings were soon located in the small orchard at Wierton Hill feeding on apples amongst the large numbers of Fieldfares, Blackbirds and a couple of Redwings. These Scandanavian winter visitors were my first for 4 years and with patience I got some satisfying pictures in the afternoon sunshine as they fed in the orchard and sat in the trees. When disturbed they would raise their crests before flying with a pleasant trilling call.

Waxwings

New Year's Day at Bough Beech

Got the year off to a start with a trip to Bough Beech Reservoir and was pleased to connect with the female Bearded Tit which had been present from 5th Nov last year. I managed to get some pictures of this smart individual which represented my 128th species for the reservoir.

Bearded Tit (female)

On the feeders I saw one each of Brambling, Marsh Tit and Coal Tit and on the reservoir itself 6 Goosanders, a Ruddy Duck (only my 2nd ever at this site) and a pair of Mandarins checked in but the reported Great Northern Diver failed to show.

Goosanders

Brambling

Mallard on Ice

Jumping Jay

Jay

The first Jay for 3 months was seen in the garden today and I managed to get a record shot as it jumped around on the fence in the corner of the garden.

Goosanders

Robin

Shoveler

Goosander

After finishing early at work I was able to check into Bough Beech Reservoir on the way home and was soon watching 3 drakes and 1 redhead Goosander as they drifted out of the bushes. The off-white underparts of the drakes were very obvious in the gloom and I was able to get a few shots before they flew off.
Unfortunately the Great Northern Diver failed to materialise and the reported Bearded Tit fialed to show by the Oast house. Also although the feeders were active with plenty of birds there was no sign of any Bramblings. Just before leaving, I was pleased to see a small group of Shovelers and get some flight shots as I failed to see any of these on my visit at the weekend.

Still Waters

With the mild weather, I found a few Ramshorn Snails and a Waterboatman in the pond. Not much I know, but this time of year you look for any sign of life to assure yourself Spring is on the way.

Bough Beech and Later

Got down to BB yesterday, unfortunately no sign of the recent Goosanders or Great Northern Diver, there was quite a bit of disturbance what with the local ringing group in residence and fisherman and sailing boats on the water, highlights were few:

Mandarin – 3
Common Gull – 30+
Herring Gull
Lapwing – 44
Kestrel
Green Woodpecker
Nuthatch
Coal Tit

Saw 5 Ring-necked Parakeets on the way to work – in the trees at Merton Golf Course, above the car at traffic-lights, seen through the sunroof.

Also saw a Sparrowhawk drift pass the window at work whilst in a meeting being mobbed by a crow. Always face a window when in meetings - you never know what is going to fly past.

Nice but Blowy

Sunny stroll around Wimbledon Park at lunchtime produced nothing of note - a few Long-tailed Tits, a Dunnock, Goldfinches and Goldcrests heard and the usual Coots, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Swans, etc on the lake. No sign of the Grey Wagtail on the stream.
There were a lot of Black-headed Gulls benefiting from the bread throwing tourists and at least 6 Common Gulls amongst them. Nice to get out after days of grey and rain.