Loch of the Lowes (June)

 We also managed a day at Loch of the Lowes to see what progress the two Osprey chicks were making. It's always a joy to visit this Scottish Wildlife Trust site you never know what will turn up, apart from the Ospreys of course 😃

So I will start with a wee video....

We must have watched the Great Spotted Woodpecker family feeding their youngsters for a good half an hour.

So what about the Ospreys:

They are doing well and by the time you read this they will have fledged. (Actually I know they have as we have visited again since this visit and the young female had already fledged and the male was helicoptering and has since branched out)

There were also a couple of Great Crested Grebe nests, both sitting on eggs,

with the males busy finding his partner some food.

On the far shore some Fallow Deer put in an appearance:

Now some more Woodpecker shots:

Then the others:

Another great day out! We recommend it!

Back to Normal? - A visit to Kinver Canal and the River Stour

We decided on the 25 minute drive to Kinver for a walk on Monday and kept our fingers crossed for a Kingfisher or anything else for that matter.

The weather was better than expected and the canal looked lovely:

Just a few yards to the right is the River Stour, so the canal path makes it's way between the two, although the river does diverge away in places as rivers do.
After about 15 minutes we were due for a coffee and sat on the first convenient bench overlooking the canal, up to this point we had already seen a female Blackcap and Goldfinch, plus some more common birds. As we sat Tina noticed some movement just 4 or 5 feet from us and spotted this female Mallard in the narrow strip between the path and the waters edge sitting on eggs!

 Further down the canal where Horse Bridge Lane comes down to the canal, there are always some Helmeted Guinea Fowl (domesticated of course), in the gardens of the large house next to the bridge usually along with plenty of Mallard. The ducks aren't daft, they know there's going to be plenty of food put out for the Guinea Fowl.

 Further on at Whittington Lock we came across our first Grey Wagtail of the year, although on close inspection you can see it's in a sorry state, but still collecting food for its young.

 We normally see Goldcrest around here but not today. Although we did see a very busy pair of Nuthatch from the bridge over the river.

Further on there were a couple of Canada Geese families on the opposite side of the canal.

 Plus one of the two or three Buzzards of the day being attacked by a crow.

There were a number of butterflies about but only this Tortoiseshell let me take a photo.

At our usual turning point at the Staffordshire/Worcestershire border, where there's a convenient bench in the shade no less, for another coffee of course, we watched another Nuthatch. Last year we saw Treecreepers here tending a nest, but not this time sadly.

On the return, the some of the distant sheep had come down to the river for a drink

 and one of the many Chiffchaff that we had heard but not seen put in an a brief appearance.

It was a lovely few hours strolling gently in the sunshine, 23 species of bird were seen, adding a pair of Jays near the end of the walk. I will go into a bit of a rant now about cyclists; there were many more on the towpath then we are used to seeing and obviously a lot of them don't normally do this and have no consideration for people on foot, so if walking along canals beware idiots cycling way too fast and giving you no warning! So tempted to knock them into the canal!!

Bitten at Middleton!

Sorry, not a Bittern, just bitten to death by midges and mossies as we walked through the trees up to the main part of the reserve. Now two days later our arms are covered in lumps and bumps that itch like ......... (add your own word here)

But hey ho, that's what you get for going birding in the summer!

It's over a year since we have been to RSPB Middleton, we just find it such a pain to get to from where we live, the M6/M42 is always a nightmare, but otherwise we would have to go through Birmingham also not a fun prospect.

But go we did, but was it worth it? Well shall we say it was a lovely walk... The walk from the car park through the woods was very quiet, although we did see our first Swallows for ages around the farm and if you like rats then the feeders by the boardwalk are excellent. Am I painting a grim picture, I don't mean too but that's what you get for visiting in August.

Once we arrived at the main part of the reserve over the canal bridge,

the mossies didn't bother us as much, we chose to walk anti-clockwise around the lagoons up along the river, but the same as our last visit the reserve seems very overgrown and despite there being lots of benches and places to sit the views are across the reserve are non-existent, even the path has been diverted away from the river, so not much to see.

Eventually we got to the hide with only seeing Mallard, Gadwall, Swan, Coot, Moorhen and Starlings on the way, plus a few butterflies and lots of Damselfly and Dragonfly. Oh and a ton of Canada Geese on the river.

Sorry I forgot the RSPB want us to call the hide 'The Lookout', not a hide. Here we had more success, with Green Sandpiper and Snipe showing well, along with a Little Egret, Teal, tons of Gadwall, Lapwing, Great Crested Grebe and Mute Swans. There was no sign of the reported Garganey, although on twitter today there are now 5!
3 Snipe,

 Little Egret

 and Green Sandpiper.

We stayed a while in the hide, sorry lookout, this added a Great White Egret that flew along in the distance, which we caught up with at the screen at the Jubilee Wetlands.

So not much else to add other than some distant Egyptian Geese and a Rabbit!

We won't rush back to Middleton, its 23 miles of arduous driving, even tried a different route back, ignoring the satnav, which was better, but still not great. I think we will leave it until the winter when the vegetation has died down and the winter waterfowl hopefully turn up. Might even see a mini murmuration.

A Meander Around the Isle of Wight

We have just returned from a short get away to the Isle of Wight, I have never been before although Tina has albeit some 40 years ago! Things have changed....

We started off with a day out to the Needles, somewhere that I'd always wanted to see, unfortunately the weather wasn't great, very dull and a bit windy, but we still had a good time and a nice walk, with a Stonechat,

and a Spitfire showing well!!

I din't have the big lens on the camera when it flew by and we were also in the Cafe at the Old Battery, so it was taken through a mucky window, looking in to a mucky sky!

A bit of sunshine to show off the Needles would have been nice.

We also saw Raven, Kestrel, Skylark add Meadow Pipit as we walked along with the coloured sands/rocks.

The next day the weather wasn't good, the morning started very wet, so we went to the National Trust reserve at Newtown as it reportedly has three hides, it in fact only has two the woodland hide is apparently now inaccessible. But we mad the best of it and went the first hide about a 20 minute walk from the car park, past some lovely Dahlias!

The hide no 1, viewed from hide no 2!

The top deck of the hide is accessed by a ladder, so beware! We went up for hopefully better views in the murk. So we did get some good sightings, from the reserve; Turnstone, Grey Plover, Godwit, Little Egret, Redshank, Dunlin, Brent Goose, Grey Heron, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Cormorant and Ringed Plover.

As we walked to hide 2, (as seen from hide 1!)

a Buzzard showed itself,

as well as Collared Dove and the usual hedgerow suspects.

Our last full day took us in lovely sunshine to the RSPB Reserve, Brading Marshes. Not a lot was seen to be honest, but it was a lovely walk.

After a few hours on the reserve, which I think is definitely a work in progress, paths a too far from the water to see much and a distinct lack of viewpoints/benches, we drove into Bembridge and had a great very late lunch at the 'Best Dressed Crab' cafe. The seafood sandwiches were superb! Plus a bit of Birdwatching from the Cafe/Houseboat:

We followed this with a drive upto Culver Downs and had the pleasure of watching a Peregrine attacking two Ravens, It was so good I forgot to take a photo!

So that was our brief sojourn down to the Isle of Wight!