Winsford, Cheshire

 A family visit took us up to Cheshire in September and the River Weaver again not many birds about but there were a few other things around.

Buzzard going over,

Red Admiral,

The River Weaver,

Common Hawker (I think!)

Always wanted to get a Dragonfly in flight and finally managed it!

Juvenile Goldfinch,

Speckled Wood,

Common Darter, again I think it is, no expert on Dragonflies,

and a distant Heron.

Lovely Day!

Ladywalk NR

As I've mentioned previously we have recently joined the West Midland Bird Club, so yesterday took us an another trip of exploration and we visited Ladywalk NR, one of a number of reserves in the Tame Valley Wetlands. We had a fabulous afternoon, once we mastered the combination lock to the car park, that took us a while! We went on the circular walk talking in all the hides, the weather was great if a little blowy, but the sun stayed out for the most part.

We had some great sightings, especially of a couple of cuckoos that we of course heard before we found them. But I'll start at the beginning or the imaginatively called 'Hide A'. At this hide there were a number of feeders attracting Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Blue and Great Tits and this wonderful pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers:

We walked from Hide A to the Rudd hide, hearing Cuckoo's along the way and catching a brief glimpse in a large Oak Tree behind the hide. But as we left and headed for the River Walk Hide, one flew past a couple of hundred yards away, and landed behind a bush. We could see it, but it was partially obscured by the bush, I took a few photo's trying to get a focus through the foliage, but to no avail, then a big gust of wind swung the leaves out the way and I managed a couple of shots, one not completely out of focus or obscured:

As we walked on there were butterflies and dragonflies everywhere, absolutely fantatstic, I managed a few photos, that I'll share:
This could be a female Red-eyed Damselfly, but then it might not!!

 On safer ground this is a Comma Butterfly,

 a Gatekeeper Butterfly,

 the Comma again,

 a Red Admiral, if anyone wants to identify the insect flying in feel free!

 A Small White Butterfly,

and a Peacock.

We were having a great time with all the activity, we also saw Grey Wagtail along the river and a pair of Linnet on the pebbles:

The River Walk hide was fantastic with great views over the reserve, we added Green Sandpiper again only visible when the wind blew the reeds out the way. Little Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, a female Mandarin (on the left), sitting alongside a couple of Grey Heron;

There were Cormorants eveywhere;

a few female Teal were about, at least one female Gadwall, Grebes, House Martins skimming through, Lapwing, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, the list goes on!

We finally carried on to the Bittern hide where we had a very late lunch.We carried on to Hide B then back to the car, with of course a few more photos in between.
Little Egret,

 a Small Tortoiseshell Buuterfly,

 another Little Egret and

 a nice view of a Great Crested Grebe.

We loved it!
In the past we have always gone to the RSPB reserve (Middleton) just a few miles along the river, but this was much more enjoyable, so unless something 'special' turns up at Middleton, Ladywalk is the place that we will be visiting in the future.

Calke Abbey NT

On Thursday we arranged to meet our good friends Wendy & Tim at Calke Abbey National Trust in Derbyshire, which is about halfway between us. We had a great socially distanced few hours walking around the estate and having a good catch up.

Probably due to the catching up not much birding was done! With just 21 species being seen. We did add one to the year list for us though taking us to the dizzying heights of 121 so far.
So I'll start with a Butterfly, a Ringlet (at first I thought it was a Meadow Brown, but have just found a good Butterfly ID website, so have corrected this to a Ringlet)

 Juvenile Crow with parent,

 Mallard,

 Roe Deer,

 Chiffchaff,

 number 121, a female Mandarin Duck with three ducklings

 and a Red Admiral.

There weren't many photo opportunities as you can see, but today was all about having a nice time, in a lovely place with some good friends.