Brockholes Nature Reserve LWT - 10th April 2011

BROCKHOLES VISITORS CENTRE

With the weather being the best it has been all year I decided to head down to Brockholes in hope of getting some passing migrants and re-build my collection of phototgraphs after loosing my hard drive recently. Though I heard a Chiffcaff there was no sign of any other warblers though Willow, Blackcap and Whitethroat have all been reported so far this year. No1 Pit had 2 Ringed Plover and 2 Common Sandpiper on the spits as well as Greater Black Backed Gull, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing and Greylag. I deceided to take a walk down to the Ribble in the attempt of getting some Sand Martin shots with not much luck. The one below was about the best of the 50+ I took of the c50 Sand Martins that were present. No sign of any Wheatear though a few have been reported but there were several Reed Bunting males and Tree Sparrow as well as a male Kestrel mobbing a Carion crow.
ABOVE SAND MARTIN BELOW MALE REED BUNTING
ABOVE TREE SPARROW BELOW MALE KESTREL
Butterflies are starting to appear more frequently with Small White, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock, the latter being very aggressive towards the other species.
PEACOCK

2 comments:

Stuart Price said...

Good work to get a Sand Martin BIF, something I have yet to manage........

Derek Gallagher said...

Thanks Stu. I just sat on the bank of the ribble shooting and hoping for the best, will probably spend a little more time trying to get them this summer.