Bamber Bridge Birder: reed bunting

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

JACOB SHEEP @ STAGS LODGE, CUERDEN VALLEY PARK

I remembered the camera this morning but didn't have any of the oppertunities as I did walking the dogs yesterday. The feeders have been like a motorway service station today with constant visits from Dunock, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Starling, Blue & Great Tit.

An hour down at Brockholes Nature Reserve before sundown just to stretch the legs and get a little fresh air brought several species of Thrush at the top end of the reserve. On the feeders were Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Robbin, Wren, Blackbird, Blue & Great Tit and Reed Bunting. The pools were frozen over appart from a small section of number 1 where a mix of Gulls, Mallard and a few Coot took advantage of the open water.