Trittiford Update

Has been dier at Trittiford lately apart from lot's of Herons and Long-tailed Tits there hasn't been anything else, there was one Chiffchaff the other day, oh and let's not forget the Bullfinch lol don't get me wrong I love the common birds but it does get a bit disheartening fingers crossed the Little Egrets will be back soon and some Pochards will be nice :) and you never know maybe something a bit rarer lol I can dream.
Took the chance on the last couple of trips to photograph the Heron and a Terrapin and a Lesser black-backed Gull.
Over the summer we had young Geese and Mallards and there was a large number of Willow Warblers, no cygnets this year as there's still only one Swan :(
I thought the Great crested Grebes would breed but no luck, don't even think the Coots were successful this year. There's always next year let's hope for a better year.

Lesser black-backed gull 27/09/16

Grey Heron 14/09/16

Grey Heron 14/09/16

Terrapin 14/09/16

Gosling from June

Willow Warbler from April

Alvecote Pools - Warwickshire

We headed to Alvecote Pools today in the hope to see the Black-tailed Godwit, we couldn't see him at first but then Dave spotted him standing in the water on Teal Pool such stunning birds he flew before we could get any photos but was lovely seeing him and seeing him in flight too.
Also we saw Two Great White Egrets the one on Teal Pool standing tall, just amazing birds got a record shot and a video so I was happy and was a lovely sunny morning, Alvecote is very pretty :)
We then headed to Edison road near Ladywalk to see what we could find but not much about saw some lovely Red Admiral Butterflies and was a nice walk picking up Autumn leafs to photograph are Moths on later, I love this time of year such pretty colors :)

Merveille du Jour

I was very excited to put the Moth Trap on after being in Wales I had missed my Moths but wasn't expecting anything as the winds were due to get up and was cooler.
Woke up early about half five and went to check trap took one glance and saw this most amazing moth ever bright green and amazingly marked, Merveille du Jour, what a beautiful name for a beautiful moth, potted him and went running upstairs with him, Dave said you have something I said nothing and just passed him the moth, bless him he was still sleepy and looked at it then his eyes just lit up and said Merveille du Jour lol the both of us was like children on xmas day, my first ever one and only Dave's second ever a dream moth and one that every Mother wants, the excitement was just untrue couldn't wait to photograph him later :)
Also had quite a few Lunar Underwings, getting them every night now also pretty moths :) and another nice Angle Shades on the sunday crispy leaf moth can never see too many of these moths, we had Eleven of them in the trap a couple of weeks ago such stunning moths :)
You would think that the day couldn't get any better than this lol We went for a walk over Seeswood and Dave spotted something big then he said Red Underwing and there it was perched on the fence with it's red wings showing , wow another beautiful moth and lifer and one I had always wanted was over the moon, it flew before I could get a photo I was just happy to see it.
Also another bonus today was at Whittleford Park, we saw a Water Vole swimming in the River my first ever one, another very exciting moment.
What a day, Totally a Dream day to think we were going to go to Cornwall but the birds that were there had gone and bad winds forecast we never went but even though they would of been lovely birds, I got just as much if not more enjoyment out of the day we had, love my moths so so much, Merveille du Jour has become my Fav Moth, I still love all the moths I have seen but this moth is something special :)

Merveille du Jour

Merveille du Jour

Merveille du Jour

Angle Shades

Lunar Underwing

Lunar Underwing

Wales Road Trip

Headed to Mid Wales today to visit family and a break, of course there had to be some birds involved lol couldn't go to Wales and not look at birds lol
Started of on my way there and did a little detour to Ynylas National Nature Reserve a beautiful place with the sea and lot's of Sand Dunes, had a walk round and had two Wheatear which was nice, and could hear Oystercatchers but to distant to see, unfortunately I didn't have long as I had to go and see family and the tide was coming in fast and my car was parked on the beach lol
Also over my trip I spent a lot of time at Aberaeron Harbour I just love this place lot's of memories of mine and Dads trips when I was young.
Took the chance to photograph the Gulls I have never known such tame Gulls they were at your feet and even got Macro shots, amazing, there was a couple of Gulls that looked different thought they may have been Yellow-legged Gulls the one was a proper look a like but sent all the photos to Birder Tim Marlow who is amazing with his Gulls and he said they were all Herring and explained in great detail :) I was still over the moon hadn't got many photos before of Herring Gulls and the Juveniles are so Pretty also had what I think is a 2nd summer coming into 3rd winter Herring Gull.
And a massive bonus on the Harbour was a Rock Pipit such pretty birds I wasn't a hundred percent sure I knew it looked different to Meadow Pipit but I guess I always go for the most common which is Meadow Pipit but of course somewhere like wales Rock Pipit is quite common, Dave confirmed it was a Rock Pipit when I got home, was over the moon a year tick and lovely views my first ever photos of one :)
The Highlight of my Trip was the Grey Seals at Cwmtydu beach, the first time I have seen Seals out of water, just an amazing experience watching the adult troddle over the pebbles to get to the young that were in the Cave, could only see the one young and he had his face hiding lol Will never forget this day, best day :)

Had been a lovely trip just love wales feel at home, beautiful scenery and love the lifestyle :)
Three days not long enough lol

Ynyslas National Nature Reserve

Wheatear

Grey Seal

Grey Seal

Grey Seal

Grey Seal- Pup

Herring Gull- Adult

Rock Pipit

Jackdaw

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull- Juvenile

Herring Gull - 2nd Summer coming into 2nd Winter

Aberaeron Harbour

Aberaeron Harbour

Curlew

Mid Wales

Knot - Draycote Water

Headed to Draycote Water today a Little Stint had been showing well there so we were hoping it would still be there but no sign we walked the long walk round Draycote had 10 Dunlin, 7 Ringed Plover. Little Egrets which is always nice then a lovely reward was a Knot such stunning wading birds something about them very pretty and allowed nice close up views and pics :) A very enjoyable day.

Baird's Sandpiper- Upton Warren

On Sunday we decided to head to Upton Warren for the Baird's Sandpiper we waited till afternoon as the sun would be better and had been showing better in the afternoon.
We saw the Baird's straightaway of course it took me awhile to get onto it but someone was kind enough to  let me have a look in the scope :) Then I found him in my Bins had nice views but still far to distant for my camera but got some record shots and was a lifer for me, a lovely bird and nice to see but does look similar to other waders to me but has got longer wings.
Also had nice views of Curlew's :)