3 Oct 23

Bumpers Lane, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, Higher Horse Paddock and Lower Horse Paddock

When is a Large White Egret not a Large White Egret? When it's a Cattle Egret with grey legs and always thought the legs were yellow. Ahh but juveniles do, but then they have dark beaks. Perhaps this is an advanced juvenile!!

It was actually a job to keep up with it, as it flew back and forth from the Lower Horse Paddock to The Grove, and then back to the paddock before heading back to the Grove. It was only when it was in the paddock the second time that I realised my mistake.

Other highlights were a steady stream of Swallows with ones and twos heading south, 6 Stonechats in the butterfly reserve, several Chiffchaffs in the reserve and Broadcroft Quarry Lane, plus quite a few Meadow Pipits flying about.


Birds Recorded:
1 Cattle Egret
1 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
20+ Swallow
11 Meadow Pipit
2 Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
6 Stonechat
Blackbird
7+ Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
1 Rook
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

All I can say is what a busy.............

.....................Cattle Egret. Here it is flying from the Lower Horse paddock to The Grove.

And then here it is flying..........

............back to the paddock.

It walked around...........

.................. the paddock...........

........for a good 15 minutes or so.

And was always.........

..............sticking its head up............

................to see what was about.

Eventually it took off and flew back towards The Grove.

More on Cattle Egrets courtesy of the BTO and here

And the Stonechats have arrived for the Autumn. In fact there.....

.........were six birds in total.

And were dotted all over........

...........the reserve.

Here are three of them on the hedges bordering the reserve, by Broadcroft Quarry Lane

Butterflies Recorded:

5 Large White
2 Green-veined White
1 Speckled Wood
3 Red Admiral
1 Comma

A very worn Green-veined White

A Red Admiral on the Blackberries.

Here is another Red Admiral and a Dock Bug for company

And a pristine looking Comma.

Bees Recorded:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)


General Shots:

Has anyone lost a bit of their house!!

Ships Today:

This is the French Ro-Ro Cargo Ship "MN Pelican" on its way from Bilbao (Spain) to Poole. More on this vessel Here.

This looks very much like the warship I noted on............

..................23 Sep 23 above. I'm still non the wiser as to what it is and the flag it is flying under.