Saturday 25 August 2012

August Bank Holiday 2012 - Autumn's coming!!

Driving down past Dart's Farm I pulled over quickly into the Bridge Inn car park as I had just seen what I suspected to be a large herd of Curlew, and I was nearly right... It turned out to be a large selection of Curlews AND Black Tailed Godwits, and many of the males were in their russet breeding plumage.

At Bowling Green Marsh there were plenty of Canada Geese, along with the odd Little Grebe and Godwit flying in. At the observation platform there were plenty of waders including smaller bodied waders, but the light was so bad they were all rendered anonymous by the silhouetting effect the light was creating. There was also a large Black Swan making it's way across towards the quay.




It was well and truly molting season with these scraggly Blackbird and Robin making appearances -






There were also many signs of Autumn creeping in, not least the abundance of burgeoning blackberries.

Back at the Jess's parents house I confirmed a suspected Garden Warbler that I had seen before going out, and also a female Blackcap. The warbler was chowing down on berries, and according to the BTO website, they switch to berries from primarily insects in early autumn to prepare for their migration journeys. Get it while you can little warbler!