Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Two little egrets on the flood this afternoon were engaged in constant aggro. The one in the foreground took exception to the presence of the second bird, which was possibly a juvenile. Three dunlin and at least five snipe were also on the muddy margins, a red kite stood at the far end possibly having a bath, while on the very quiet wetlands a wigeon was becalmed in a sea of algae.
Back home, wasps and greenbottles were tucking into this dead (bank?) vole on the road. I wonder if I ran this over as I backed out of the garage. Oh dear. Wouldn't it be more squashed, though? And I've never seen one here before. Perhaps a cat caught it "down the bottom", brought it up here, and then discarded it.
This morning: Greger was painting the hall window, and as I hoovered the curtain on the patio (just to be out of doors on such a gorgeous day) I was serenaded by a willow warbler singing in the silver birch by the car park. I got a record shot.
The tree seemed full of warblers; later a chiffchaff also sang, although there's no way of knowing whether it was a migrant or a local (at least one pair of chiffchaffs nested nearby). It's the third autumn that I've noticed willow warblers in the tree. The silver birch has grown to maturity since we've lived here; it has also held redpolls, goldcrests, and firecrests as well as the commoner birds, and is my favourite tree on the estate.
It's now 8.30pm. I've just been out in the garden and it's an absolutely beautiful evening. No doubt it'll be another good night for migration.
// posted by Christine @ 12:33 PM 
