Sunday, July 14, 2019
With talk of a possible influx of two-barred crossbills, I've read up on them. The BWP says food is "mainly conifer seeds, principally of larch and spruce"; apparently the bird's finer bill suits the smaller cones of larch.
It's not always clear-cut. The BWP says the food of the common crossbill is generally spruce, although in England it's mostly pine. I've seen them feeding in both trees - and today, possibly in larch. One male crossbill was among several birds that flew up into larches from rough cleared ground as I approached. Anyway, I'll be scanning all conifers for two-barred from now on!
The birds had been invisible to me as I walked along the track, but the cleared area showed glints of water which probably explains what they were doing on the ground; seed-eating is thirsty work! I didn't see the crossbill(s) again.
Tree pipits were also here, and spotted flycatchers - both adult and juvenile.
It was a beautiful day and the place should have been full of butterflies; but all I could see were one speckled wood, an orange butterfly (unidentified) and several common blues.
A fairly large, striking hoverfly on bramble flowers was unknown to me, but identified later as Myathropa florea. (Later: this species appears on my Taplow Garden list for 2011, so I've seen one before and even have a reasonable photo; but I'd completely forgotten it.)
The only other thing of note that's happened recently is a red squirrel running across the road as I approached the village from the south. I presume these are reintroduced like the ones at nearby Leckmelm, where drivers are asked to be careful. How can you be careful, without slowing down to a walking pace and enraging the drivers behind? Why do they reintroduce them close to main roads?
// posted by Christine @ 3:32 PM 
