A Few From The Last Couple of Days

So, as promised (threatened) Mrs PB and myself went to Dyrham Park on Saturday, a National Trust property, near Bath. The house wasn't open, but we expected that, and as it has acres of rolling grounds and is a deer park too, no house didn't perturb us. The weather was set to be ok, fairly high chance of a shower in the morning, but clearing later.

View from the highest point of the Park, the Severn Bridge into Welsh Wales, 

Given the size of the estate it was considerably lacking (we thought) in wildlife, and for me to have only taken 30 pictures sums up the dearth.... I would have taken 31 but a green woodpecker yaffled off before I could get the camera up lol.

The only other birds were a few corvids and a good few of these little chaps, but I'm not sure what they are

Despite the lack of wildlife, and the massive shower we got caught in, it was a lovely place for a walk, and when the sun was out the views towards Wales were spectacular.

Then, on to today. After seeing Nige's pics of the Kingie he saw, I decided to head back to the "old" river to see what was about. (I also had to collect Mrs PB's prescription and somehow she's remained dispensing from the original doctors surgery (mutter mumble grumble don'tgetmestarted grrrr)

First up, probably the shaggiest heron I've seen

Followed swiftly by one of two Little Egrets that were plying their trade

I happened to meet my Dad walking their dog so had a natter with him, and as we were talking a bit of movement on the far bank caught my eye... some sort of thrush I think

Hard to believe that a few weeks ago it would have been under a foot or more of water!

As I wandered (not lonely as a cloud, there were a fair few people about) I spotted a juvenile Moorhen midstream

Along the river are several parts that have been cut away to provide a path to the bank, and down one of these paths a young robin was very inquisitive (pic uncropped, he was that close!)

Across the river were several Willowchaffblers (I'm going for willow warblers, due to colouring and pale-ish legs)

And you wouldn't believe the amount of time I had to wait to get the bird peering through the leaves...

An auburn blackbird flew across the river a perched atop a tree... It looked much more orangey with the sun shining directly on to it

Good news, there are still nine cygnets with Mum and Dad both in attendance too.... it's quite a strange noise, 11 swans dabbling like that!

I walked back along the river, and caught one of the Egrets having a snack

And then rinsing his mouth out!

There were a couple of Crows feeding from the river....

And I noticed a photobomber extraordinaire as I clicked.... one of my favourites, a grey wagtail

And then as I headed back to the car, a strange bug/critter sort of flew (or maybe jumped, but I only saw the landing part) and landed a few feet away....so any idea's for an ID would be gratefully received :o)

See Linda.....I can do a post with less than 50 pictures Stuck out tongue closed eyes lol

Stay safe All

  • Heeeheee Laughing
    So nice to see some bright refreshing pics PB...nothing but rain rain and more rain here!
    Wee waggie is a cracker.
  • Great stuff again PB, bug looks possible for Caddisfly!
  • Nice set of pics PB especially the Robin and Waggie. Been to Dirham few years back on a sojourn through West Country nice grounds. Your swan pic could be interesting with some suitable cropping to just show some of their neck shapes? Now I'm allegedly "free" to roam we're going to our local nt Ickworth Park for a walk on Thurs but wont bother with camera as its mainly Corvids resident in the parkland.
  • Wonderful set of species and photos PB and as you say you saw plenty despite the house not open to visitors. Agree with your Willow Warbler looking at legs, colouring and longer supercilium and wondering if the first one is a Spotted Flycatcher but that is purely a wilder guess and you'll have to rely on more expert IDs. Your Grey Wagtail is a male as it has signs of a black bib. Cygnets look as if they are slurping up green soup LOL

  • Thank you all :o)
    Wendy, I did wonder, but it looked too bulky
    Tony, I just looked up Ickworth, looks like a nice walk on the website, by a pond and a bit of river...always worth taking the camera :o)
    Hazel...whoop whoop at WW lol, and if you're right, I think that's my first flycatchers :o)
  • Nice stuff, PB. I've not seen an Egret for a while. Shame you didn't get a Kingie. My first thoughts on the first one were Spotted Flycatcher, too, so the same as Hazy.
  • Thanks Nige. I did see a kingie, but it sort of exploded from a bush and had crossed the river and got behind one of the trees over there by the time my brain said "camera up" lol
  • Great set of photos PB. Loved that Heron looking so chunky and of course the baby Robin too. Amazing to see the swans and cygnets altogether like that, makes a grand pic.
    Seeing the Severn Bridge reminded me of back in the 70's or 80's when we had been to a Wedding in Wiltshire and took the wrong turn and ended up crossing the bridge, my husband was not too fond of heights and boy was that high:-)
  • No wonder your Caddisfly looked odd & bulky PB ... was being naughty with another!!  Only just realised why it had two heads! Lol
    Here's a good ID guide if you've got an hour to spare ... www.naturespot.org.uk/.../19486
    but gonna be difficult to work out your species owing to the 'unusual pose'

  • Your right PB NT Ickworth Park does have a pond and a bit of a river, The following illustrate the current reality so don't always go by a web site page. So I only took my phone.

    The pond/lake with Water Lillys but no flowers looking across to the walled garden.

    Similar view with the estate church and the buildings rotunda under scaffolding for roof repairs.

    This is the River Linnet running through the estate, not the raging torrent it is in...... well I'm not sure as never seen it more than 3/4cms deep. Sadly never seen a dipper along here in Suffolk 

    Same spot looking the other direction of green trickle

    There were a few Ruddy Darters about and a very distant Kestrel. As well as the Linnet we also have a River Lark about 5 mls away. It has a few great walks with mixed farming about the estate and great coffee.

    Speaking of farming these have just been weaned from their mothers and move into a separate field..........oh where's the mint sauce