Fowlmere

About thirty Mallards on the mere. Enough said.

Swifts, Spotted Flycatcher, and Fowlmere

The Swifts (or maybe Swift?) roosted again in the roof last night. What an enigma they are! A Spotted Flycatcher was seen in Great Chesterford (my new place of work.) Fowlmere was quiet. Very quiet.

Fowlmere

Very quiet late afternoon. Three Grey Partridges just outside the reserve, and this Kingfisher was about it.

Fowlmere

Early morning. Nothing  much on the reserve apart from a few Warbler flocks containing Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, and a Whitethroat. Also the usual Turtle Doves were seen (five) and maybe a flyover Yellow Wagtail was heard. Best bird was a Yellow-legged Gull on the field opposite the reserve with about fifty Lesser Black-backed Gulls. There were also about 150 Black-headed Gulls and a similar number of Lapwings.

A Grey Partridge was seen just outside of Foxton.

Swifts

Three Swifts flying around the house late afternoon. Don’t think they are “our” ones though.

Fowlmere

A walk in between the rain early evening. A single Green Sandpiper was on the mere.

Southern Migrant Hawker

One year after dipping the Southern Migrant Hawkers at Hadleigh Country Park in Essex, I returned with Sam. With good weather, we had excellent views of at least two strikingly blue males. One constantly patrolled a small ditch (very close to where I looked last year) and chased of the intruding male (or males?) when close by.

Other dragonflies:
Emperor
Common/Ruddy Darter
Common/Blue Damselfly
Migrant Hawker
Red-eyed Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Emerald Damselfly

I managed a couple of flight shots of the Southern Migrant Hawker:

 

We also both saw a Clouded Yellow and a Marsh Frog as well as a Sparrowhawk and Hobby tussling.

To continue the dragonfly theme, an Emerald Damselfly was seen in the centre of Cambridge during an evening walk with the family along the Cam.