Good old Flaming June. The sun had brought out my first Common Blue Damselflies of the year – flying over Birchwood Pool at Moore Nature Reserve. One male had already succeeded in ‘hooking-up’ with a female – no longer in distress!Three species of Grebe on the water too: a single Great Crested, numerous Little and four, possibly five rather secretive and discreet Black-necked. The Gull count is still considerable, although mostly immature birds remain now and the majority of those were Lesser-black Backed.
A quick look at the Pumphouse Pool produced another two Great Crested Grebes and little else, so I decided to stroll over to Upper Moss Side.
The rough grassland on the left of Lapwing Lane was the focus of two hunting local raptors – a hovering Kestrel and a more cumbersome Common Buzzard attempting to perform the same feat. Hungry mouths to feed?
Nearing the hide overlooking Norton Marsh I noticed a large white blob standing at the entrance to one of the nest boxes. Through my bins I could just make out one, probably two Barn Owls! They must have been desperate to get outside into the breeze as conditions inside the box must have resembled the Black Hole of Calcutta!
The fields surrounding the box were looking absolutely glorious too – teeming with wild flowers including the magnificent Northern Marsh Orchid (I think?).
I had a really good look around the reserve for Spotted Flycatcher today, but I failed to turn up any birds despite the habitat looking suitable. I have also noticed that the sightings page contains no historical records for this species either. I wonder when/if they were recorded?
Until later.
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