Not much to report at the moment in spite of, or perhaps because of the recent unseasonably mild weather bringing neither sun nor wind. More significantly, I was ill with a virus so for a couple of days, I couldn't see much more than the trees out the back and the jackdaws reeling around in the sky.
Before that I did get out for one Sunday bike ride and, while the bird life was scarce, I was surprised to catch sight of a red admiral skirting a hedgerow north of Ovington. It didn't hang around but I stopped to notice some ivy still in flower and took a quick look to see if there were any ivy bees. There weren't but I did spot a couple of honey bees amongst a number of imitators. This was on 27th October in a temperature of no more than 11C and is probably as late as I've seen a butterfly that wasn't disturbed from hibernation. It wouldn't totally surprise me though if one or two turn up later this week if the sun gets out.
The purpose of this trip was actually a visit to Whittle Dene Reservoirs in pursuit of the little owl, a bird I've still never seen, and a possible chance viewing of an osprey. It wasn't to be as the conditions at the reservoirs were much windier so it wasn't a day to be hanging around long. I did have a bit of a look at the ducks etc. on the water and thought I might have spotted a great northern diver at distance. But when it came nearer it was quite clearly a great crested grebe already pretty much in its winter outfit.
One piece of success was that I finally managed to catch the nuthatch that has been making coy visits to the caged grain feeder.
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| Nuthatch |
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