Saturday showers gave me an opportunity to have a bit of a lie in, while Sunday's forecast promised a high probability of it being dry, at least early doors. I set up at Balscote Quarry by 5.30am and found there was a chill in the air and opted to wear gloves - it was nice and calm but the ground and seat were wet - it must have rained in the night. I was welcomed by the ever present singing willow warbler and by a red kite cruising over.
From the off I could see there were two yellow wagtails in the bowl, feeding separately, but in the same area. These yellow wags would ocassionally disappear, either one or both, but this is not unusual as the gorse hides a large expanse of water's edge and much of an island. The coot and their young could be seen on the back pool as could a single little grebe. Five jackdaws loitered around the owl box but didn't enter - once these departed, four stock doves followed suit. A flock of nine lesser black-backed gulls passed over but didn't stop. From 5.40am the sand martins were on the wing (up to 10), perhaps knowing that the rain was due to arrive by lunchtime, they fed without a pause.
A calling magpie directed my attention to a fox making it's way along the far bank. I grabbed the waterproof cover for my camera lens and used it to allow me to sit on the bench without getting a wet bum, thereby reducing my visibility. The fox quartered the ground that has been exposed by the water receding over the last couple of months.
The fox paused and the magpie dropped onto the ground beside, giving it an earful. A couple of the geese took to the land and made for the fox - later Iain Brown noted that he'd seen other birds do much the same, presumably to keep track of exactly where the fox was. Neither the fox nor the magpie were in the slightest bit fazed by the other getting close. I think that the fox had intended making it's way round to the side I was but it had spotted me and possibly thought twice about it.
Five flocks of racing pigeons passed south of the reserve heading NW, the leading group being only ½km in the lead. On a couple of ocassions I tried to take another photo of the willow warbler but each time I set up with a clear view (and when it was within 10ft of then ground) it would return to the top of it's favourite tree and sing it's heart out. To my left a roe deer appeared and foraged, gradually getting more distant. My seated position helped me to stay largely out of view - shortly after, a pair of muntjac crossed between the front and back pools; the male muntjac showing some interesting behaviour, licking the females's neck - it takes all sorts!
I watched the linnets, whitethroat, dunnock all flying around the gorse and managed to misidentify one of the common whitethroat as a lesser - corrected when I looked at the photos later. All very pleasant and made more enjoyable by the range and volume of birdsong.
Iain Brown dropped in and we had a nice chat; he'd been to a dawn chorus event and had noted an interesting list of species, best of which was a cuckoo - it had finished with breakfast from a self-sufficient small-holding. There wasn't much else to add to our count and so he eventually made his way back home having started the dawn chorus event at 4.30am! The talk of breakfast made me hungry but before I left, a final shot at the willow warbler presented itself - I was able to get a clear view, rattling off a few photos.
After an early lunch the rain hadn't yet arrived and so I thought I'd go and see if I could find a spotted flycatcher. Parking is close to where the birds traditionally show, hence a quick dash back to the car is possible. After only a 10 minutes wait I saw a spoted flycatcher land in the tree to the left of the cottage joined to the church and raised my camera ... just in time for the bird to take to the wing and over a hedge. Fortunately it swooped back and landed on a severely pruned bush in the middle of the lawn. I was able to snap off half a dozen photos before it flew high into the trees. I lost it for a while but ocassionally picked it out feeding high in the canopy - not quite the experience I had last year but I got a photo and happily watched the bird on and off for an hour or so.
There were ocassional drops of rain but this didn't come to much - it served to drive swifts, house martin and swallows through. A couple of buzzard and blackcap also put in an appearance.
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