Wednesday 25 July 2012

The Ashford One

Lade - 0500hrs - warm, dry, sunny, e2, hot later on - Another trap full of moths this morning, 38 species to be precise with Drinker, Dun-bar, Dagger, Shaded Broad-bar and Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing all new for the year.
Over the pits a trickle of Sand Martins and 2 Yellow Wags overhead.
Ashford - 1400hrs - Had to go into town this afternoon so couldn`t resist another look at The Ashford One on the tower block. Got chatting to a couple of locals (amazing the response you get from Joe Public when standing in a town centre staring up at a building with optics...) one of whom also confirmed that the Eagle Owl had been present, "for some weeks now", and another who said he`d seen the owl flying over the nearby churchyard. Whilst watching the owl it coughed up a pellet that unfortunately fell behind a parapet just below the roost site; a search at the base of the building failed to locate any previous pellets or bits of prey.
Lade Bay - 1700hrs - Back home from sweltering Ashford went for my first swim of the summer in the bay. Whilst floundering around I could see 2 seals further out bobbing up and down, probably trying to work out what all the commotion was about.

                                          Dagger sp

                                          Dun-bar

                                         Shaded Broad-bar

                                 Eagle Owl, prior to disgorging a pellet

                               The Ashford One, looking content after ejecting roughage

ARC - 1900hrs - Finished the day at Screen hide from where 2 Ruffs dropped in amongst 4 Common and one Green Sandpiper, 2 LRPs and a Dunlin. Also, 3 Wigeons, 3 Little Egrets and a Garganey amongst the massed ranks of common ducks, swans and geese. A juv Marsh Harrier received a torrid time from a pair of Herring Gulls as it flew over the lake, losing a wing feather in the process, and hundreds of Starlings, Lapwings and Woodpigeons were feeding on emerging flying ants on the sandy ridges between the track and the pit.

No comments:

Post a Comment