27th September 20011
Brickfields LNR
Very misty when I got up this morning....Where is the Sun....I was promised an Indian summer from last night’s weather  forecast !
Plenty of Goldfinches in and around my garden, about 50 were flying around chattering, many were juveniles. They do like the sunflower seed hearts  I put in the birdseed feeder !
As promised the sun came out about mid day, so an early lunch and a stroll over Brickfields, early afternoon (2.00ish). Plenty to see, Great tits,  Blue tits, Robins, Goldfinches. 1 Chiffchaff ,  pair of Chaffinches, 2 Green woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted woodpecker , 1 Sparrowhawk flying over  and a Moorhen on the pond.

As the sun was out and it was nice and warm, low 70’s I suspect, so the Butterflies were out, a few nice Gatekeepers and Speckled Woods seen. Topped off with a nice large Southern Hawker  flying around the pond.

Last Friday  and over the weekend, I was down Walton on the Naze watching  Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins flying over  in small groups bidding farewell  and migrating to even sunnier  climes. Still some about though, but did not see any to day over Brickfields.
Bye for now

 
16th September 2011
BRICKFIELDS
A little walk with the dog this afternoon. A lovely day, I would have thought the temperature was about 70F with a southerly breeze, very nice, went around most of the reserve. Well the very windy conditions that were forecasted last week-end were not too bad here; a few small branches and twigs came down, along with a lot of acorns. So no damage.
 A Sparrowhawk went over the rooftops of Limerick Gardens just before lunchtime, but I never saw it after that. Plenty of Blue tits and Goldfinches around and two House Martins went over heading South, won’t be long before they have all gone. A few butterflies still around, especially on a day like this, mainly Red Admirals, Large Whites and Speckled Woods. Did not see any Dragonflies over the pond today. Two pairs of Mallards and a single young Moorhen on the pond. The single juvenile Moorhen appears to be the only one around, but is managing well and self sufficient with feeding, wonder what happened to its parents?.I know they bred there, but no sign of them in the last few weeks. I know there was plenty of rainfall in August over the country, however  the pond is very low and some of the planted trees need a good drink. I think the  rain missed us!
Bye for now


 
Visit to Brickfields yesterday (Saturday ) had little tidy up around the pond area and cleared the branches from out of the pond,along with the usual rubbish that get's thrown in. Two new sightings to add to the list of species a rather large Southern Hawker ( Dragonfly) and a Garden Warbler . Pictures below
They are common species, The Southern Hawker will be about to October and they like ponds with a good bit of vegetation, so no wonder it likes our pond. The Garden Warbler is a summer visitor, I know they have been around a few months, but I have been missing the usual walk abouts and not been able to update the website. No sooner have I recorded them, their be off.
The trouble with undertaking a bit of work over Brickfields, is I have to keep stopping to look at the wildlife, so what should take about 1/2hr work takes an hour !
Also other Birds viewed, several Goldfinches, including a few juveniles with them. A group of Goldfinches are known as a 'Charm' and aptly named to, one of my favourate birds. Lot's of Chaffinches, Blue tits and Great tits as well. When I arrived, just before 9:00am,  Four Mallards were on the pond, three Males and a female, that's the most I've seen together this year. Oh and a Grey Squirrel kept me company after he had a drink in the pond,went up a tree and watched me !
On Thursday night I did a Powerpoint presentation of Brickfields Nature reserve at the Cranham Ratepayers ward meeting. It went down well ( I think) I enjoyed doing it myself, nice people.  I hope  it wetted their appitite to go over there, a few people were surprised what wildlife there is on their doorstep. Well if you know a good story, share it with others,don't keep to yourself ! Thers's enough bad news about.
Looks like we are going to get some bad weather over tonight and tomorrow - high winds ! So stay safe. For Birdwatchers it a time for some unusal species to get blown inland. Only last week a Manx Shearwater turned up on the Thames at Rainham, right outside the R.S.P.B
Bye for now.
 
Back again...two months without a computer, what a nightmare, even a borrowed Laptop gave up and died!  No emails, printer stopped working, could not update the site, so cleared off down the family caravan for nearly a month (of August). Can’t get a signal down there anyway. How did I manage in the past without a computer! Well it’s in the past, so I am going to delete it.

Did manage to visit Brickfields, but in July/ August is a quite time for Bird watching, the usual birds still about. Some have bred; Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers have done well, a few Juveniles about. A few more noisy Jays as well. The weather has not been very kind to the Butterflies as there was more rain in August then in February!

It‘s nice to see more people using Brickfields and the children have been on holiday. But the down side is the amount of litter left around increases and why do people (mainly kids) keep throwing branches back into the pond, along with bottles and cans. Never mind, little things please little minds. I’ll endeavour to keep it clear.

My highlight, birdwatching wise, was a trip out with some of my birding mates was on the 18th July. We went up the country to Rutland Waters and viewed a pair of nesting Ospreys, three young were sitting in the nest demanding food! Fanatic day watching an Adult hunt over the water and come back with a large trout and carrying it back like a torpedo to the nest. Later in the day we watched a Kingfisher catching much smaller tiddlers and carrying the food back to a nest somewhere. The little and large of the fisheaters.

On the 22nd August a trip over to Rainham RSBP reserve and viewed a juvenile Cuckoo for sometime, less then 20yds on a post right in front of me. The closest I have ever been to one!

So the next thing on my agenda – I have a PowerPoint presentation to undertake this Thursday 8th at The Cranham Community Centre in Marlborough Gardens at 7:45pm this is for the Ward meeting of the local Ratepayers Association.  I think the meeting is open to the public and you don’t have to be member.

I’ll let you know how I got on.....Bye for now