A late update

I haven't really updated the blog as often as I should, I've missed writing about some of the things I've seen so I'll make this a catch-up...

Sunday the 27th of September,

I went on a 'flickrmeet' walk around Galleywood Common with a couple of other photographers that are members of the Chelmsford group on Flickr. We spent time chasing insects on the heath, including a lot of Small Coppers, we wandered around looking for fungi and found some big examples at the Napoleonic defences and I managed to get very close to a Kestrel and got some photos.

Kestrel at Galleywood Common

Thursday the 8th of October,

I walked along the river Chelmer from Barnes Mill to Sandford Lock and looped back through Manor Farm. Just to the west of Barnes Mill I found a group of Little Grebes and by moving slowly and keeping low and in cover I managed to get close enough to take some photographs. Beautiful little birds but very, very timid! Further along the river I saw quite a lot of Green Woodpeckers and in one of the horse paddocks two were feeding on the ground, along with at least 15-20 Meadow Pipits! Not many birdwatchers get excited about meadow pipits but I think they're great and it's only the second time I've seen them around Chelmsford and I'd never seen so many in one place either. At Sandford Lock the ivy on Bundocks Bridge was covered with wasps, flies, Red Admiral butterflies and Hornets - I finally got a photograph of a Hornet and a Red Admiral (a butterfly I'd been trying to get a photo of all year!). On Manor Farm I spotted a Kingfisher, a Reed Warbler and a Great Crested Grebe in winter plumage on the reservoir near the farm buildings, along with a number of Coots.

Little Grebe on the River Chelmer

Monday, 12th of October,

Went into Chelmsford and spent some time in Central Park. Sitting on a bench next to the lake I watched a Mapgie only 10-15 feet away and was also watching a Kingfisher as it flew from tree to tree around the lake and fished from different spots around the lake. In the afternoon I went into the garden and found a female Sparrowhawk sitting in the conifers, just her yellow eyes showing through the branches. She flew up onto the roof and I rushed inside to get my camera and managed to take some photographs of her. She has an injury to her eye but otherwise looked in good condition, hopefully she is still able to hunt (I've found very recent kill signs in the garden but whether there are other hawks here I don't know). I've seen her harrying Starlings overhead a couple of times this week after that and even saw her go into a stoop high overhead, but she disappeared behind the house so I couldn't see what she was hunting.

Female Sparrowhawk on my roof

Thursday the 15th of October,

I went for a walk to Asda in Chelmer Village in the afternoon, heading across the Baddow Meads and along the river Chelmer to the horse paddock where I'd seen the Meadow Pipits where I headed away from the river and followed the footpath beside the paddock to Sandford Mill Road and on to Asda. Not very notable in itself but crossing the Baddow Meads to the river I saw my very first Stonechat, perching high on top of the weeds on the north side of the river just by the dogleg where I saw the Little Grebes just a week earlier. I'd been wanting to see a Stonechat for ages and had been intending to go to Two Tree Island near Southend to see them... as it was I found one just a short walk from my house, which was very cool indeed.