Bradshaw - Oats Royd (Tuesday) & I.O.W Saturday 11th July 2015. St. Helens Area

Oats Royd Tuesday 14:10 - 15:30.

An hour out and about, I nearly missed the rain but not quite.
It's very overgrown now by the ponds and there was not much going on.
On my arrival at O.R. I'm fairly sure that a Sparrowhawk flew up into the lower tree branches , not to be seen again. At least 4 Wren inc. 2 juv were near the bottom of the track by the walled gap stile. A juv. Moorhen was on the pond. A nice surprise was the sighting of a Goldcrest (long time no see for me). A few singing Chiffchaff , 7 Swallow, 2 Meadow Pipit and a Fallow Deer kept me company for a while.
Also Greenfinch nr. the top pond and 3 Linnet seen on my way back through Bradshaw.

Sparrowhawk in the distance ????

Sparrowhawk ??? cropped

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I.O.W. 11th July 2015.

It was another beautiful sunny day and a leisurely walk taking in 2 bird reserves.

The Isle of Wight is an absolute gem of a place if you like walking.

Everywhere we went there were well signed footpaths, and of course you can follow the coastal path to your hearts content.

We left our campsite at St. Helens (£13 per night) and walked down Duver Lane to the sea. There is a wooden causeway across Old Mill Ponds where Little Egret was feeding.

From here we went north around Priory Bay, Seaview Bay, Puckpool Point and arrived at Ryde.
Med. Gull seen on the trek was a nice surprise.

Along the way we visited the Hersey Nature Reserve where Shelduck had has some breeding success.

Here I had a lifer in the guise of a Greenshank feeding in the shallow water near the hide.

???