Seeing red

The Red-necked Grebe we saw last weekend has still be hanging around at Farmoor Reservoir, so as the weather was a bit sunnier on my day off on Thursday, I decided to pop back for another look at it. 

While it didn't come quite as close this time, I'm not about to complain. In the sunlight, it was looking quite stunning in full breeding plumage.

Displaying its small crest

 Joining him were large number of Great Crested Grebes;  the fishing is obviously good! There were also quite a few Swallows zipping around, and several terns - although only distant views of these. Down on the watermeadows by the river, a big mixed flock of geese were feeding; there were a mix of Barnacles, Greylag and Egyptians all present. 

With wall-to-wall sunshine forecast, we decided to visit Brownsea Island again today, for another go at getting Red Squirrels before the canopy blocks most of the light from the forest floor. 

It was an absolutely glorious day; we couldn't have asked for better weather. More of the summer-breeding seabirds have returned since our last visit a couple of weeks ago. We saw Sandwich, Common and Artic Terns - as well as lots of House Martins and Swallows flying in. The Oystercatchers are looking rather dapper at present, too.

Oystercatcher

However, the Red Squirrels were very definitely the #1 target for the day, so we spent most of our time in the woods , armed with lots of hazelnuts! After meandering around for a few hours & staking out a few spots, we'd seen several squirrels, but not had much luck getting any foraging on the ground. Sending Lou ahead to scout proved to be worse than useless, since she merrily made sure she got her own shots ( full-frame, beautifully posed on a mossy tussock, no-less!) before alerting us! 

 Around lunchtime, we struck gold; finding a trio foraging on the ground along the crest of a ridge. Two of them were amazingly tolerant of us, especially once they realised that we were bringers of nutty goodness. Slightly aggravatingly, the most bold & cooperative beastie had a big lump on his nose - so I was mainly focusing on the other. However the manky-nosed one was hard to ignore, since he was practically running up our legs - and investigating our bags! 

Lump on its nose - Its best side

We had a good hour or more with them, so as normal, I was trying to think of different shots. I rather like this cheeky one of him peeking over a mossy hillock.

Back at the pier, the little flock of Turnstones kept me amused while we waited for the ferry. I always like watching these funny little birds scurrying along the strandline.

Turnstone

To finish the day of nicely, this evening Lou saw the first of our local bats hunting in the park.