Woods Mill, Sussex – Kestrel chicks and other creatures

I had time to get over to Woods Mill nature reserve today. It's the headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust and is where I got a series of shots of kestrel chicks a couple of years ago. A report of the SWT site told me it was time for a return visit.

It didn't take long for an adult kestrel to appear and deposit a vole (?) for the hungry young mouths.

Feeding over, I moved around the edge of the field for a different view.

The red cables you can see just inside the nest box are part of a webcam the Trust has installed. Some excellent video of the young kestrels from inside the box can be seen on their blog.

I stuck around the area of the nest for about an hour, but it seems the adults were taking a relaxed view of feeding, and there was little further activity to see. So I headed around to the lake, where a heron was lurking in the reeds.

There were plenty of small birds about, including whitethroats and fledgling tits (blue and great).

I also added a meadow brown butterfly to this year's sightings.

And there were clouds of damselflies… and lots of mating activity.

My favourite though was a lone beautiful demoiselle damselfly (female), perched on a leaf fairly late in the day.

Considering that I left the house in thick fog, it turned out to be a fine afternoon!
Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, except the demoiselles which were taken with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  2. Words

    14 Jun 2011

    Darko, I just took a look. It's a great time of year for web cams 😀

  3. SittingFox

    14 Jun 2011

    That whitethroat looks like it's taking a rest on that branch!

  4. Words

    15 Jun 2011

    Adele, it does look rather comfortable, but in truth only a fleeting moment!

  5. Words

    15 Jun 2011

    Thanks Erwin!

  6. Wulpen

    19 Oct 2012

    Nice set of Pict

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