Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
My thanks to Zach (pictured below busy drawing) who reminded us all that there was a partial eclipse of the sun yesterday morning as we sat in the Coffee Stop at Horbury Junction.
I used my binoculars to project this image onto the wall, covering up one lens so as not to project two images.
As you can see, the excitement was all too much for this black Labrador, patiently waiting as its owner drank her coffee.
At this time of year there are juvenile teal around, which look rather like the females but the drakes are in eclipse plumage so they too look very similar. It won’t be until the autumn that they moult into their winter plumage.
It’s warm this afternoon, 24°C, 77°F, and, typically for the summer, there’s not a lot going on. At the Reedbed Hide a family of swans swim by; there are coot dotted about on the lagoon and moorhen probing the vegetation alongside the reedbed.
As they peck at the mud, the young moorhen are currently in dull brown plumage with lighter streaks. They remind me of waders, but without the long, probing bills.
On the Mere, along with the teal, there’s the odd lapwing and a little egret.
It’s a quiet time for the birds but dragonflies are busy, hawking over the paths around and egg-laying in the lagoons.