Tags
Barn Swallows, Birds at Ninewells Wood, Birds in Ninewells wood, Ninewells Wood, Species seen at Catbrook Wood
I had a day up at the woods this Wednesday….. 24th June… It was a hot day, sunny and probably almost 30 degrees in the shade. I spent most of my time in the shade with my camera at the ready. Not surprisingly there was not much about, all the sensible wildlife was keeping cool in the shade like me.
The main interest was a family of Swallows. I think there were about 5 young ones and the two adults. The adults have long forked tails unlike the young ones. Two of the youngsters were slightly more advanced in that they were flying a lot and generally chased along behind their parents expecting to be fed in mid air. This happened sometimes and I tried to photograph it but it all happened too quick for me.
The other three youngsters choose to sit on a dead branch high up and wait. Sometimes there were four and just once the fith one wanted a rest and joined them. Mostly just the three. They kept a close eye out for any approaching parent with a mouthful of insects. At their approach they would flutter their wings open their mouths as wide as the could, utter little squeaks and hope to be fed.
Usually this happend in a flash and the adult would pass the food across to the youngster with out even landing. I did get some shots of this. Occasionally the adult would land next to the youngster and feed them that way.
They young Swallows sat on the branch in the hot sun for probably over an hour before moving off to another location.During this time I took a couple of hundred shots. Here are a few of them.
Also around were a pair of Buzzards, Blackbirds, Wrens and I heard both Willow Warblers and Chiffchafs. Not much else.
