Mallards Pike and New Fancy - Forest of Dean

Went to the New Fancy viewpoint and Mallards Pike today with Katie from http://lifeintheforestofdean.blogspot.com/, it was pouring with rain the whole time so we didn't see much. I did spot a herd of approx 10 fallow deer grazing near the entrance to Mallards pike car park which we stalked for a while and kept catching glimpses such as the one bellow but they soon lost us in the undergrowth.

Fallow Deer - dama dama

Another Mandarin Male - Aix galericulata
Saw this Goldfinch using my feeders this morning, never had them visit before and took this shot rather quickly through a leaded window hence the poor quality.

Cannop and woodland ramblings

Went to Cannop ponds and walked towards Worrall Hill today with Katie from http://lifeintheforestofdean.blogspot.com/. We went looking for Boar or Deer but saw neither though we did see lots of other species and Blackcaps which I've not seen in about 16 years so I was pretty chuffed.

Mute Swan - Cob
Mute Swan Pen on nest, I was about 10 foot away from her, I only took a couple of photos as I didn't want to disturb her too much but to be honest she didn't seem that worried about us.

Fungus
Fungus
Nuthatch with a Blue tit about to land in the background

Nuthatch

Male and female Mandarin's

Male Mandarin

Male Mandarin

Male Mandarin
Coot, which was either really tall or stood on something in the middle of the ponds lol
Coot again

Chiffchaff

Male Blackcap

Sunny morning at Cannop Ponds

The weather was brilliant again this morning so I went to Cannop for a stroll through the woods and around the ponds. I saw plenty of Mallards and a few Mandarin Ducks but only one swan who was too far away to take photos of.

Sleepy Male Mandarin Duck
Male and Female Mandarin Ducks

Mandarin Duck - Male

Tadpoles and Butterflies

Went for a walk this morning with my friend on the look out for some deer or boar, sadly we didn't see any. We did however see a number of butterflies and possibly a Goshawk which I was too slow to get a picture of or a decent enough look at to positively identify. We also saw some tadpoles which were in a ditch by the side of the path.

Comma - Polygonia c-album

Peacock - Inachis io
Tadpoles

Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus

We have been seeing a Kestrel around the field by our house recently but I've not had the opportunity to photograph him/her until today. Got a few shots of it hunting for insects in the field. All of them were taken through a window but I think they have turned out OK.