Stoke Park Estate is only half a mile from our home but I have not been able to get here for over 6 months. Today was forecast to be over 30 degrees celsius so this morning we decided to have a walk there before it was too hot.
It’s a very pretty spot but since the 1970s it has had a motorway (one of the main arterial roads leading into the city of Bristol) passing through it. It’s quite amazing that it has been spared house building which has been quite intense on this side of the city.
The main attraction were swifts (and one house martin) which were swooping down on the pond for drinks. There were plenty of other birds to see such as Canada geese and their goslings, moorhens, coots, greenfinch, goldfinch, blackbirds, wrens , chiffchaff and a green woodpecker but the challenge for me (ambitiously with only a 70-200 lens) were the hirundines. I was pleased to photograph my first damselflies of the season too.
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 
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