THE SARA MOREIRA PARK.

The mornings are chilly, but after lunch it begins to warm up. It's sunny, with blue skies, and a very pleasant temperature. My daughter Eva and I decided to go by car to the park, enjoy some fresh air and catch up with our news whilst we walked around the park and hopefully I would see something of interest to photograph. It's a large park, with many paths, It is named after Sara Moreira, a 300 metre Portuguese athlete from Santo Tirso. We had a long walk, and  I took lots of photographs.      

 

We made our way to the water to see if there were any ducks.

We had to pass between these two trees to get nearer the water.

The leaves on these trees had changed to a yellowy green colour.

A tree with spectacular autumn coloured leaves. I kept looking upwards at the leaves, to see if I could see any birds

Although I could hear birdsong, there was not a bird in sight.

Unfortunately the ground was waterlogged, so we couldn't get as near as I would have liked, so we had to turn around and take another path higher up.

These  tiny plants growing in the water,caught my attention.

This one looks like a small tree.

When Eva said, "There's a bird on the stone," I said "It's probably a smaller stone," because although it turned out to be a Common Sandpiper, it was motionless and asleep. I did take a photo, but it was not in focus, and then it moved, and flew away. This is the best I could do. 

Nearer the falls the water gushed onto the stones. I watched for a while, enjoying the scene.

The Wall Brown was sunbathing on a large stone, as was the

A Red Admiral, which I had seen quite a lot of in the garden, but I was slightly discouraged that I hadn't seen any birds in the park.

 

Then I heard a rustling of leaves, and finally saw some Warblers. 

They flitted about, hardly keeping still for a second.

They were definitely attracted to something in these trees.

They were right at the top of the tree Canopy, and difficult to get a clear image. They were quite small birds with a pale yellow breast

Could they be Willow Warblers, or a Wood Warblers, they both have the distinctive eye brow stripe and yellow breast. I have been reliably informed that my first inkling was correct.

  

This is a photo I took on the farm, It looks darker in colour, but very similar in other ways.

This is a better shot, of what I now know is a Willow Warbler.

As we were leaving, I took a quick shot of some ducks passing by

A day well spent, and we made plans to make a return visit.