Month: May 2018

A visit to some friends yesterday turned out in unexpected fashion.  Despite being about 72 miles upriver from the Humber Estuary, there has been a Common Seal there for the last few weeks and it has featured on news reports across the world.  The afternoon was spent watching the sea life rescue services attempt to catch it and return it to the sea.  There is, or at least was, a lot of fish in this bit of river, so the seal was having none of it and remains at large.

This Swallow has a bit of growing to do before it’s as smart as its parents.

Banded Demoiselle

Common Seal, a long way from home.

Everyone’s out to get me.

Strid Woods is glorious at this time of year, but sadly worse for the lack of Wood Warblers (good job we found one in the New Forest).

Of a few singing Pied Flycatchers, one posed well for us, and Karen found a Dipper sitting quietly and close under a bridge.

Pied Flycatcher

Dipper

A trip to the Yorkshire coast without 500 pictures of Gannets?  Apparently it is possible if you spend all your time at Flamborough instead of Bempton Cliffs.  You can get some smart birds too.

A superb Rosy Starling got the day off to a good start.

It’s not just clowning around being a Puffin. There’s some serious digging needed as well.

Off for a bath.

This Temminck’s Stint showed incredibly well

Second time lucky found a male Dotterel, which eventually had a walk around and showed itself off.

Back to birds today with a trip to Dungeness.  There won’t be many days’ birding in the UK when a Hoopoe doesn’t get into the top three birds, but it was a rubbish distant view, whereas the Kentish Plover (still too distant for a good photo), Bittern and Great Crested Grebes, were excellent.

(These photos are better viewed at full resolution, so click on View full size below the picture.)

The Bittern’s Green Cross Code: look right…

… look left…

…and cross

A Reed Warbler played peekaboo.

All fluffed out: this Great Crested Grebe must want to impress someone.

What no birds?  An afternoon out butterfly hunting on Saturday, yielded some nice butterflies and a bit more besides.

Duke of Burgundy

Green Hairstreak

Dingy Skipper

Broad-bodied Chaser

Bee Fly

An evening trip out to see some Turtle Doves looked to have been in vain, but one turned up as we were about to give up and gave us some cracking views.  No purring, but it would have been drowned out by the Nightingale belting out from the bush behind us.

Sitting still in good light for a digiscoped shot

A rare case of a digiscoped shot with a zoomed telescope being worthwhile

Wood Warblers aren’t doing well in the south.  Not long ago they bred regularly in Sussex, but now we have to go to the New Forest to find them and they’re getting harder there too.  Fortunately we had one today, and it was reasonably cooperative.  There are a few pictures from last weekend too.

This fox is easier to photograph ove rthe fence than when it’s on our lawn

Whimbrel during a Selsey seawatch (spot the Bar-tailed Godwit)

Bar-tailed Godwit

Wood Warbler, singing continuously

Another sunny day and an afternoon that started well with a new bird for the house list, in the form of a Honey Buzzard on its way north.  No photos of that, but a Bee Fly was laying eggs by the pond.  A trip to Pulborough yielded the hoped for Tawny Owl chicks, Nightingale and Adders.

Bee Fly

Nightingale

Adders tucked in for the evening

One of two Tawny Owl Chicks

Adult Tawny Owl