Once more with feeling

Our last visit to the World Championships was the last for Usain Bolt and Mo Farah too.  If you had told us that Mo wouldn’t win and that Bolt would pull up after 10 m we’d have thought that it was going to be a massive disappointment.  Far from it.   The British silver in the women’s 4×100 relay picked us up immediately after Mo’s disappointment, and Bolt’s injury was missed in the excitement and jubilation of a British gold, so we had a fantastic night.  It’s a shame to see the greatest of them all go out so cruelly, though – a great champion and a great character.

London Larks

Another evening at the World Championships, near the women’s pole vault, which was excellent.  On Monday we went round the excellent Pink Floyd exhibition and then we actually found a new bird for the year.

Shots, fast women and getting hammered

It’s been quiet birdwise of late, but things have started moving a bit recently, so obviously we’re doing something else for the  next two weeks.  Our first visit to the World Athletics Championships was excellent (better than the photos).

Look away now

More excitement in the form of another new moth for the house list, and this one, a Dark Arches, is rather more photogenic.  One of the young Green Woodpeckers finally sat in front of the camera; not brilliantly, but it does a neat levitation trick.

Yet more danger in the garden, as one of our many young House Sparrows became lunch for our female Sparrowhawk.  If you’re upset by the sight of an animal suffering in the talons of another don’t look at the last picture, but what did you think Sparrowhawks eat, asparagus?

Lazy weekend

Still not much going on bird-wise, although we do have a family of Green Woodpeckers, which are noisy, but hiding from the camera.  There has been a changing of the guard with the moths, with the excitement of a new moth for the house list, Haworth’s Pug, a real stunner…

Spineless

The birding’s a bit quiet at the moment, so here’s a selection of invertebrates from the garden over a weekend that held 10 species of  butterfly

Nature red in tooth and claw

The garden’s getting to be a dangerous place at the moment.  On Friday I had one of my best birding moments when I witnessed a Peregrine take a Starling out of the air, and today I almost trod on a Grass Snake trying to swallow a large frog.  Unfortunately for the snake, the disturbance allowed its dinner to escape.  The frog didn’t croak, although it was bleeding from some tooth marks in its back, and the snake legged it.

Dragons

A walk around the New Forest while Karen went riding was limited bird-wise, with a Spotted Flycatcher and a couple of Redstarts being the highlights, although camera shy.

These Keeled Skimmers were a bit more cooperative.

Stampede

It’s been a bit quiet in the moth trap of late, but the hot weather has fixed that.  Four species of Hawkmoth: two Eyed, one Privet, one Lime (not frequent here) and a herd of six Elephants.

Pondlife

It’s getting busy in the pond!