30 July - Visit to Lavender Farm at Faulkland
Took a drive out to the Lavender Farm at Faulkland. I'd recommend it for butterflies - there were loads including: Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, Clouded Yellow, Small Copper, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Comma, Meadow Brown plus a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. There were also thousands of bees so if you like lavender honey it's well worth a visit.
I've added a few of my better pictures to my galleries, I'm particularly pleased to get a reasonable shot of the hawkmoth and the Clouded Yellow. What do you think?
24th July
Christine found a dead House Martin on the lawn this morning. It looked perfect but when I examined and photographed it, it appeared to have very little fat on its body.
July holiday
First posting for a while. We've been on holiday to Tenerife and had a great relaxing time. Managed to do a little birding, catching up with Blue Chaffinch and both Laurel and Bolle's Pigeon. Will add the best pictures to the galleries. Photographed a dragonfly and a few butterflies but haven't identified what they are yet.
We stayed at La Quinta Park, Santa Ursula, which was about 7km from Puerto de la Cruz. Trips out and about included:
- a drive up to Teide and then down to the Las Lajas picnic site
- a visit to the Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz
- a drive into the Anaga as far as Pico Del Ingles
We found Puerto a more interesting town than the resorts we've visited in the south before. The plaza's are loverly place to sit and watch the world go by. They even turn up interesting birds - a Monk Parakeet appeared when we were enjoying a cooling drink.
The picture below, of La Quinta Park, was taken from Puerto de la Cruz using the digital end of the zoom on my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7. Not bad considering it's 7km away!
29th May
At last some sunshine! Well in between showers anyway. Walked along the river from Bradford on Avon to Avoncliffe today and enjoyed a couple of pints at the Cross Guns with Jane & Angus. Saw a Kingfisher dart passed. A Grey Heron perched in a dead tree, a Scarce Chaser was perched on vegetation and several Banded Demoiselle fluttered by. It's good to be out. A couple of pictures added to the galleries
27 May
After a very wet week restricting bird watching, the garden pond produced most interest between showers. Three Broad-bodied Chaser emerged. One had emerged but was trying unsuccessfully to pull itself clear of the water. I assume heavy rain had washed it back into the pond. It could not break the surface tension holding on to its fresh wings. We helped this out carefully and also separated its wings. A fresh BB Chaser was seen sheltering in nearby vegetation the next day and subsequently disappeared.
Another larva was seen climbing out of the pond and later found on a nearby plant pot after successfully emerging, seemingly in good shape. A photo of this one and the empty exuvia is in the gallery. However, 2 days later and its still perched on the same plant. Will the weather improve enough for it to fly?
A third chaser climbed our brick BBQ trying to shelter from the wind and rain. Its empty exuvia was still attached to its body and although I carefully removed this, its wings look too damaged for it to survive.
7 May Skomer
Visited the island for the day and had wonderful views of Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Chough and a hunting Short-eared Owl at Martinshaven. Took a few shots of Puffin with my Nikon Coolpix 4500 and have posted best in Bird gallery.Monday 24th April
Started adding content and galleries. I was holding my camera only about 8 inches away from this Ruddy Darter.
Sunday 23rd April
Visited Somerset Levels with Ian for a spot of birdwatching. We started at Catcott Lows before moving on to Meare Heath, Ham Wall and finishing up on Kennard Moor. The weather was dull with a few light showers so not good enough for photography. We did see a good selection of birds though and the highlights included: Cuckoo (3), Hobby (3), Yellow Wagtail (2), female Ring-necked Duck, Little Owl, Wheatear (10), lots of singing warblers - Willow Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler & Blackcap.
As well as the variety of birds seen we witnessed some drama when a female Sparrowhawk was flushed carrying off, what looked like, a Blackbird and later on another female Sparrowhawk chasing a Woodpigeon. Whilst counting the Wheatear on Kennard Moor a Stoat ran through the field.
