pewit: May 2009

Sunday, May 31, 2009

the disappearing Wall Brown

now a rare species up here only found in a few locations locally each year -- 20 years ago it was very numerous and widespread -- I don't get many flight shots of butterflies

very tricky getting any sort of decent image of these birds and not surprising as they have an adverse reaction to humans pointing anything at them a survival tactic hard earned around the Med as we say at Tarifa last September where every bush, tree and hedge was beaten to bits and every bird that came out shot in another EU country!

hare in the meadow

Meadow Pipit a dull bird

not the most exciting of species

Friday, May 29, 2009

Common Blue

Painted Ladies still pouring in

for the last week Painted Lady butterflies have been everywhere locally with last weekend seeing a strong northerly movement through the area; with light SE winds today another arrival / movement seems to be underway; most of the ones I saw in the week were simply flying by but this morning some were stopping to feed on clover flowers along the Humber bank; most are old and faded / bleached individuals like the lower two but I did come across this brighter / fresher individual early this morning before the sun got too high

wandering Marsh Harrier and chick

a non-breeding female harrier already in extensive wing moult; the adult female has prey brought by the male -- it appears to be a Skylark or Meadow Pipit chick --- to us it almost seems pointless bringing back such small food items