juvenile Hobby antics

after 25 years of watching breeding Hobbies it is still amazing to see juveniles that 11 days before could hardly land in a tree catching small airborne insects and intercepting butterflies on the wing albeit with mixed success; the hot and sunny weather has been ideal for post fledging juvs but makes it almost impossible to get a sharp image at more than 20m -- Peacocks and whites were flying up to 100m up today and making ideal targets for the practicing Hobbies; the aerobatics that these birds perform so soon after leaving the nest is awe inspiring

Red-backed Shrike

our high point of another long Lincs coastal thrash on Monday in the heat -- here it flew down and caught a grasshopper but obviously felt a little full so it moved the prey to its foot while it coughed up a pellet and then returned the hopper to its bill and ate it

Short-toed Lark less than record shots

in October 1991 I spent a week on Texel at an international bird ID meeting; in the course of that week I missed 3 county ticks, Desert Wheatear, Penduline Tit and Short-toed Lark; the wheatear took 8 years to claw back, the Penduline Tit I managed to self find two years later but the lark has taken 22 years eventually added to my Lincolnshire tally today at Gib Point after a fairly stressful 4 hours walking and searching -- it was always jumpy and never close in the appalling heat haze and its habit of flying across deep muddy and wet creeks between favoured feeding areas left us with some wet and filthy feet -- herewith some appalling shots of it just for my entertainment! its camo against the background was just superb and very frustrating

Willow Emeralds

my first encounter with this recent colonist in Suffolk last week; lots at this location and very obliging hanging in the trees over a footpath -- must get looking for them on my local patch