hares

several leverets around at present--this one oblivious to the car on the road

BO

This local pair of howls were having a bit of a domestic with a local Maggy

Sabini

a dull and dismal start to July 7th in deepest Knottingley not enhanced by missing the Sabine's Gull feeding over the canal and having to make do with some digi-scoped shots of it on a factory roof in the dull light plus a distant flight shot when it was disturbed briefly by a Sparv--had to leave for work before it performed again in the afternoon---
loevely bright light this morning 8th but of course no sign of the bird!

more from Varanger

surely the most handsome of buntings the summer male Lapland---here some tundra breeders and one in display flight

King of ducks--Varanger continued

unusually for June we saw a total of 350 King Eiders around Varanger mainly off the road from Vardo to Hamningberg where there were two flocks of 120+ most were immature males and females but there were 4 adult drakes

splendid flava

Grey-headed Wagtails certainly add a splash of colour to the Finnish bogs --two different males and a female middle shot

Varanger 3

a few more images from the northern Finland and Varanger trip in June--some of my favourite Bluethroats to kick off

bird table arctic

this Arctic Redpoll was visiting feeders at the Pohjan Tuli hotel near Utsjoki--a shame the Pine Grosbeaks were not!

tundra plover

superb Golden Plovers were pretty common on the tundra

skittish lark

Shorlarks like Snow Buntings were very wary and flew at 50m--strange how birds which can be so confiding in the winter are so wary on their breeding grounds

Sib Tit

we managed to find a nest of Siberian Tit near Ivalo on our return trip

flied py

a Finnish Pied Fly near Kaamenen north of Inari

northern bunting

this male Snow Bunting was at Hamningberg the end of the road from Vardo--unlike their winter habits these summer birds were extremely wary

RtP

Red-throated Pipits were difficult to approach--this male was on Hornoya Island and the female on the tundra

more dragoons

a couple more dragons with nice backdrops--Brown Hawker and yet another BbChaser from Laughton Forest

damned Woodpig

Finding a Nightjar in daylight seems hard enough but when you tie one down and just get into a good position for the bird to be spooked by a clattering Woodpigeon really is the limit--this was the best of a few record images taken before it was forced to flee by the flaming pig

hovering day

a good day for hovering dragons and human copies---Goxhill Skitter July 2nd

BBC pushes north

after sporadic sightings of Broad-bodied Chasers in North Lincs since 1999 there appears to be a marked push northward this summer with individuals turning up at several new sites and multiple occurrences--on 40m of a borrow pit between Goxhill and East Halton Skitters there were 7 males and at least 2 ovipositing females this afternoon----also present were several emergent Common and Ruddy Darters (Ruddy pictured)---

July 2nd hovering creatures

some superb views of Emperors along the Goxhill grues today--this is a male but a female was also present