a gethering of terns

fading light on a roost of an estimated 12000 Common Terns (lots of gulls and waders mixed in)

falcon surprise

every year I study these birds they still surprise me---this nest has failed two years on the trot and when the farmer erected a very very very loud exploding bird scarer in the copse where they nest in May I completely gave up hope for them this year--so it was somewhat of a shock to find 3 and possibly 4 fledged juvs chasing after the male who had arrived with a Swift this am at the original nest site---still one of my favourite birds

more juv subbuteos

I have always found that juv Hobbies spend long periods sitting in open fields around the nest in the first 2-3 weeks after fledging--todays birds conformed to this pattern when not chasing after parents---one amazingly caught an insect on the wing, the earliest I have ever seen this in a fledged juv

end of a Peacock

looks like this Peacock made a wrong move

some days you get lucky

I had not even seen the midge which the bird is clearly watching (in a direct line right of the bird's right eye) until I processed the image---more shots to follow

Humber evening

scenes from Chowder Ness 19.8

evening waders

Greenshank and Curlew heading for roost Chowder Ness--

the bug in th epost below is a shield bug Troilus luridus thanks to Adrian for the ID

GK

an evening visit to our new inter-tidal realignment revealed a nice juve Greenshank which accepted my presence for quite a while until the inevitable dog walker had to shout to someone on the north bank of the estuary! in fading light the shots are more arty than illustrative!

bird's eye view

the heath through the eye of a jar

feather ID

last jars of the season

with the juvs now just about fledged I doubt if they will be roosting in the same area for much longer although the female was still with them today

mixta and bugs

a huge gathering of Migrant Hawkers in one small area of the heath this afternoon--many small birch trees <2m high had 15-20 insects perched on them in addition to which there were scores on the wing-----also a spider having lunch and a ladybird sized bug?

kids!

you bring your kids up right and they turn out like this!---what must these Reed Warblers be thinking?

juv Cuckoo

a recently fledged juvenile Cuckoo was being fed by a pair of Reed Warblers on the patch this morning--it was incredibly flighty and I did not manage one decent photo in 3 hours although the terrible light was also of no help--this is the first local fledgling Cuckoo I have seen this year

no seabirds

missed out on the east coast seabirds and weather due to a weekend in the Lake District but the Golden Eagle was visible (easily seen in these shots from the head of Haweswater) and the weather was more pleasant than it sounds like back home

adder

when the sun broke through late afternoon this adder was basking on the side of the footpath