I have noticed that I have plenty of birds this year , but no babies brought to grow on in my garden which is unusual. We have two visiting Hedgehogs too. What are missing are butterflies. There are plenty of Holly Blues, but no other varieties which is odd.
Just been on holiday to North Wales. Our best 'daily wildlife moment' was when an Otter appeared in the river mouth, caught a fish and then brought it to shore right below where my wife was standing. Even when it saw us it didn't seem too bothered.
Wonderful holiday. The bird year-list is now up to 157
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Fantastic @LunarSea weren’t you lucky to see such a gorgeous creature, I would have been mesmerised. I used to be a volunteer Otter Spotter for Devon Wildlife Trust, I had to survey an allocated 500m stretch of river 4 times a year. I saw plenty of otter spraint and a glimpse of an otter’s tail but never a whole otter!! I’d so love to see one in the wild. Lucky, lucky you 😁
Wonderful holiday. The bird year-list is now up to 157
Choughs? 157 is seriously impressive. I'm not sure I could manage that many even if I was able to travel. I've got a trip to Devon planned for later this year which should add a couple though. I know a good spot for Cirl Bunting.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
A lizard out basking in the garden. After not seeing them for a while they've now been in the garden for the last three or four years so hopefully they'll be breeding here again.
How to spot you've had a wet spring. The Goldfinches must have missed the seeds in this one. If only all seeds were this easy to germinate...
Just a goose from a local lake but look at the carpet of daisy flowers behind. There's about 300 metres of open ground along the lake that's just a carpet of white flowers right now.
And also by the lake I saw this amazing carving of a Long-eared Bat.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Excellent @LunarSea first image is Top Drawer wildlife photography and the others not too far behind.
That first image was taken by my wife on her little Canon SX740 bridge camera. She also shot snippets of video of it eating that poor fish, which are even better. She handed me the camera to take the other shots from a different position. We'd only popped out for a quick walk before tea so I didn't even take my camera. Lesson learned!
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Wonderful holiday. The bird year-list is now up to 157
Choughs? 157 is seriously impressive. I'm not sure I could manage that many even if I was able to travel. I've got a trip to Devon planned for later this year which should add a couple though. I know a good spot for Cirl Bunting.
Yeah, the odd Chough. All the usual birds were in all the usual places, with the odd exception. The Manx Shearwaters were amazing. Masses of them feeding close to Criccieth shore which doesn't happen very often so I was lucky. Managed to video them but can't really show that easily on here. There were small groups of Whimbrel around all week.
Our day on Anglesey was great. There were one or two Puffins at South Stack. Managed to phone-scope the odd distant shot.
Cors Ddyga had a constantly booming Bittern & the loudest Grasshopper Warbler I've ever heard and Cettis Warblers sounding off everywhere. Holyhead has it's very small population of Black Guillemots in the old harbour. And we couldn't resist popping into 'The Dingle' at Llangefni to see the Red Squirrels, although they were being a bit stand-off-ish.
Our last morning produced a surprise. After packing up the car we had a last quick walk from Criccieth to Black Rock. As I climbed up onto the rock (a big dome that sticks up out of the sea) a bird hopped away from me and I immediately recognised it as a Purple Sandpiper. We watched it hop all over the rock, checking out the various nooks, crannies & pools. It didn't fly once and I suspect it had been left behind with a damaged wing when it's fellows migrated north in April. No camera or phone again unfortunately!
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
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Wonderful holiday. The bird year-list is now up to 157
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Yeah, the odd Chough. All the usual birds were in all the usual places, with the odd exception. The Manx Shearwaters were amazing. Masses of them feeding close to Criccieth shore which doesn't happen very often so I was lucky. Managed to video them but can't really show that easily on here. There were small groups of Whimbrel around all week.
Our day on Anglesey was great. There were one or two Puffins at South Stack. Managed to phone-scope the odd distant shot.
Cors Ddyga had a constantly booming Bittern & the loudest Grasshopper Warbler I've ever heard and Cettis Warblers sounding off everywhere. Holyhead has it's very small population of Black Guillemots in the old harbour. And we couldn't resist popping into 'The Dingle' at Llangefni to see the Red Squirrels, although they were being a bit stand-off-ish.
Our last morning produced a surprise. After packing up the car we had a last quick walk from Criccieth to Black Rock. As I climbed up onto the rock (a big dome that sticks up out of the sea) a bird hopped away from me and I immediately recognised it as a Purple Sandpiper. We watched it hop all over the rock, checking out the various nooks, crannies & pools. It didn't fly once and I suspect it had been left behind with a damaged wing when it's fellows migrated north in April. No camera or phone again unfortunately!
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful