What have you seen
Comments
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A good day for us along the coast with Gannets plunging into the sea, both male and female Eider Ducks and Shellducks close to shore, Cormorants on the rock, Yellowhammers and Skylarks giving it voice above us, and a male Stonechat perched on a fence post. Then this morning Flyte and I crossed paths with a buck Hare, don't know who was the more surprised!๐
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On our morning walk yesterday, before we left Fife, I spotted a couple of seals close in to the shore, and a Sedge Warbler flew across in front of me. Then this afternoon a female Roe Deer stood for a while watching Flyte and I as we drew close to her on the forest track here at Beecraigs.
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I can tell you what I haven't seen, or heard, and that is the sight and sound of Swifts buzzing around our local town. It's the first time I can ever remember it not happening. They used arrive in mid May and leave at the end of July. I miss them.
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@Wherenext We have had good numbers of Swifts here this year better than the last 3 to 4 years not sure where they are nesting as the village church does have some netting just below the spire around the bell tower part so perhaps there is a gap for them to get in great to see.
Not had much in the way of Hoopoes around since they have arrived but the last two weeks they are about more and have got young ones flying about with them and at 7am this morning a lot of calling to each other makes a change from the Blackbirds and we have had 4 pairs breeding around our place this year which is good news.
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@Wherenext delighted to say meeting lunch with the swifts, quite a lot of them, high above us.wehave lots of swallows over the fields too
No idea where they nest, we've never been lucky enough to offer them accommodation
The red kite is doing the lunchtime checkout. The crows have their work cut out to keep it away. Not at the minute though. Seagulls we're on it's case Tuesday. We now don't have as many as we did when we moved in 3 years ago. The lady who used to feed them passed away and their numbers settled down to such that will sustain them.
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That's very good news @Oneputt hope you get to see the pair. There is news also that an old nest in Fife is occupied and that there are 3 chicks in it, and at Poole a second nest has a breeding pair as well.
I saw a Hummingbird Hawk moth yesterday but it was too fast for me to get a photo of it.
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@Wherenext Glad you have seen some Swifts there are quite a lot flying around here this best I have seen for a few years and the other day when in Villefranche at a local DIY store the numbers flying around and screaming was amazing possibly a hundred or more also lots of young ones made my day.
It has been a very good year for butterflies more Marbled White this year than for about 5 years and 1 shrub covered in them and other species and when we open the door they all fly off in the air then all come back great to see.
The Cuckoo not about now but still got the Golden Oriole flying about and still singing away.
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@RedKite. I have seen quite a few Swifts during the year but hadn't seen any over the local town and was worried that it might imply a decline in their breeding locally. We watched some recently when on a CS near Llanberis (Snowdonia) flying over the river and easily avoiding the chasing Hobbies.
I'm just glad to see and hear them as normality seems to have been restored.
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Nothing spectacular as we haven't been anywhere of note but did we make the acquaintance of this rather pretty Grass Wave (we think) moth that decided to visit us in the kitchen today. It was caught and released unharmed into the grasses in the garden.
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Walking along the Leeds-Liverpool canal this morning we were accosted by a pair of Swan's with 4 Cygnets, and further on were another pair this time with 7 Cygnets. There was also a female Mallard with 8 ducklings, which we thought a high number still alive.
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@Wherenext Same here with the bees on the Lavender and 1 in a flower by the door was a micro bee but very busy with the flowers and the butterflies in good numbers again even a Chequed Skipper not seen that often here and today was cloudy all day only 25C.
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The garden was very entertaining first thing this morning. Looking out of the bedroom window there was a Blackbird having a real scrub and clean in the bath. There were several Blue Tits waiting to get in but were too scared but typically a male Sparrow just plunged straight in. He didn't mind sharing. In addition there was a family of Chiffchaffs with the 2 adults feeding 2 chicks. Best of all though was a Breakdancing Song Thrush!๐
He finished eating then hopped onto the path, spread his wings, like they do when anting but this time was attempting to clean under his "wingpits" (same as armpits) but this caused him to turn around as he was doing it, making him look like he was dancing.
Nice way to start the day.
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Wow, a morning spent at Burton Nature Reserve produced enough to keep us fully entertained for 3 hours that we were there for.
Didn't expect a good bird list as it's a quiet month in the main but we saw some beautifully summer plumaged Black Tailed Godwits and Spotted Redshanks, dozens of Avocets, Knots, Marsh Harriers etc. We also found a lot of interesting insect life such as Red Bottomed Bumblebees, Common Garden Bees, Mining Bees, "Footballer" Hoverflies, Alder Leaf Beetle, Hogwood Bonking Beetles (look it up), Nettle Tap Moth, Painted Lady butterflies, Red Admiral and both Small and Large Whites, Small Heath Butterflies.
So we didn't have time to be bored.
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A couple of nights ago I saw a hedgehog on the farm track during our last walk out. Last night there was one directly in front of our caravan steps, when we went out around the same time, and a second one was crossing the site, then as we turned off the site on to the farm track there was a third small one in the grass by the path. When we returned around 15 mins later there was a small one on the other end of the farm track well away from the site and finally another, possibly a different one, close to the caravan, making at least 3, and maybe as many as 5, within couple of hundred yards of each other. Could this have been a family I wonder?
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During our walk down the lane from the site this afternoon we saw many more nutterflies than we have seen for quite a while. Tortoiseshell, Gatekeepers, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and a few Commas, including this one that stopped long enough for a photo!
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