In which I take a photo every day that I'm 50, and post it here on this blog, with a bit of related blurb.

Friday 11 July 2014

Day 209 - Birdland

calling anna

You recall how yesterday I had a strong sense of Summertime, and was struck by the sudden abundance of butterfly?  Well today we went to a whole new level - this time with birds!

Anna was working from home today, and found that the garden was simply full of birds all day.

This green woodpecker was one of many highlights, calling in her inimitable, chattering laughter until Anna went out to find her on the lawn and caught this fabulous shot.

All around, a plethora of our feathered friends (including many new fledglings) were rioting through the fields, hedgerows, trees and our garden.

Apparently starlings have just fledged and there was a small flock of up to 50 or so of them, skittering about excitedly.

This fledgling was caught mid shakedown...


ruffled feathers

...whilst others watched from on top of the chimney stack:


cheap seats

At one point, something spooked them and they all burst out of the hedgerow, just as swallows overhead suddenly span into chaos...I think our local sparrowhawk buzzed along the hedgerow...and probably caught something, if we're going to be honest about it. 

A pile of young downy feathers outside my window shows that some at least will be predated upon by raptor, raven, fox, cat, or one of many opportunistic creatures that might be passing by...this victim is a starling, we think, but the body is gone so we're not sure.



crime scene

Our mother blackbird was around of course, feeling mighty proud of herself:


tail and head in the air

Whilst the newly fledged young (yay) kept nervously to the hedgerow:


tail and head down

A group of tree sparrow romped noisily back and forth along the hedgerow, whilst a dozen swallow wheeled and whirled overhead. 

Skylark were singing high in the sky above the wheat field, and chaffinch would flit by now and then, with woodpigeon and dove passing back and forth constantly.

Baby blue tits are tiny, and super cute, like little fluffy yellow golf balls:


orville?!

As if all this wasn't enough, a rare (around these parts) red kite came by, and Anna managed to catch a few lovely, if distant shots:


awesome!

Here's a nice profile from below, showing his curiously tatty tail:


big boy

When I got home in the early evening, we took Jazz for his usual constitutional down the lane, when Anna noticed the green woodpecker's cackling call from the field the other side of the hedgerow...rushing to the gate to get a view of the field, we couldn't see it anywhere.

Green woodpeckers spend much of their time on the ground, and so are very hard to spot.

To our utter delight, as we stood at the gate watching, two of them flew up and landed on the top of the roof of the barn conversion across the field:


offspring and mum

Whilst a long way away, this still makes for a lovely photo of mother (on the right) and offspring...

To top off the most amazing days bird viewing, all within 50m of home, Anna used her super raptor spotting skills and pointed this tree out to me, away over the meadow:


tall and elegant

Maybe not all that interesting at first glance, but look closer, and see if you can spot this fine fellow perched in the branches just left of centre:


our friend the buzzard

And still it wasn't over, as we came across more lovely butterflies:


some butterflies...

I'm hoping someone might come along again and identify these (ahem...anna...cough)...


some other butterfly

And one last little beauty to round off one of the most prolific and active wildlife days we've seen for a long time...

Happy summer, everyone!

B-)

6 comments:

  1. The dark butterfly in both pics is a ringlet (so named for the rings on the underside of its wings) and the other is a meadow brown. You're welcome! X

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  2. Super stuff! Though I would like to see photographic evidence of tree sparrow. Thanks.

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  3. Hi Andy, funnily enough Anna said the photo's she got were house sparrows, although both species are common in our hedgerow...I'll make it a mission to get a photo for you!

    But not today, as we're just off to a wedding Oop North...

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  4. Let these people know if you are actually seeing treesparrows

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  5. We will let them know, Andy! We definitely have them around (just look out for the brown cap), and of course this is where they are more common in the UK (across the midlands), and we live in the perfect habitat for them, with fields, hedgerows, woods etc...it's definitely now a mission, to get a photo of one of them...

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