It would have been rude not to!!!

With the reporting of Curlew Sandpiper at Chelmarsh happening at a time when I was unable to get there, it was a bit of a gamble as to whether they would be stayers or not. Thankfully they were and I was able to get them ticked off for the County for 2010. But oddly for me it was the three Water Rails cavorting about in the open that made my time there more enjoyable then ever, just love these skulkers as they always present such a difficult quarry.

And they were definitely not of the shy type, well not today at least

The Curlew Sandpipers also put in a good appearance and came right up to the hide whilst feeding at times to darn close, can that be!

and they perform in the wrong place.

And a few of the other things around.

A short post just to keep things up to date, so to speak!

Paul

A few Odd's and Sod's

As a something different sort of weekend, it was off to the Norfolk coast, unfortunately missing the spring tides, but as always with Norfolk, there was some really nice stuff , like this early Purple Sandpiper.

Whilst there was a lot happening on the shore it was at some distance, and the light against the mud was not camera friendly at all. the numbers of Black-tailed Godwits was very high, as were most things.

A one legged Common Crane had been around the area for some time but had been a bit elusive for a while.

The occurrence of Bloody-nose Beetles was very good, in fact never seen so many.

 Over the whole weekend I only managed to find one Common Lizard basking in the early morning sunshine.

Just one of those plants that tend to be overlooked in our hedgerows the Toadflax.

A report of a Wryneck in the county got me up the Clee very early in the morning, early enough to watch the mist being blown up the valley obscuring everything. Thank goodness it cleared quickly to present a windy but bright day.

A morning at VP was proving as usual like watching paint dry, with the occasional moment of excitement. Like today's Fly through of a nice Marsh Harrier. And a Greenshank stopped for a while for a brief  feed.

The Redstarts continue to feed in the top fields, and the rest of the area was very quiet indeed, unless you drive up the Clee. Well hoping it improves over the next week or so!!

Paul

More garden safari !

I spent a few more moments on my garden safari today and here are a few of what was found.

Reminiscent of a Dogon grain silo the Poppy seed head is fantastic in its simplicity and  functionality.

Structural  degradation follows to ensure that all seed are of course spread.

The start of something beautiful? this year or next??

Early days feasting.

Growth hormones kick in!! just goes to show you should eat your greens!

Larval stage of one of the Shield bugs, but which one??

A 22 spot

Another one of those annoying flies that just defy ID!

Another day in the "Jungle" during the week perhaps!

Paul

Osprey at VP, plus a few other things

With the prospect of a holy uneventful day with forecast heavy rain a trip to VP seemed the most logical thing to do!!! At least there was the ability to stay out of the rain for the most part. It was a bit like watching a jelly set but that was soon altered with the first bird of the day being a juvenile Peregrine as it zoomed through going to the North. It seemed as if the Kingfishers had abandoned VP until today when a very obliging youngun stopped for a few pictures.

A fly through juvenile Peregrine at VP today 14th August 2010

On approach.

An obliging young Kingfisher, put in an appearance.

Posed for several minutes as it worked what the noise was.

Very Inquisitive.

An unknown species , unless you know?

A Goldspot Moth.

The last two are again from my foray into, what know resembles my back garden!

So even with the torrential rain, the day produced some nice birds. Not withstanding an Osprey going through VP at 15:45. Well exciting, indeed could even be back in the morning, or rather later today!!

Cheers, Paul.

HEADLINES: Queen assaulted by unknown male !!!!

Sitting in the garden musing over the dearth of avian prey to photograph, I notice that the colonies of Black Ants were erupting in great numbers. It was the arrival, very close, of one particular new queen with attachment. This prompted me to wonder if they had coupled prior to take off or it was an act of supreme aerial jiggery pokery that resulted in the passenger? Well I can confirm that the mating flight is consumated in the air, by landing on the queens back and working down to the relavant postion. Once the deed is done the male will drop off and die with in a day or two.

On closer inspection of the colonies I could find or see no Queen's departing their selected blade of grass with a suitor bumming a ride!!! so I just enjoyed some of the ant,ics! getting attacked in the process.

Boy that's a long way down!

Pre-flight checks, sneaky passenger trying his luck.

Take off, going down!

Probably pre-seminated any take off pad was in order.

Landing was proving a hazard, not for the spiders though.

And then along comes a Staphy!! a real corker of a Rove Beetle (Staphylinus erythropterus) watching the long wings being re-folded into the carapace is always an intriging thing to see.

Some interesting mouth parts on this specimen indeed.

There were, as the evening drew in, many other species roaming my back jungle. But more of that later.

Cheers and a cup of tea..

Paul