Egyptian invasion

7 Nov 2009
I could hear them, but couldn't see them...... lots of honking and nothing on the pond in the back field, but then a quick look to the right and there they were, blimey ...... fifty three of them !

a field of Egyptian Geese - but not for long, a quick thirty minutes of rushing

about and off they went leaving just two.....

and here are the faithful with accompanying Moorhen and Magpie

a quick bit of display to ward off any intruders

Woodpecker sex......

5 Nov 2009 (early morning)

Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the garden this morning as it got light, a male and a female. In trying to show Tom the difference between the two I had to take some photos as they were moving around too much for him to see properly. So here it is.

This is the male with red on the back of his head and a black band going round to it's throat which rules out Syrian Woodpecker !! (ho ho)

and this is the female, as usual duller, with all black on the back of the head, no red.

Tom is now an expert (well for 10 minutes anyway)

a coastal wandering....

29 October 2009
a trip up to Wells for a birthday meal with Tom and Summaera, allowed the chance of a few hours birding at Titchwell. And..........just for a change the Bearded Tits were coming out into the open, not by any means their normal behaviour, though at this time of the year if it's a still day then you can be lucky and on this particular morning a superb male came out to show off .

Then it was a walk down to the beach via the new hide, which has been constructed by the RSPB in such a way as to ensure no one can use a hide clamp ! Have the designers ever been birdwatching ? The beach was fairly deserted for a school half term and this Little Egret was reasonably confiding and trying to jump on the back of Oystercatchers

I'm all fluffed up....ur...hun...hun.......

Little Egret with Oystercatchers and half a Knot in backbround

and on the final day of an amazingly unseasonal mildness this Red Admiral was in the garden and rested a while on our duck, strange to think that dragonflies and butterflies are around as we enter November...

And the beet goes on........

October 2009

Much time spent in the garden recently preparing for the autumn, even though it's so mild. Just a few insect ravaged brassicas waiting for the compost heap and these beetroots, last batch of a super 09 crop.

Birds visiting the garden have slowed down a bit, presumably plenty of wild food outside our patch to be had, but the goldfinches remain loyal.

as does the Great spotted Woodpecker which, with the Jays, can empty one peanut feeder in two days

and unfortunately so do the moles which have been causing havoc with what used to be a lawn, I have managed to identify their fortress which is a huge molehill and by the looks of it contains several thousand of the pesky little chaps... still you know what the farmers say, always best to see them at the six bells, 6am noon, 6pm and midnight.

A lovely weekend

Saturday 5 September

Excellent weather so still some butterflies around on the fermenting pears. Most of the wind falls are pounced on by the wasps so I have decided to leave them out and see what arrives to feed. Zillions of wasps but also good numbers of butterflies.

This Red Admiral having a good feed, and then a bit of sunbathing

And here a Comma has come to a full stop ....................

And also in the garden it has been a mega year for Hornets. This time in the garden luckily, and not inside so no need to be nasty with the nest. Adults were coming to the fermenting fruit regularly. Their actual nest is high up in one of the Pine trees in the front garden.

Not forgetting the birds of course and plenty of fledged young and adults coming to the feeders , this Blue Tit stayed for the camera. 

The second brood of Swallows finally fledged, so that makes a total of twelves birds successfully hatched and flown. The adults and some young are still around though numbers are reducing every day as the ready for the trip to sub Saharan Africa.

Further down the road, hopefully not waiting for my young Swallows, this Kestrel, sat around on a telegraph pole.

Slippery goings on.......

Sunday 2 August 2009

During an afternoon BBQ this fella decided to join us, but not for long as he decided to leg it, so to speak, up the wall.

Brief encounter...

July 2009
So while I was away in Poland watching White tailed Eagles, Barred Warblers, Shrikes and much more, I was also very excited to get good views of this particular mammal ( photo below-beaver) as it went about it's daily business....

And excited I was, as before, I'd only managed brief views but this year, possibly due to the flooding, I was lucky to see them on several occasions. However not as lucky as Sam who had an amazing encounter with another mammal in our back garden. I received an excited phone call from her to say she'd seen three large animals in the drainage ditch, half wriggling and swimming along, the size of cats with dark fur and arched backs and long tails- they were Otters !!

I tentatively suggested they may be rats to be told, if they were at that size, then we were moving ! It was just sour grapes on my behalf. Otter sighting have been increasing in the County, but this clearly is the rarest sighting for our garden.