Monday 14 September 2009

Wheres the Birdie Pics ??

Havent managed to find time to do a blog for a few days due to so much time taken with looking at RAW files attempting to make them better (Lots of Belly Laughs) then converting to JPEGS so here goes.

Friday 11 Sep - After a couple of early hours at Big Waters the wife and I went for a drive up to Holy Island as the Weatherman said it was going to be a "extremely nice cloudless day". Hadnt been there for a few years and that was in winter so absolutely amazed to arrive only 10mins after the start of the crossing times and the place was packed. Spent a good couple of hours walking around not seeing much birdlife but visiting the castle and the priory. Then went to the Causeway where I remembered seeing quite a few birds there last time and also had spotted a couple of godwits when I drove on. Anyway a couple of pics below:

Small Male Tortoiseshell


Plenty of birds by the causeway with lots of taking off and landing, these Swans were particularly impressive.



Red Admiral



Sure enough the cloud appeared at about 3pm completely contrary to the Weathermans predictions (HOW UNUSUAL)

Saturday once agains started with a couple of dawn hours at Big Waters then off to Washington Wildfowl. The lakes whilst not devoid of our winged friends only seemed to hold the colony of Grey Herons, the obligatory bunch of Lapwings which showed absolutely brilliant in the Sun and various "Gulls", must get round to learning more about them one day (actually that last sentence could be said for all birds), a few mallards and 4 Teal. Took some different kind of pics:

Possibly a Speckled Wood



Now Fungi I know absolutely nothing about but this was different to stuff I see growing around. It was growing on the front of a Step made of wood, stones and dirt in heavy shade.



Painted Lady (there was dozens of these flying around)



Finished a great day out with a nice meal in Newcastle then off for an hour at St Marys
Sunday morning, first couple of hours at Big Waters for a change then off to Wallington. Went straight to the Wildlife Hide hoping to see a couple of Reds before it got busy with people coming and going but unfortunately the feeders have now been removed because of the Grey Squirrels although they still scatter peanuts on the ground and no squirrels were seen. There were still plenty of birds though. Nice walk around afterwards and into the Hall where there are some wonderful birds on display in the "attic".
Just outside the Hall is a row of the plants below which were covered with some of the biggest bees I have ever seen.


Once again some strange Fungi although this one looked as though it provided a meal for something.



Yet another Fungi with a couple of bits missing.



At last a pic of a bird, this Robin had an absolutely stunning red breast which even the camera couldnt show properly



Finally a small LFA (Little Fury Animal), vole, mouse ????????



Will try to find time to get a few pics of my many visits to Big Waters

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a FunGuy u are LOL

Blyth Birder said...

That stuff with the bees on looks like Sedum, not sure what variety, but we've got some in our back garden - attracts bees and butterflies.