Tag: Birds
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Four buzzards
Flying west at about 11.30 am.
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Peregrine and dragonfly
A peregrine was flying about and calling near the house all morning – could be a young one turned out by the parents to fend for itself? Emperor dragonfly on garden pond, and a different type of damselfly to the usual ones – black body/blue tail.
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Heron and gulls
Strange, prehistoric-sounding noises overhead at about 11.30 am – turned out to be three gulls attacking a very vocal heron. Had a terrific view of the heron diving and striking back at them.
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Swifts
About a dozen Swifts screaming through the gardens during the late morning, just above head height. Saw an article on the BBC website about five minutes later about the decline in Swift numbers. According to the RSPB the low-flying, screaming behaviour means that the birds are breeding close by and they are collecting reports to…
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
Clear morning at 6.30 am, then clouds/fog suddenly appeared from the north, moving very fast. No breeze whatsoever at ground level – every leaf perfectly still and the sun looking like a full moon through the haze. Swifts flying very low though the back gardens, barely skimming the tops of the fences, and a Great…
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Turnstones
Turnstones, Arenaria interpres, off the Devon coast near Dawlish
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Sun god
On Sunday morning I couldn’t sleep – I got up to watch the sunrise and decided to go for a walk after breakfast. I left the house before 9 o’clock and went very quietly down to the park. Tom told me on Friday that a buzzard roosts in the tree on the island – I’ve…
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Little Trotty Wagtail
LITTLE TROTTY WAGTAIL by John Clare (1793-1864) Little trotty wagtail he went in the rain, And tittering, tottering sideways he neer got straight again, He stooped to get a worm, and looked up to get a fly, And then he flew away ere his feathers they were dry. Little trotty wagtail, he waddled in the…