Everyday Birds

 Occasionally I like to post images of birds that you would see naturally mainly with the naked eye.

Moorhen making waves across the water as it heads for the cover of a bramble bush at the edge of the water.

A chattering Whitethroat hopping through the bush following its mate around.

A Collared Dove conducting a spot of preening.

A industrious Coot.

A female Dunnock taking a rest from nesting duties.

A Grey Heron heading up river looking for another good perch for fishing.

A Common Tern patrolling the calm water of a lake on the look out for small fish and ready to dive at any moment.

A male Chaffinch singing from a high perch.

Below are three different Garden Warblers announcing to the World that they have arrived again from the South.

A female Greenfinch searching for food amongst the Lichen.

Feeding his face, what else would a male Bullfinch be doing.

A Robin too busy to worry about its appearance, conducting the never ending search for food to take back to the nest.

A male Mute being his usual angry self.

A Blue Tit taking in some nice sunlight through the leaves.

Pasque Flower

Each year I check out one location where I know that Pasque Flowers have grown in previous years.

To my surprise this year they have grown really well with multiples of plants and each plant having a number of flower heads. In previous years I could only find one and two flowers in the whole known location. So I guess it was something to do with all that wet weather we had last year keeping the ground moist into the winter.

In the UK it is classed as a Priority species at risk and is on the Red List issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris)

Ash Leaves Sprouting

Just one of those images you have to take.
I found this young Ash tree offshoot sprouting it's leaves.

Lumix GH3. 35-100mm f2.8 lens. 1/500 at f2.8 - 100mm(200). ISO200.

Lumix GH3. 100-300mm lens. 1/500 at f5.2 - 234mm(468). ISO800.

(Scheduled Post)

A Jay's Lunch

I walked into a darkened patch of woodland and heard some rustling low down on the ground ahead of me. I could just make out a Jay behind a clutch of 'Lords and Ladies'.

I started taking shots of the Jay, but at the time (because of the poor light) I had no idea what it was actually doing. It wasn't until I examined the images later that I could see that the Jay had removed the middle part of the plant and had flown off with it.

The images are poor and very noisy, but you an get the general idea from them.

Its quite surprising what various birds eat.

A Cow Day

It was time I had another Cow Day.

Featured here are the Belted Galloway cattle. 

The 'Beltie' of which records show have existed from around the 17th/18th century originally in Scotland. It is believed that the breed is a cross between the ancient 'Galloway' cattle of Scotland and the Dutch 'Belted' cattle.

A hardy and adaptable breed that can exist in extreme climates and prefer to over winter outside. They are used for both commercial and conservation purposes and are tolerant of varied land conditions with minimum husbandary required.

"Of course they also make great photographic subjects."

More Flutters

First of the trio of butterflies today is the Green-veined White. 

A common and widely distributed species. 

There are several species of white butterflies, but this one is easily identified once you have observed the underside of the wings which reveal the green veins.  

The first of the female Brimstone that I have seen this year. 

Both of these are females which are a pale green as opposed to the bright yellow/green colour of the male. The males are not so easy to get an image of as at this time they are always on the move in search of females. I am hoping to catch up with some males and better shots of females later in the year.

I know I have posted Peacock butterflies already, but they are nice to look at anytime.