Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
This lovely male Yellowhammer is often to be found around the bend of the Farm Road. Here he is on a particularly rough part of the corrugated concrete surface.
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At the front of the house we have had to pollard a Cherry tree starting to grow over the roadway. The stump is a great favourite - particularly with some corn grains on the top!
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In a shaft of sunlight in the woodland, both a Speckled Wood Butterfly (in remarkably good condition after over-wintering) and a small Spider (unidentified) warm themselves on an otherwise chilly day.
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There are lots patches of Groundsel on our patch and the Farm field margins.
The seed heads are a bit like miniature Dandelion clocks, but yellow flowers
open no wider than we see here.
Dandelion
clocks watches?
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Even on a phone screen this top view of a Groundsel seed head will be larger than life!
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Weeks ago we raked a load of Iris Roots out of the pond to open up the water area, and left them to dry on the bank so any creatures caught inside could get back to the water. Typically for us, they are still there, and now this Grey squirrel has started ripping them apart to select some of the best bits to eat.
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Dried grass seems to make a good lining for the Drey. This Squirrel wraps the grass into a bundle before running off with it.
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We don't remember seeing a Grey Squirrel like this, running with back paws well in front of the front paws.
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2 days later, we see the same behaviour at the same site, this time featuring our short-tailed (broken or bitten off) Grey Squirrel.
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On the second visit of the night, this Tawny Owl makes a really rather awkward landing on the post. This is the only image from the second visit, and the bird may have flown on to perch on one of the many other posts and branches that 'he' uses.
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The next night the Tawny Owl spends a few minutes watching the world go by.
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Out on a morning walk we see this Fox hunting along a field margin.
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A couple of minutes later the Fox spots us, and decides to saunter away.
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A visit by the Little Owl.
Left to right we have Profile, Head-on and Rear view of head.
The rear view plumage shows false eyebrows and large dark 'eyes' make an illusion
that the bird is watching you. Without optical equipment, and in the poor light,
it is surprisingly effective, and we have been fooled in the past.
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Another short visit from the Little Owl. On the left just hanging on to the ledge, and on the right 45 seconds later standing on top.
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This Reeve's Muntjac Deer female is just on the other side of the hedge by our living room window, so only a few metres away.
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The Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn runs up to Mum.
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Frankenpigeon?
No - just an affectionate pair of Wood Pigeons.
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On the top of the double-post arrangement supporting the adjustable height bird table, a pair of our Tree Sparrows spending 'quality time' together before ...
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... making whoopee.
He had about 10 goes before finally succeeding!
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This Tawny Owl first landed at the perch by the Kitchen window, and two minutes later arrived at the meadow post (about 30m away) for a 6 minute hunt, spent almost entirely in the pose you see on the right.
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Not seen here since the middle of 2018, a Little Owl (the actual common name of species) made a short re-appearance at the new Meadow post shortly after dark. Both images are mirrored to place the first on the left. The bird did actually move to the other side and face the other way.
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Blue Butterflies are not well represented here, so we were pleased that an hour's effort 'bagged' this male Holly Blue Butterfly which obliged with a few flights.
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This Holly Blue Butterfly shows the top of the wings on the left, and the bottoms and on the right. As usual we then sent him on his way across the fields.
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A pair of Mallard Ducks that had been circling the area came down to land about 50m from us. Here is the female Aerobraking down to the ground. The male landed a few metres away and they waddled through a hedge to feed.
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This shows two flights by a male Brimstone Butterfly.
The top of the male's wings are a much more vivid colour than the bottom.
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Comma Butterflies used to be Autumn-only visitors here, but now we see them in Spring as well. The upper and lower wings are completely different colours, the white 'comma' only showing on the bottom of the wing (right hand image of 2 separate flights).
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This is an overwintered Speckled Wood Butterfly - a bit tatty but not much faded. You can't see the bird peck on the rear of the far wing, totally by our choice of photo.
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This is a Green Veined White Butterfly 'visiting' which is somethimes seen feeding on Lady's Smock (Cuckoo Flower) flowers.
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A different Green-veined White individual flies towards the camera - a direction totally the decision of the insect. Once they are in flight they can do whatever they like!
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The caterpillar food plant of Orange-tip Butterflies is Garlic Mustard, and we have managed to allow quite a lot of this to grow. So this year we are seeing more than our usual '1 or 2' adults. Although the females lay on garlic Mustard, the adults will sip nectar from other flowers, and this Lady's Smock (Cuckoo Flower) is one of their favourites. Notice the proboscis curved round into the flower.
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Here is the male Orange-tip Butterfly in flight, showing the upper surface of the far wing, and wonderful lattice pattern on the lower surface of the near wing.
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This is a FEMALE Orange-tip Butterfly - which doesn't have even a trace of the orange wing tips, but has a similar wonderful lattice pattern on the lower surface of the wing.
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We caught another male Orange-tip Butterfly on this day, so took the opportunity to show you female (left) and male Orange-tip Butterflies, so you can compare.
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At the Woodland site a couple of Red-legged Partridges feed together. This image is actually an accurate montage to catch both birds in focus.
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4 days after their appearance at the woodland site, what we THINK is the same pair of Red-legged Partridges were wandering on the grassy compressed gravel outside the front door.
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This female Reeve's Muntjac Deer is walking quietly down the hedge to our west right by the main road. The Traffic on the other side of the hedge didn't bother her at all, but she spotted us watching her from behind our own hedge, stopped for a look, and then continued her stroll down the crop margin.
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This female Brimstone Butterfly doesn't have the bright yellow top of wings
of the male, but still has the orange spot at the wing centre.
These two moments of flight are about a third of a second part.
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The Rooks have mostly finished their nests, but the other Corvids are just getting
around to constructing their's.
This a montage of Jackdaws collecting twigs.
The cloudy eye of the right hand bird is just it's nictitating
membrane.
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This Magpie, out in the Meadow, chooses something a bit more manageable.
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Outside the living room this little Wren is singing its heart out.
Unfortunately the double glazing and our deteriorating hearing means we hear - zilch.
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A Tawny Owl visits the kitchen perch. Bon Appetit!
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This Tawny Owl checked out the recently replaced post in the meadow for a few
minutes, then flew to the perch outside the kitchen, and then flew back for a
another couple on minutes on the new post.
Bottom Middle is the visit to the Kitchen perch.
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A few Fieldmice (Wood Mice) this week at the bottom of the hedge.
Here is a little montage of 3 visits over 3 nights.
Fieldmice (Wood Mice) are a Tawny Owl's second favourite 'food' here - Voles being
at the top of the menu.
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A pair of Mallard Ducks are regularly evening visitors to the main pond.
Here they show us that they visit other feeding sites.
He is at the back 'standing guard'.
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The female Mallard Dick has a major preen on the sprouting Iris roots at the edge of the main pond, while ...
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... her mate swim backwards and forwards in quiet 'guard duty', providing a chance to catch his reflection.
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This atypically pale Buzzard was flying near the Black-Poplars being used for nesting by several pairs of Rook.
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And Lo - a Rook arrives to harry it away.
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A gloriously coloured male Chaffinch picking up corn scattered on the concrete track.
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A female Chaffinch poised elegantly on a twig of a Corkscrew Hazel. Love the sharp little claws clearly visible.
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The male Reeve's Muntjac Deer wasn't pleased by our arrival and made a prompt but not panicked departure through the growing corn.
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The female Green Woodpecker spent a few minutes on the post top.
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Birds don't have expressions, so this disagreeable stare from the hedge of the occasional sighting of a House Sparrow is entirely our imagination.
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"I've got this lovely juicy worm, but its hard to pull out"
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Here is a female Mallard Duck quacking with a wonderful sense of joie-de-vie.
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Our north-side-of-the-house Wrens are still collecting moss for the nest. These birds build their nests from Moss tied together with spider silk. If we can find the nest without disturbing them we will bring you a pic.
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Between beakful's of moss for the nest, this Wren stops of momentarily on the top of the hedge
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On successive days this pair of Long-tailed Tits quite often perch together on this twig pushed into the hedge outside the living room window.
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Long-tail Tits now make regular appearances at the feeders on both sides of the house. They are probably breeding on our site, but we have no idea where. Beautiful little creatures.
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Aren't Long-tailed Tit absolutely gorgeous.
Here a single shot of a pair on a little stick poked into the hedge outside
the living room, with the gap between them a little reduced in the photo editor.
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A Wood Pigeon delicately preens the first (or maybe last) tail feather.
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A Wood Pigeon lands with the early morning sun shining through the wings.
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Obviously 'friends' as one lands and the other doesn't take any defensive action.
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A Rook lands at this site, already peering down to see what there is to eat.
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A Peacock Butterfly in quite good condition considering that it has spent 6 months holed up in a shed or something.
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A heat-trap made by a 'wall' of Lodgepole Pine trees facing SSW contains a wonderful selection of nooks and crannies, making this a favourite place for the British resident 7-spot Ladybird. In a couple of minutes we found 10, of which this was the most photogenic.
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The arrival of Bee-flies, a 'True fly, not a Bee, signals the new season is well underway. Here is one perched on some dried grass ...
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... and here a Bee-fly hovers back to camera 'into the wind'. Look for that long (harmless) proboscis - it is NOT a stinger.
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