With four Kestrels and a young Peregrine hunting over the meadows this morning, it was a bad time to be small and furry.
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Run And Hide
It's All In The Preperation
Weather permitting, I have a field trip planned for the middle of the week and so today was a good time to see how my potential subjects were getting on.
Durlston is a great place to visit at any time of year, but now the meadows are bursting with flowers and countless little beasts and bugs.
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Feeling The Heat
Every now and again, the Sun comes out and we have a little bit of summer!
This young Thrush (I think it's a Thrush), was doing its best to keep cool without going to the trouble of getting into the shade!
The Race
Watching Otters in the wild is a real privilege but already these animals are getting blamed, by some course fishermen, for a drop of fish numbers in our rivers.
I had a chat with a very opinionated chap about just this subject, the other day.
Now, I am all for people having fun in the countryside, but it may be handy to remember that Otters catch fish to live, not just for something to do on a Sunday afternoon.
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
The Young Need Boundaries
This is one of the three young Roe Deer fawns that I saw last night.
It was happily wandering around, picking fights with the butterflies and causing trouble for his mum.
After a while she hopped overt the wall and left him to play on his own for while.
Eat Buttercups, Stay Beautiful
With the promise of a blue sky evening, I went off in search of our Roe deer youngsters.
There were three seperate mums with fawns but I don't get too close when they are tiny, so I stayed with this one instead.
Now this may look very similar to the deer shot that I took couple of days ago, but it is totally different.
This one is eating a buttercup!
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Short Walks and Loud Voices
Short walks are all I seem to manage these days which is very frustrating and my poor old camera is feeling a little unloved.
Still, I did manage a walk to the cliffs when the Sun came out and that is always good.
On full-time backing vocals duty was the Whitethroat, plenty about and very noisy!
Shadows
I have been watching these Herring Gulls for a while as it seems to be one of the few that have a nest in view of the path (well, with a little leaning).
I arrived too late to see the chicks in the Sun though, which was a shame, but it is always good to see them
Friday, 22 June 2012
...And In The Morning, There Be Pirates!
As a new day dawned and the Sun released itself from the shackles of a white tipped horizon, a ship appeared.
It had sheltered, protected by the dark of night as well as by the cliffs of our bay, before braving Old Harry and the race into the harbour.
The Lord Nelson is now back in this place, silent and almost motionless on a grumbling sea, waiting for the night and the mist to make her invisible again.
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
And Smile
Evenings are just about perfect for walking and the Sun, as it sets, shows off the Roe deer very nicely.
We saw six last night, four females and two males, not in a herd but within a few hundred yards of each other.
This evening I saw three and managed to get a bit closer to this one.
No sign of any youngsters here, but it is good to see so many.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Hop-a-Long
The Robin is another bird that I can spend hours watching and because of its curiosity and boldness, you tend to be involved in whatever they are doing.
This one had a youngster that was very demandinging and a bad foot!
A Garden Full Of Youngsters
In all of the houses that we have lived in, we have never been lucky enough to have much of a garden. This has now changed and the garden we have now is just about perfect.
This morning we have had Magpies, Jackdaws, Starlings, Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Sparrows, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Dunnocks all feeding their young and costing me a fortune in bird food!
We moved here about three months ago and have had 25 species of bird here, the latest being a Jay that hopped in and had a look around.
Now, I don't know if this is a normal number of birds or not, by I am really enjoying it!
Saturday, 16 June 2012
More Wind Problems
When the wind is as strong as it was this morning there really is only one place to go and the cliffs at Durlston didn't disappoint.
There were three Kestrels today, doing there best to look cool in the high wind, but this one looked very grumpy!
Time To Leave Home
This is another shot from yesterdays encounter with the Great Spotted Woodpeckers.
All was going well, with both mum and dad feeding the inmates, when another youngster decided to get over curious.
I have no idea whether it was from the same brood as the ones being fed, but when mum found out she wasn't happy!
Slight Westerly Winds
Among the usual suspects along the cliffs this morning were the Gannets! Normally they stay well out to sea, but today they came very close.
Strange then, that I managed to get a shot of an in-focus Black Backed Gull, but all of the Gannets were blurred!
Friday, 15 June 2012
More Bracken Than Cub
This mornings walk just got better and better. The weather changed completely from wet and windy to blue skies.
After spending far too long watching the Woodpeckers I stumbled across this little chap.
After using up all my legendary tracking skills (this took about 5 minutes) he disappeared, only to turn up again later when I gave up and sat under a tree.
Room With A View
I spent quite a while watching the woodpeckers this morning. Both adults were busy feeding the kids, who were doing there best to shout the house down.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Evening Exercises
A couple of shots from tonights exercise involving the R.N.L.I. and the Costguard.
Always good to watch.
Evening Exercises
A couple of shots from tonights exercise involving the R.N.L.I. and the Costguard.
Always good to watch.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Take A Bow
We had to leave the Wrens before they had finished singing but as there was a break in weather we decided to carry on.
There were plenty of Turns in the bay, but no sign of the Dolphins or the Seal that had been over the last couple of days.
Singing In The Rain
This mornings walk was a little damp and more than a little windy.
Not a great day for taking photographs but whilst sheltering in one of the old gun emplacements at Peveril Point we were entertained by a family of Wrens.
The rain didn't stop them making a racket and they were great fun to watch.
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Difficult Flying Weather
It was a little windy along the cliffs this morning but it didn't put off the braver Kestrels.
It is always good to see these birds and even better with the youngsters around.
Small Reds
Red Squirrels are incredible cute and not too common. We have them on Brownsea Island in the middle of Poole Harbour and it is well worth a visit.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
An Owl For Geoff
I bumped into one of our hard-working fishermen today and he told me of a time when, many miles out to sea, an Owl decided to take a break and land on his boat.
Now I don't know whether Geoff's Owl was a Short Eared Owl, but this is one of my favourite shots.
Cheers Geoff, it was good to chat.
A Seagull Rose
The Seagull Cafe, at the old Pier Head in Swanage serves the finest coffee in town and the view is superb! Before the rains came, their roses were looking pretty good too.
Meadows Or Rocks
So what do you call a Pipit that lives in the meadow and on the rocks? My money is on a Rock Pipit, but I have been caught out before and so this one is just a Pipit! Neither Rock nor Meadow.
Stag Weekend
Well, what a weekend! Four days of walking, sitting, eating and drinking. The weather hasn't been great but there was time to inspect the local Roe deer population. This chap was getting close to losing his winter coat and deep in the long grass, not too far away was his main squeeze with a new arrival.
Monday, 4 June 2012
The Race
It is not easy to get both dogs in the same shot. Sika is incredibly fast, but Benny has the agility to cut her off while she corners.
Both dogs were abandoned in the past and this makes watching them happily charge about even more rewarding.
Benny
I don't take enough photographs of our dogs and so today I decided to make amends.
We spent quite a while letting them charge around the field and I took plenty of blurred pictures.
We have had Benny since he was eight months old (about six years ago) and he is special, very special.
Sika
It is hard to believe that we have had Sika for over two years now and she fits into the family quite nicely.
She is a beautiful dog, full of life and as mad as cheese.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
From The Roof Tops
I have been watching this Herring Gull for a while now, waiting for a glimpse of the youngsters.
Today, for the first time, we saw three chicks tottering between the pots with no space for mum to sit.
From The Cliff Tops
A slightly more natural home than a chimney stack and perhaps a better place for a young Herring Gull to grow up.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Hide & Seek
Always the favourite, our Robins have just one youngster. It stays in the dark of the trees while mum and dad pop backwards and forwards nicking the mealworms before the Jackdaws get a chance.
Feeding Time
Four different birds were feeding their young in the garden this afternoon which made up for a rather misty, dull walk this morning.
The Sparrows were the noisiest and the most numerous
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