Elton

Some more fun with the new 500D and 70-300mm. These all taken in and around Elton.

Alder catkin Alnus


Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto


Woodpigeon Columba palumbus


Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus


Tree Sparrow Passer montanus


Elton Church


Canon EOS 500D, 70-300mm IS USM

First day with the 500D

New toy arrived yesterday so, with the wind finally died down and the sun out, I was keen to get to Ferry Meadows for a go. The first shot was taken at home before the sun came up and is of the heron that has taken to perching on the roofs here.

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea


Mute Swan Cygnus olor




Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus


Canon EOS 500D 70-300mm IS USM

Garden Moorhen

Canon Powershot SX30IS

January Moths

Some mild conditions encouraged me to try a bit of winter mothing and three species resulted. Second Mottled Umber for the garden and first January records for Winter Moth and March Moth (previous earliest 11th Feb.).

Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria


March Moth Alsophila aescularia


Winter Moth Operophtera brumata


Canon Powershot A640

Nordic Jackdaw, Ferry Meadows

Feeding at lunchtime today near the visitor centre.

Jackdaw, Corvus monedula monedula

Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77x20

The worst Waxwing photo?

Cycled up to Werrington to see the flock of Waxwings here today and counted about 120. Photography was hampered by the fact that the birds were staying in the tops of the trees and I had left my camera on settings more suited to midday in the sahara than midwinter in Peterborough. Hence this rather ropey attempt.

Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus

Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77x20

Climbing Bank Vole

The cold weather has made the Bank Voles in the garden much bolder. One has taken to climbing an ivy-covered fence to get at some fat balls in a feeder hanging nearby. At least three others feed below it.



Videoscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77x20

The Biking Birder

Well it was excellent to be able to meet up with Gary yesterday and offer him somewhere to stay. Gary's epic journey around the UK visiting every RSPB and WWT reserve, not to mention a fair few ECO Schools, continues through Cambridgeshire and I was able to join him for the ride to the Nene Washes this morning.

There were not that many birds on show and nothing to add to Gary's 242 species total (chasing the record of 251) but it was a fabulous morning; icy cold and still with a cracking sunrise.

Keep going Gary and good luck:
http://www.bikingbirder.co.uk/
http://bikingbirder2010.blogspot.com/

Office Short-eared Owl

Waxwing in the morning, Short-eared Owl in the afternoon. Crikey!

Sitting at my desk I picked up a distant group of four high-flying birds heading towards me high in the one small patch of sky I can see from here. When I put my bins on them I was astonished to see one was an owl. I scrabbled to get a scope but by that time it was getting closer and too high so I stayed on it with bins and watched as it passed directly over the office heading WNW shadowed by three Carrion Crows. It stayed fairly high but was clearly a Short-eared Owl, the pale belly and solid black primary tips being obvious with bins.

61st species seen from this office window following the 60th this morning. What next?!

Office Waxwing

Spent this morning searching the Nene Valley from Castor Meadows eastwards following yesterday's sighting of a Great Grey Shrike at Ferry Meadows. There were a lot of birds around, especially winter thrushes moving west. The highlights were two large gangs of passerines mobbing birds: the first was near Lynch Bridge, which led to very close views of a roosting Tawny Owl in a yew and the second was a Sparrowhawk at the north end of Coney Meadow. Plenty of Siskins were around the NVR Yacht Club crossing and there were a lot of Goldcrests around generally.

Of course there was no sign of the shrike but on arriving at work I looked out of the window to see this beauty sat on the treetop behind the houses opposite. No doubt attracted by the rowans on Park Road this was a very welcome office tick.

Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus

Digiscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77 x20

Merveille du Jour

The second Merveille du Jour for the garden. The last was in 2005. Also Feathered Thorn, Red-green Carpet, Brick, Yellow-line Quaker, Red-line Quaker, Beaded Chestnut, Green-brindled Crescent and Garden Rose Tortrix.

Merveille du Jour Dichonia aprilina

Canon Powershot A640

West Penwith, August

Only just got around to sorting out the photos from a superb 10 day visit to West Cornwall at the end of August. We normally go to Sennen in late October but for various reasons ended up going around the summer bank holiday. An excellent week with lots of walking, some surfing and a fair bit of rock climbing plus of course plenty of wildlife.

A good series of Basking Shark records, a couple of Sunfish and good seabird passage, with quite a few Storm Petrels, Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters.

Orthoptera

Roesel's Bush-cricket Metrioptera roeseli


Grey Bush-cricket Platycleis albopunctata


Speckled Bush-cricket Leptophyes punctatissima


Field Grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus


Lepidoptera

Yellow Shell Camptogramma bilineata


Prausta despicata



Grayling Hipparchia semele


Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas


Wall Lasiommata megera


Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria


Fox Moth Macrothylacia rubi, larva


Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia, larva


Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua, larva


Other insects and arachnids

Bristletail


Rose Chafer Cetonia aurata



Harvestman eating grasshopper


Herps

Common Toad Bufo bufo


Common Lizard Lacerta vivipara


Odonata

Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo


Golden-ringed Dragonfly Cordulegaster boltonii




Birds

Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax


Jackdaw Corvus monedula, eating Slow worm



Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus


Stonechat Saxicola rubicola, juvenile


Fish

Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus

Gannets and Crane

I took a bike ride out to Bradley Fen this lunchtime but long before I got there I noticed four juvenile Gannets were circling low over me as I biked across the Frank Perkins viaduct. They headed off over Fletton and I rang Mike Weedon over at Lynchwood to get him to put the news out.

Ten minutes later I had a call from him to say they had just flown past his office over the East of England Showground. At that moment I was at the west end of Bradley Fen and had just noticed an adult Crane flying over me. This drifted off over Stanground where it gained height and headed off west. Sure enough ten minutes later Mike had this go over the office too! Unknown to us at the time Matt Webb had seen the same bird from Ferry Meadows.

Multiple observations of the same birds as they fly through are strangely satisfying and the whole experience made for an exciting and entertaining lunchhour.

I'd seen one Gannet earlier this autumn taking the same route as the four here. It was also seen by Steve Dudley as it flew over the town bridge five minutes before I saw it crossing Nene Parkway and heading over Orton Mere.

With the six seen by Matt and Don the day before my single Gannet is becoming a positively common bird in the area!