It seems that I need to be a little more careful about what I say on this blog. In my last post I made reference to 'poor health' and, as I'd not posted for a long while, it seems that some people thought that I was seriously ill! Sorry if I gave that impression, and thank you for your concern. In reality, all I had was a stomach problem which meant that I didn't dare venture far from home unless certain facilities were available - you probably get the picture!
And the reason for the long break in posts to this blog is that I've been on holiday in Scotland and, although I've been back for a week now, I'm trying to fit in photo processing between attending to a backlog of other things that need doing! It's possibly going to be another week before I'm ready to do a post on the Scotland holiday!
I came back to a garden that's grown into a jungle, and it's quite hard to see the garden birds now. However, the garden is full of young birds - mainly Starlings, but also Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird and Woodpigeon. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers are coming to gather food about every half hour and we guess that it can't be long before the young fledge - we hope they come to visit us. The female bird is looking particularly scruffy and worn out, so she'll be glad when they can forage for themselves!
I did manage to get in a short owling session on my local patch on Monday, and found one Little Owl at my Site No.30. I even braved two fields of cattle to get to the site - now that the calves are somewhat older, the cattle seem to have calmed down a lot, but I did carry a stick just in case!! So here's a shot from that session just to keep things warm.
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| Little Owl - my Site No.30 |
Nice to have you back and well Richard,look forward to seeing your Scotish trip report.
ReplyDeleteJohn.
Thank you John - I'm working on it!!
DeleteWhat a great photo. We have also been away and I am going to take ages to to go through all the many photos I have taken. Yep, also some 'poor health' along the way, not quite the same as yours but something I could have done without!! Diane
ReplyDeleteThank you Diane. Hoping that your recovered now, and looking forward to your holiday photos!
DeleteGlad all is ok Richard, not enough hours in a day sometimes:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Doug. It's amazing where the time goes, and I've no idea how I used to find the time to work for a living!!
DeleteHi Richard, glad you are back. I hope you had a great holiday in Scotland. That's what happens when you go away on holiday, everything in your garden shoots up, the grass in particular. For some mysterious reason the garden seems to put on a grownth spurt when you are away, that's what seems to happen to my garden;) Unfortunately I have new neighbours and while we were away for a week they ripped up all the hedges that the previous owners had planted. The Dunnocks have now gone. I felt quite distressed to see the hedge gone. I have a hedge running along side on my new neighbour's side but there are gaps which I will now try to fill. The Dunnocks use to nest in my neighbours hedge, I wonder if they will ever come back.
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda. We had a great time in Scotland, and the weather was really kind to us!
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your Dunnocks. It's very sad when something happens which displaces 'old friends' from the garden. I hope you don't have too much trouble with the new neighbours. Neighbours who make significant changes which affect you, without consulting you first, sounds like bad news!
Welcome back, just in time for a few fledged juveniles??????????
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. I get the impression that I have lost quite a few breeding pairs this year. Fingers crossed, however!
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