Choughlets and a few others

Hi all, hope you are all enjoying the sunshine ! Thought I'd share a few photos of this lovely Chough family with their 2 youngsters and also a few from walks over the last few weeks.

Chough youngster sunning itself 

whilst poor mum and dad look for food !

The Kestrel pair I have been watching have 5 youngsters and doing well, they have just started to look out of the nest hole especially when they hear mum or dad calling 

Juvenile sandmartin 

Stonechat with an enormous meal !

Juvenile Shags 

and a young Swallow 

and a gorgeous juvenile Whitethroat 

and a pair of Silver Studded Blue Butterflies

and can anyone ID this insect for me? 

Best wishes , Jayne 

  • Fabulous photos Jayne, lovely to see the Chough family and of course the Kestrel and youngster too. All the young are so cute especially the Sand Martin having a rest on the wire and the Swallow and Whitethroat, so fluffy and you have captured them so well. Can't help you with the insect but someone will have the knowledge I'm sure. I think we are having the right weather this year for a general well being of all. Until the end of the month when the kids break up and the rain returns!!!
  • Great set of photos, Jayne. The Chough family is rather special. The fly looks rather fierce but I'm afraid I don't know what it is.
  • Fantastic pics Jayne, Choughs are great but Kestrels top them for me! Got funny eyes now trawling through a multitude of images trying to ID your fly but no luck so far!
  • Thanks for the lovely comments everyone. Thanks for your effort in the ID Wendy-closest I came was a bumble bee hoverfly but it still doesn't quite match my specimen ! This insect was in a coastal area on gorse bushes about the size of a large bee if anyone else has any suggestions
    Jayne
  • Lovely pics as always. I don't think I've ever seen a Chough youngster and definitely not sunbathing.
    I thought your critter might be a Tachinid fly which are often quite odd and bristly. Tachinid Grossa is big and looks like a fair possibility, although there may be others as some Tachinids are impossible to ID from photos alone and I don't know enough about this one.
  • Superb photos Jayne, and good to see the young chough doing what all teenagers do, sun themselves while the parents work their socks off....