Fair warning dear readers, I have a week off work, Mrs PB is not off until the weekend, I have no chores, my slate is clean, and I have brownie points to spend!!
Glorious forecast for today, so I contemplated another wader excursion to Weymouth or Portland, but decided to stay local, and walk to the river, as I've not been there in a while. I was out by 7:30 and as such had some webtastic views of the dew
Glinting jewels in the soft morning sunshine
And the weir at the Mill looked lovely
On the wildlife front, there'd been little more than crows and pigeons and cackling jackdaws, when a sudden flurry of activity marked the arrival of a lollipop family, one looking hairy
And one actually facing the camera's general direction, which I thought was kind!
I must have encroached on Jenny's patch, because she shouted at me and tried to lure me away from where I was standing by coming closer then moving away again, I guess a nest or something?
The path leads through a small but of woodland alongside the river, and as I entered a clatter of wings was the departure of a couple of blackbirds. Still present where they flew from was a song(?) thrush, so I think they were in a gang!
A little further into the wood, on two adjacent leaves, were a trio of stripy buzzies
Furry Fringed Bee
Red Eyed Tapering Hoverfly
And a Furry Shouldered Bee
Note: These names have been changed to protect the innocent!
There's a small bridge that crosses the river, just into some fields, but there is quite a nice view down the river, to the old railway bridge from it. As Iooked some pigeons came in to land, but to my distant eye, one looked to be flying differently, and also, landed on one of the vertical walls of the bridge, I instinctively snapped a couple of shots, and when I checked was mightily surprised to see
I had obviously walked along to get closer to the mystery bird, but it was gone by the time I reached the bridge, but lumbering away from me was a Buzzard
The dew hadn't burned off and there was some more web magic
I walked on a fair way, and suddenly Jenny number two shouted at me, before diving into the undergrowth
A dunnock showed me to of his characteristics, Grumpiness
And regal pride
A first for a while, a Greenfinch was eyeing up the plethora of berries
There were still a few butterflies about, I saw 2 that weren't whites, but neither settled for a photo, unlike this small white
I'm not sure of this next bird... a spotty dunnock?!
Also alighting for picture presentation was this green veined white (late bloomer?)
Now for the smug bit... I was properly chuffed with how these turned out
Obviously, the only way to follow that, is with a Baa Baa Poo Bee
Overhead a lone gull wheeled away
Walking back through the wood a patch of bright green caught my eye..
And a final bird from the walk ... google lens says a spotted flycatcher.. but I don't know (it also looks a bit similar to the spotty dunnock earlier!)
And a final shot, from the garden, a Blue Tit enjoying a fine repast, BUURRRRPPppppppp
I hope you enjoyed it (I did have to repost it once, as i got disconnected grrrr) as much as I enjoyed shooting it!
Stay safe all
LOL, PB, I can understand the temptation but what's a Redpoll doing in the deep south in late summer (or possibly early autumn)?! At our previous house in northwest Surrey, near the Surrey/Hants/Berks borders, we only ever saw Redpolls in deepest winter and only on a very few times in over 3 decades...
Edit: Oops, apologies, PB--just looked at the RSPB map--seems some RPs are resident on the south coast, so you might have seen one (though I still think your photo is a Goldie--lol!)
Unknown said:some RPs are resident on the south coast
Well that just proves it then Ann... TICK lol