As I mentioned earlier, it was a pretty glorious day up here and rather than head of into the bundu, I thought I'd stay local and just walk. My good lady is off her feet for a wee while with Plantar Fasciitis (I thought that was an internet scam) so I wanted to stay in the area, in case I was needed, there's no signal up at the reservoir for example. 11:15 ish, I head out and off down the lane. There was a good breeze blowing so I'd put on a light fleece and a waterproof jacket over a t-shirt. Mistake! There was heat in that sun!
Anyway, it turned out to be a great birding walk which I'll edit the shots for asap but some really good sightings for this area.
Another real surprise was sightings of three or more Red Admiral butterflies and a gorgeous Dragonfly, I'll ID before continuing with the photos.
Barn owl, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Dunnock, Goldcrest, GSW, Great Tit, Jackdaw, Jay, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch!, Pheasant, Red Admiral, Red Kite, Robin, Stonechat, Treecreeper, Wood Pigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Not one but two or three Nuthatches! I hadn't seen one so far this year and those I expected in other areas I walk, not on the patch so, big smiles here and Goldcrests above my head in a grove of Oak tress
AND there's a glorious sunset going on. What a day
I hope you've all had good days too
More later
grumblemuttermuttergrumblebleedinwork.... but on the plus side the weather was pants too so I didn't miss much Your day sounds fab
Sorry PB, I only retired very recently but I'm absolutely loving the freedom but, don't always put it to good use, yesterday was an exception!
Well, not exactly. I'm still editing, I went for another walk yesterday, this time into town which seemed a good idea at the time but, of course, it started raining on my way back. 7.8 miles, the last three in wet, misty rain
Act well, there you go. A good walk, some decent sightings, I think but, delayed my editing of these.
I left the house at just before 11:15 and wandered down the lane, I have a wee loop I do around a couple of the barns first them out onto the lane ........never know what you might see, right? (nothing)
I do love the Autumn colours at the moment ...
Just under half a mile in and on the level for a short while, these are the woods where the Jays tease me from the crest of the hill ahead is the half mile mark and where I was to spot a real novelty for the patch.
There's yet another all-you-can-eat buffet tree on the left up ahead and I've been waiting for the diners to arrive, today, some of them had so I stopped for a good scan.
I could see movement in and around the tree so I got the camera ready ....... Great Tit ............
Movement in the tree beyond that caught my eye. Binoculars, check. WOW, really? camera!
A Nuthatch! I've never seen one here, of course the Jays are good at hiding too but, I've only ever seen them down in the Den and none this year down there, well chuffed to see one on the patch!
Of course they're not renowned for keeping still while we get our shot are they? The undergrowth was giving me problems just trying to keep an eye on it.
See! The first decent shot I might have got so, I moved round to the other side, get a better angle.
Ooooh! Treecreeper, right in front of me.
I see them reasonably often but this one was climbing that tree between me and the Nuthatch, which has now moved on dammit
Ach well, happy chappy, I'll keep an eye on this area more often now.
I did drop my wee mix of peanuts, mealworms and sunflower chips on a fencepost here and headed on down the lane. It's a pretty steep hill from here but I was going down for now.
I also met a guy and his Spaniels walking down the one as well, he lives along the road where I was planning to walk and we stood and chatted for ages about the wildlife etc. I had a walk route planned in my head so we went our separate ways (great song) anyone?
This is the "Buzzard" tree, where we stood chatting, so called because there's almost always a Buzzard or two scanning their domain from its branches. Just look at that silhouette.
This is a ten shot stitch so if you see a few anomalies!!!!!
I turned up to my left, into a tree plantation and the light and colours were beautiful. The farmer at the bottom of the lane keeps all the walks here cut down, wonderful!
That is the slope of the hill I'm walking along, this path has fairly steep areas, gave me a good workout.
You can see there's a mixed planting here, Oaks, Silver Birch, Beech and more.
Just past those Beech trees, the path turns down a steep hill to the road below and a standing stone half way down, overlooking the valley.
Why? Who? What for? I love all our ancient monuments. There's the remains of a Souterrain in the field at the bottom of our lane but an intact one just over the bridge I'm heading for. Still not been over to visit
I finally got to the bottom of this path and joined the road to the bridge, after trying to see what the small flock off birds that scattered out of the hedges were, I only ID'd one Yellowhammer.
It was now a beautiful sunny day and, luckily, yet again, I had a fleece and a waterproof jacket on!!!
They went round my waist and annoyed me for the rest of the walk
A family of Buzzards popped up from nearby trees and started playing around together, wonderful to watch, before each heading off hunting I guess.
One of them seemed to take an interest in me
They circled around for a good while before each going their separate ways.
And so, I was almost at the bridge.
I have to add; first, I discovered my lens was filthy and I hate that so I've been attempting to clean spots of every shot. Before that, I discovered that one of the cameras I was using hadn't adjusted the time so as far as images following in sequence goes .......... they didn't so, I've been adjusting the time on many of them as I've edited them. C'est la vie eh?
All sorted now, lens cleaned as well. Now this all took around an hour and a half to happen, I didn't get shots of everything I saw, many were just fleeting glimpses as they often are but, that's about to change.
Stand by for the next enthralling episode (I can't cope with all this editing this morning aaaaaand (in a Secrets of Skinwalker Ranch voice)
I haven't had any music on all morning
Time for a wee break and get some music on, maybe even shower and get dressed
Well done with the nuthatch Scozmos and nice photo's of the treecreeper and buzzard.
Well its been drizzly doon here all day but still so mild, lovely to see your wildlife and surroundings
Cracking Buzzard shots
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
Thank you Linda, it's a gie dreich day here tae! Been mizzly all day, no walking today but I've been whizzing about the house for steps
Thanks Mac, well chuffed to get the Nuthatch(es)
WiFi been down most of the afternoon so I'll sort Pt.2 tomorrow
How does one survive without WiFi
A great place for a walk.