As my old thread is still locked up I thought I'd start & new one. New home, new thread, new forum!!
Since moving in we've been really busy but here are a few photos taken along the way, these are a pair of Gland weevils, up to something naughty on the moth trap,
a Shield bug (for Rockwolf, where is she?) ,Pantilus tunicatus,
A flight of storks passing over on migration, someone asked me once, how do you know a bird is on migration "Does it have it's suitcase with it?" & they are quite right, most of the time it's circumstantial evidence,
& a local stork flying around,
meanwhile, whilst insulating the roof space I found this perfectly dried Garden dormouse (male!) which obviously died a horrible death from poisoning,
a Robin on the overhead cable, they don't come too close;
This is it's & our view of the estuary marshes,
A spider visiting the moth trap, Hogna radiata,
A burying beetle, Necrodes littoralis, also around the moth-trap
& a hornet, who wasn't agressive fortunately,
a Migrant Hawker on the marshes,
some Great White Egrets,
Cattle Egrets (probably), sitting on the fence,
& finally another Spider around the moth trap, Xysticus sp,
I'll try & finish this update later. Thanks for looking.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Awww, lovely photos captures of the tiny Goldcrests, they are a delight to see any time of the year as they constantly flit from twig to twig.
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Regards, Hazel
Very nice Hazel, hoping to see some at LM this week but the little devils need to stay still for a moment :)
Jim
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Thanks all, they are lovely little birds & because there were several when one went around the otherside of the tree there was always another to follow. You have to be quick though! They never stop!
You did well capturing those quicksilver birds Hazel, I have seen them on a couple of occasions but don't think I managed any photos.
Lot to learn
Well we've had some very cold weather lately but compensated for by a rush of unusual birds. We don't normally put the feeders out until January but they've been out a couple of weeks now. A few of our recent garden birds
We've had 3 members of the Thrush family perched in or close to the garden, the Song thrush is regular (especially on Sundays which is a big hunting day)
The Redwings arrived on the 28th November with up to 6 at the same time
& the Fieldfares arrived this morning, 3 of them perched in the Walnut tree, first for 5 years
we also had Greater spotted & Green woodpeckers recently.
The usual birds have been coming down to eat
& wash their feet, or would have done if it hadn't been frozen (-3°C this morning)
The Dunnock has been poking his head out from under the bushes
& around the trees & feeders are the Great tits & Blue tits
There has been 1 Brambling going around with the gang of House Sparrows
The Chaffinches & Greenfinches eat mainly on the ground whereas the Goldfinch seems happier on the feeder
However the highlight has been the arrival of Hawfinches, we had one a few days ago & yesterday came close enough for some decent photos
cleaning his beak on the bark
then this morning a female turned up & ate one of our new mealworms on the feeder
then she joined 2 males eating cherry stones that had dropped from the tree in the summer (we had a glut & they rotted on the tree, this is the male
Yum yum
down it goes
meanwhile the female went into pose mode in the tree
& finally our male Black Redstart is still hanging around, he didn't migrate with the others
The Robin is on the pastry thread & the Blackcap has just turned up so watch this space!
All photos taken through dirty double-glazing so Sorry!