Wildlife on the Gironde estuary - Our first garden Snipe

I thought i'd try & do a catch-up on here. I keep saying I should post more often but the time seems to disappear. The terrible news from Paris this morning has really upset me & so I'll go through my photos to cheer myself up.

First up is a Pied Flycatcher going through on migration at the start of September, they are lovely & come through with the Spotted Flycatchers from mid August to mid September, they sit in the trees & fly out to catch passing insects so are quite obvious by their habits, photo by Ron

There are also a lot of Wheatears & whinchats going through in September, this is a Whinchat, posing quite nicely, also Rons photos,

Out on the marshes & we have regular walks that we do. We often see Coypu's, but this one came wandering along the path towards us

& he kept coming

& coming

& then he must have seen us, we were in the shade & perhaps the wind blew the other way, & off he went like a rocket into the ditch.

In early October we had a picnic out on the marshes & saw 5 Hen Harriers which may have come for the Winter or may have been passing through on migration, These are photos of the most cooperative,

he was flying low over the fields, dipping down from time to time, they are so graceful,

they tend to fly with their wings in a slight V

There are always Goldfinches out eating the thistles & teasels

We had lots of cranes going over this year, this lot directly overhead,

Just over a week ago all our little birds decided to come back to the garden, Dunnock, photos taken from the house,

then the Dunnock went onto a little wall

& looked around

& there comes it's mate

The Wren has been poking around for some time but rarely comes out like this,

It didn't stay long, he was being watched from above by a Sparrow,

The Blackcaps have been eating all the Pyracanthe berries & are trying to eat these dried up Figs!

The Great Tit was looking it's best with the sunshine on it's breast

& a robin for MC we've 2 at the moment,

I forgot to load the last piccies so will finish later.

Thanks for looking.

Beautiful photos. Thanks for the Robin. It must be difficult to concentrate after the events of last night, especially the shocking incident at Le Bataclan. I didn't know it was still open as a music venue. Is it the same building that was famous in the early 70's, or is it a new one?

The atrocities committed by these terrorists is shocking and pure evil. I don't think many people can comprehend the mindset of people who can randomly murder innocent citizens.

Nice photos, Hazel. Great to see a male Hen Harrier. All too scarce over here where several have disappeared in mysterious circumstances.

Good to see your garden birds returning. I'm hoping Blackcaps will appear later in the winter. Some usually migrate here from central Europe.

Thanks H for the brightness amidst the gloom of yesterday's brutal events in Paris,so shocking I can't find any suitable words!

Stay safe & post again soon, loved all your pics!

Thanks Wendy, I'm so shocked by it all. Yesterday morning they called it Black Friday because all the Doctors (mainly GP's) were going on strike for the weekend. It certainly was Black Friday, I didn't know until Ron got up & put the TV on. I had happily got up & done my moth trap without knowing. Now I can't put it all out of my mind. Terrible.

Unknown said:

Beautiful photos. Thanks for the Robin. It must be difficult to concentrate after the events of last night, especially the shocking incident at Le Bataclan. I didn't know it was still open as a music venue. Is it the same building that was famous in the early 70's, or is it a new one?

I think it must be the same one MC, it looked in an old area with older buidings around it, it was a rock concert & would have been packed with kids, can't bear to think about it.

It's good to have a such a welcome distraction from what happened in Paris last night which is beyond comprehension with its brutality and scale, I just don't have the words to describe the sadness we have seen on our television screens.    

@ Hazel,  what beautiful photos and amazed at the variety of species you get in your area.   Hard to choose a favourite as they are all so special so thanks for taking the time to upload them despite the recent traumatic events in your country.  

Thanks for the lovely pics, Hazy.

It beggars belief what goes through the minds of these people that they can randomly kill so many totally innocent strangers. I found it very hard to sleep last night after seeing the news - couldn't get my mind round it at all.

Unknown said:

I'm hoping Blackcaps will appear later in the winter. Some usually migrate here from central Europe.

What a coincidence. No sooner had I said this but one turned up on my feeder.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/134819.aspx

Unknown said:

No sooner had I said this but one turned up on my feeder.

    I wonder what would happen if I said Red Kite ?    lol  !!   or Green Woodpecker !!