old freinds return to the garden

Hooray!!
Our annual visit from the linnet pair has come around. This happens every year at around this time, but they soon disappear towards the summer. They are always a delight to have in the garden, only last year the camera was bust adn this year, so far, they have only come to the bottom of the garden. Still always a pleasure to see.

But, Oh dear,

Look what else returned to the garden on the same day. Its our old american buddy. Luckily he diddnt stay long and he was just traveling back thorugh the garden, back to wherever he came. I hope we shant be seeing him again

after church today

I went outside after church to play ball tig with some friends. Plenty of ladybirds around when I noticed this oversized monster on one of the graves. At first, I just assumed it was a harlequin but judging by its size I considered that it might have been an eyed-ladybird, the largest ladybird in Britain. I managed to borrow my mum and dad's seriously naf camera and take some record shots. I have just looked it up now on the internet and my bug does match those on the internet. hooray, my second eyed ladybird ever.

  

just a size comparison. on the right is a blurred 2-spot ladybird

what a beautiful animal

a garden catch-up

taken yesterday in the sunshine-the tadpoles dramatically rescued from soil hill. they seem to have settled in well and are flourishing. by the way, these are not all off them. the lest were in a clump of shape. there are about 100

my dad spotted this bird on the birdfeeder this morning. i grabbed the camera to take some photos but the code on its leg is still undeciferable.

there is some bad news for the garden inhabitants. this pest was in tyhe garden this moring. lcukily the monster didnt chase off any birds nor did he knock off any bird feeders. luckily he quickly moved on but still it could be trouble ahead

soil hill-very, very dry!!

my mum was busy this morning so I took one off my solo visits to soil hill. the sun was golirious but it still felt slightly chilly. you could tell that the hill had suffered from the recent heat
-see below-

as I entered the hill, I heard skylarks singing. If you read this then you have probably read my previous posts and so know about my epic quest to get a skylark photo. no sooner had I entered the hill I spotted one sat on the stone circle. i sneaked closer but it unfortunatly must have spotted me. I managed to take a decent shot but still not what i'm really looking for...


as I walked down the hill to the pools I spotted these tracks in the dust. Based on the size of the print I am guessing a crow. it is certainly not one of the passerines frequent on the hill

I decided to wait at the pool for a reed bunting to emerge. as I waited a spotted two peacock butterflys having a drink on the yellow flowers that seem to have sprouted everywhere...

eventually my waiting paid off and two stuning reed buntings appeared. unfortunatly only one was in a position to be photographed but luckily i managed to get it anywhere..

You may also know about my quest for a mipit photo. luckily I spotted this bird. it is not as good as i had hoped but still it is a decent record shot.

as i walked back up i spotted two skylarks feeding in some short grass. I had also seen them there on the way down so assumed that they would come back. I crept closer but they flew away. I waited paitiently but with no luck. I decided to try and lie down so that i was such an obvious feature. As i did i spotted a weasle coming towards me along the wall. I was completely taken aback. I snapped him as he made his way along the wall towards me, then he ran across the dirt track and continued his wall run along the wall over that side. i was in such a flurry that very few off my photos came out at all but just as proof I have saved some of the more....resonable ones! it was so special to see

i left soil hill ahppy that i had seen the weasle but sad about the lack of decent mipits and skylarks. as i walked out i spotted two skylarks flying over the feild. one of them landed and i decided to have one last try. i crept along the wall. suddenly i spotted one on the ground quite close. i decided to go behind the wall ,where it could not see me and try and get closer. i was completly surprised to see it sat right behind a gate, hidden in the grass. see below the photos. i can now say that i have finally got the skylark pictures that i have wanted

I left soil very happy. as i walked down though a mipit came and landed on the wall quite close. a hatrick!! I managed to get a couple of quick shots, and leave that mandate complete as well.

all in all a really good day. also there were:

2 lapwings

4 goldfinches

and a kestrel

what a smashing day

wheatear

came home from school today to find my dad building the dacking. he said that a wheatear had been flitting around the feild outside our house. i had a look and suddenly this stunning male wheatear appeared on a gatepost. he flitted around a bit before flying off.

p.s. the camera lens is finally comeing home from japan. i have no idea what will happen as the guarrentee is run out but hopefully i will have it by next week!!

soil hell, baked like a potato

The the scorching temperatures I decided to visit soil hell today. unfortunately the camera is still broken, and boy could you tell. I have tried for so long to get a photo of a skylark or a mipit sat out in the open instead of belting across the horizon. i have failed on every other attempt, only this time they were less than 2m away, both species. in fact two skylarks were fighting as i came up the track, which i might add has been graveled over to hide the dog poo. i cannot tell you how frustrating it is to have to go through that. never-the-less skylarks are attractive birds and it was by far the best view i have ever had of one so here's to that!. also a red legged partridge which i flushed by the Yorkshire water underground reser at the entrance to the site. a stunning male reed bunting was feeding where the bottom pool should have been, it is only a sliver of water now. surprisingly a heron was also fishing there but what was he intending to catch-dust fish! plus two lapwings flying about.

As I headed back out i noticed that the big deep pool near the begging of the site was also dry. i suddenly remembered all the frogspawn that i had seen on my last visit and thought to myself then, hmmmm i wonder if that pool is likely to dry up. i was reminded of that right then as i gazed at the empty pool. i rushed to the sight and low and behold plenty of tadpoles but no water. i hurridly fought for an idea and as a result found myself shoveling tadpoles into my driking bottle with the drinkling bottles lid. however it soon became apparent that iw as going to need more bottles. i found 2 more on the hill and then rushed back down, got my mum to drive me back up with a bucket and spade and shoveled the whole lot into the back garden pond.
a resue mission well accomplished!!

mipit movement and other stuff in bradshaw

plenty of mipits in the feild opposite my house yesterday, almost 15 birds which left south before sun set. birds probably just feeding but 2 birds were fighting very close to me.

also recently our local sparrowhawk was about terrorising the local crows, unfortunatly not sat on the bird table like he sometimes does but almost 10m up in the sky.

also the heron has been about recently. he was perched on the wall where he was last time. i cant see what he see's there as there is no water there or anything. i also saw him, or another bird, down by illingworth. i imagine it is the same bird becuase that is also a quere place to find a heron.

the feild opposite the house, again

a heron was spotted perched neatly on the dry stone wall parralel with the right hand side of the house, far side of the feild. it was moving nimbly as though he was avoiding falling off (which im sure he was avoiding). he diddnt seem to care but as with previous posts, the camera is broken so no pictures

fountains abbey

went to fountains abbey yesterday. i was a bit gutted i still dont have m,y best lense, but what really rubbed it in was when a marsh tit sat about 1 meter away. aaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!!!!
never-the-less it is still a great bird to see even without a camera. many other birds were around. a dipper was shooting up and down the river. plenty of jackdaws all the time flying across the valley. overall a smashing day:
a dipper
2 dabchicks
plenty of tufted ducks
plenty of phesants
3 marsh tits!!!!
a wren
a chiffchaff
plus lots of woodland suspects

the garden-another new tick

another new bird for the garden this morning. i have been pretty satisifed with our garden rarity list:
long tailed tit-march 10
siskin-mothers day 09 and march 10
linnet-frequent summer visiter
whitethroat-a long time ago
stonechat-february 09
phesant-a long time ago
feildfare-december 09/january 10
little owl-december 09
mistle thrush-december 09/january 10
stock dove-agaust 09
as you can see thats a pretty hefty list but now we have another bird to add to it. a stunning male reed bunting turned up in the garden this morning. i have not told you but my camera is in for repair-AGAIN!!! so the pictures are quite poor but they are proof enough. what a garden bird list i am going to have.
reed bunting-april 10

derbyshire holiday ;day 5 (thursday)

today we went home and guess what, the rain finally stopped after initially getting lost we went to a national trust place. i went straight to the ponds where there was plenty of wildlife.

a stunning male grebe

















my first 2010 chiffchaff

















the grebe pair together

a long tailed tit

plenty of stuff besides that to keep you entertained:

reed bunting

willow tit

teal pair

female goosander

amongst the unusual

plus mallards

swans canada geese and swallows

a great final day