Sunny late September at North Cave Wetlands

Its going to be sunny all week!!  Small Tortoiseshell above, Ruddy Darter below and Migrant Hawker.

Turnstones

There were good numbers of Turnstones along the beach and in the harbour in Bridlington today.  I think these are great little birds though they seemed to go largely unnoticed by the crowds.  I suppose they do blend in well with their surroundings.  The birds breed up in the arctic but are here to feed on our rocky beaches.  Those that pass through in Autumn and Spring are from Scandinavia on their way to or from wintering grounds in Africa and birds from Canada and Greenland spend the winter in Europe.  So today's birds are perhaps more likely to be Scandinavian.  Are we in Autumn yet?  Though most Turnstones today were in their drabber non breeding plumage, a few birds still showed some of their bright rusty coloured summer feathers.  Other birds were the omnipresent Herring Gulls - many juvenile birds - and also a group of Ringed Plover on the beach though the light had dropped and the rain set in when I spotted them.

and doing exactly what it says on the tin..


prawns for tea


how many Turnstones can you see?



oy save us some crab

walk like a dinosaur



an archive picture here showing a bird in breeding plumage

Kingfisher Reprise

Good to see the birds back in action fishing successfully at Tophill.  Today was definitely a "must get a bigger lens" day though!

Bee prepared!

I was checking the verbena yesterday afternoon for butterfly activity (sans camera) when a large blue hawker dragonfly hung itself up on a bush next to me.  I went back inside to get the camera so I could get some pics to id it, but on my return it had flown.  Lesson - always expect the unexpected!  So, this bumble bee got snapped instead.  In terms of butterflies there are several Small Whites around in my back garden, one pristine Red Admiral and one very tatty one.