OK, due to a combination of factors I have somewhat neglected posting on the blog. That doesn’t mean that I have been sat at home twiddling my thumbs or watching daytime telly. Does anyone still watch daytime telly to be entertained or informed? Definitely not the latter. Sources of news and entertainment on the Internet are more varied where by hitting the right buttons, the actuality & truth, as opposed to mainstream media who like to tell us what to believe, is there for all to discover. BBC, ITV, C4, Sky – they are all liars with biased and well-oiled axes to grind.
Today there's a selection of pictures shot in-between bouts of bad weather that hit the North West from January and into May when I ventured out with bins and camera if the sun appeared and winds subsided. I felt so sorry for our local farming community when days and weeks of rain swallowed their crop fields; more knocks to a hard-working fraternity who receive little or no credit for their contribution to our British Way of Life.
My mostly mornings with camera, plus a couple of ringing sessions confirmed that all is not well with birds. Where this year are Swifts, Sedge Warblers, Blackcaps, Swallows, Whitethroats, House Martins and Willow Warblers? - to name but a handful of supposedly “common species”. Luckily, Wheatears and ever curious Pied Wagtails seemed in good supply with the jury out on seemingly low numbers of finches and buntings.
Adult Swallow
Whitethroat
Sedge Warbler
Wheatear
Pied Wagtail
Linnet
Reed Bunting
Pied Wagtail - looking for the other one
While saturated fields held no joy for farmers, a few waders took advantage by managing to rear chicks on fields into which a tractor would sink. Out Cockerham way a pair of roadside Lapwings I watched for weeks managed to grow all four chicks to adult size. All the time with crows looking on but chased off by sharp eyed parent Lapwings.
Lapwing
Lapwing chick
Carrion Crow
At another field nearby a pair of Shoveler took up residence where a male left his mate in an adjacent ditch while he stole minutes alone at a water flash. .
Shoveler
Finally and into June the ground in parts dried out by which time both Oystercatchers and Lapwings could search the recently ploughed and now drying clumps of earth.
Oystercatcher
Male Lapwing - dig that crest!
And then in late June for a week and a day Sue and I ate out in the garden, enjoying the evening sunlight. A chance to try our own versions of Greek classics, Lamb Kleftico, Baked Feta and souvlakis together with a bottle of Ampelicious that too quickly ran out, the bottle courtesy of our lovely friends, Family Karaboula at Maistrali.
Maistrali Taverna, Skiathos, Greece
Ampelicious Red
Bouyiourdi - Baked Feta
The first week of July. There's more rain in the forecast but I will be out whenever I can.
Did you click the pics to receive the correct message and see the full picture?
Thank You. Another Bird Blog is back soon.
The weather has also been foul here and all sorts of strange things going on.
ReplyDeleteWe do though have a to of baby Blackbirds Blue Tits and Great Tits around. The Jay pops in most days and we had a young woodpecker visit the other day. Not so welcome but thankfully it only zapped a dove of which we have too many was a Sparrowhawk, I did get some good photos of it, but I am so far behind with blogging it will be a while before it gets posted.
Love all your photos and am glad to see you are blogging again.
Cheers Diane
I really enjoyed lingering over your photographs. The iridescence of the Lapwing is reminiscent of that of the Glossy Ibis.
ReplyDeleteFull disclosoure: I am not a scientist of any sort. The past couple of years, I have been trying to pay attention to the "climate". No research or studies or experiments. Just sensing how nature seems to be doing. Particularly regarding the birds.
Our sub-tropical weather patterns seem, to my extremely un-scientific brain, to be what I would consider "normal" for central Florida. The seasons appear to be what I have always experienced. Storm season produces storms, some worse than others. Winters are dry, summer is wet.
Bird populations "appear" to be similar to what I have seen over several decades. Having conducted a detailed Birding Atlasabout 10 years ago over a 5-year period sponsored by Audubon and the Florida Ornithological Society, I see subtle changes and some alarming trends as human development continues to encroach on certain habitats.
The bottom line for me - at THIS specific time and THIS specific location - nature seems to be coping pretty well. Recent bird migration data seems to reflect what one would expect.
Caution and ongoing efforts to maintain habitat are critical to monitoring the health of our entire biosphere.
To what degree human-caused "climate change" is affecting the planet's natural cycle is way above my pay grade. And I am fairly certain "pay" is a key factor in the volume of cries for us to return to the stone age.
Anyhow, for the relatively little time I have left to enjoy Nature, I shall be attempting to do just that. If I'm able to enjoy a bit of Greek cuisine along the way, well, that would be just delightful.
Very happy at your return to the blogging community. I took the bait, clicked on each image but received no overt message. Probably not sent on my wavelength as you likely wanted to avoid revealing too much to an avowed colonist.
Gini is recovering nicely and sends hugs. Minus one which I cleverly intercepted.