Gubbins From The Patch

With all the long posts [and indeed long-delayed posts..] I've been somewhat neglecting such fun and games as have been had closer to home.


Don't get too excited, now, this is still Backward Birding, here.


I present a series of vignettes from the last few weeks [yes, very remiss], about various things.

Classics, even by my standards.

What the...??!? If you care to direct your gaze to the things upper left and lower right, you will be looking at bats! Yes, really.

You think that's bad;

For comparison purposes,

this is a male Sparrowhawk!!

I kid ye not.

Taken at dusk at a local location, where I've been unsuccessfully trying to photograph [without flash, naturally], the assorted bats that come out to play quite early of a warm evening. There's about ten golden minutes where there are bats in the sky and my camera might be persuaded to work. Might. So, whenever mood and opportunity have struck, I've toddled over to have a go.

Finally, after more attempts than I care to admit, I hit something! Actual flying batses and everything. Yes, they're funny blurs, but with the eye of faith [yes, that's faith, not madness], you can sort of see what they are. A bit.
The Sprawk just cruised by at the right time [fortunately for the bats, much further off]. You can see [it's side on, going left] the much longer body - especially out the back - than the bats.

They don't half flap!

Small grey bats* are a very hard target; being fast, agile, and utterly unpredictable.

Elsewhen;

So I heard this weird howling sound...

Another patch of Ivy Broomrape

Despite being a bit gone over, the slightly pinched-in flowers, coming out right down the stem [and the er, Ivy!] make it clear which one it is.

Evening at the Nose

On a wander before a bat-hunt.

Quite scenic

I like evenings

And some gulls, too!

You knew it was coming..

Gulls vs bait fish

 Boiling sea!

Bait balls popped up all over the northern Bay

[Mackerel sometimes breaching through them]

The Mackerel drew attention of their own.

Lovely 2cy 'BoobyGannet'!

Here's some nice cloud,

forget those horrid grainy gull shots

ID test 1

ID Test 2

I never promised hard ones. ;)

What?!? More?!!?

Look, up in the sky!

Actual pretty gull shots 

- will wonders never cease?

Gulls vs ants!

Ceiling Spider!

Proliferated this month

First gulls, now a spider.. heh heh heh

Awwwww....

This juvenile Bullfinch turned up in a neighbour's garden after some rain last week. The report of a 'baby Sparrow acting like a mouse' had me interested, though I wasn't expecting what I found [That being a Jay, of course.. ;) ]
Once ID established and finch-friendly seed put out - neighbour already has a very impressive bird bath -  I snapped a shot of the poor thing, looking a bit under the weather. Glad to report it's recovered that healthy glossy look over the weekend, and I can report it successfully flew off on Wednesday, having finally decided to stop running about like a Gropper!

And finally;

Swallow-tailed Blackbird

Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

Be Seeing You...


[[*That's what these are** - the light was much better than the photo quality implies, and their bodies stood out nicely contrasting to their black wings when they banked - naturally, my camera never decided to work for those seconds..]]
[[**Other visits have produced other bats, including bigger ones. Exact - or even vague - species will of course require a detector. Now, is this above or below DSLR in the wish list?]]
[[ID Tests; 1, a very vocal juvie Buzzard, of course! 2, a Home Tick! Linnet. :D ]]