Hedgehog

Nice to see Hedgehogs regularly visiting the garden, my two grandsons next door found this chap in their shed and brought him over to me to see if he was o.k, seemed to be fine so took a couple of quick photos before releasing him. I have a Hedgehog box in the garden so hopefully they will have somewhere to spend the winter.

Hedgehog

Hedgehog

Lesser Grey Shrike

A nice sunny morning at Mount Batten in Plymouth watching and photographing the Lesser Grey Shrike that is  here for now its 5th day, this is a 'lifer ' for me in this country and apparently only the fifth record for Devon, it showed well most of the time and once came very close seeming unconcerned by the small group of people looking.

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Waders at Davidstow

Wed 14th September.
After last years complete lack of waders on Davidstow airfield, this week has made up for it already, with a fine selection of goodies including two American rareties, a splendid American Golden Plover and one of my faves, a Buff Breasted Sandpiper. All photos were taken from the car, really no need to get out as the birds come right up to the edge of the runway, ( I did have a word with a couple of old chaps who got out and set up a tripod ,risking the birds getting nervous, and apparently the next day the AGP was flushed by a photographer getting out of his vehicle), anyway moan over ,here's some photos.

A nice selection of Waders including the American Golden Plover, two Eurasian Golden Plover, three Curlew Sandpipers and a Ruff

American Golden Plover with two Europeans

Amarican Golden Plover in the foreground

American Golden Plover face on

American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover looking alert as someone went past on a motorbike

Ruff after bathing

Ruff bathing with two Curlew Sandpipers in the background

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpipers

Buff Breasted Sandpiper, a Davidstow speciality

Buff Breasted Sandpiper

Ruff taken two days earlier.

Ruff pair again taken two days earlier

Ruff preening, two days earlier again which is typical of my visits to this site , someone always seems to find the rare stuff the days after my getting there!

Marbled White and Ringlet

July-August 2016.
I noticed  a few Marbled White in the roadside verge close to home and spent a few evenings with my macro lens and tripod trying to photograph them ,( getting a few funny looks from passing vehicles, but I'm way past worrying about that sort of thing these days). This is a really good little spot with plenty of wild flowers and a few other species present including Ringlet.

Upside down Marbled White

Marbled White

Marbled White resting on a pupa od a Burnet Moth

Marbled White

Marbled White

Marbled White

Marbled White side on

Ringlet

Ringlet

Armstrong Wood

9th August.
A morning roaming around the meadows at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve near Launceston looking for Silver Washed Fritillary and hopefully Purple Hairstreak (which I've seen here before), one or two of the former were on the wing but never settling and no sign of the Hairstreaks, but never mind as I spent some time with a mating pair of Bloody Nosed Beetles! (I'm easily pleased.)

Armstrong Wood

Mating Bloody Nosed Beetles

This Golden Ringed Dragonfly was patrolling the pathway.

Buff Tailed Bumblebee on Bramble Flower taken at Crowdy on the same day

Butterflies

A few photos of some of the commoner Butterflies taken at my home recently.

Gatekeeper

Painted Lady

Peacock, lots of these beauties around

Another Peacock

Silver Washed Fritillary, don't get many of these .

Small Tortoishell

Large White

Red Admiral

Comma

Buzzard

Our field was cut and the local Buzzards were on the lookout for any small rodents , for this one I managed to creep into my hide and get a few photos.

Buzzard on the lookout