Short eared owl

Went down our local patch on Wednesday and had 4 short eared owls. Really good numbers of fieldfares and golden plovers over.

Autumn colour in Central Park

Covenham Reservoir

A Sunday morning stroll around Covenham. 100's of great crested grebes. Goldeneye, mute swan and little grebes in the photos.

Whooper Swans

16 Whooper swans at Alkborough tonight

Lucy on her ship, Olsen's Boudicca

Holiday snaps

A few holiday pics. Look how many other people are on deck as we sailed thru the Bay of Biscay....NONE. Dancers, with Lucy on the right

Black Headed Gull

Black headed gull flying alonside the ship

Morroccan squallor

Morroccan squallor. Lucy getting a good oggling as she dodges the hanging meat. Casablanca at its best.

Sunrise and sunset in the Med

Mediterranean cruise

This October we decided on a cruise to see our daughter, Lucy. Sailed from Southampton through the Bay of Biscay on the Olsen ship, Boudicca, where we suffered a force 8 with 25ft swell, not pleasant. We wanted to look for whales and dolphins in the Bay, but it was far too rough. First port was Lisbon, calm sea and hot sun. A lovely port, would like to go to Portugal again. Next stop was in Cadiz followed by Malaga where we saw 100's of dolphins as we sailed out. A magnificant sight. Went through the Straights of Gibralter at night which was a disapointment, into Casablanca. That was an experience, total filth, squallar and poverty but they don't half make some excellent designer copies. Haldbags, clothes, even Mont Blanc pens, everything was a knock off. Managed to buy 3 handbags and a Versace purse for £3 !!
Docked at Vigo on the return journey. A nice boozy break. Biscay was flat calm on the return journey thank goodness.
A few of the birds that hitched a lift on the ship included yellow wagtail, meadow pipit, turtle dove, goldcrest, willow warbler and redstart.

Meadow Pipit

This meadiw pipit hitched a lift on the ship. A few minutes later it was found dead in the swimming pool.

Spanish birds

Firecrest, long tailed tit, yellow legged gull and pied flycatcher. All captured at various ports in Spain.

Hummingbird hawk moth

Parrots

Monk parakeets eating dates seemed to be taking over Cadiz. They are certainly noisy. The other, possibly an Amazon sp.

Crossbills

A flock of crossbills feeding in the tops of the pines at the castle in Malaga, Spain

Even more dolphins..

Mother and baby dolphin that swam with the ship

Dolphins galore...

One of those life changing moments.............

More dolphins

More dolphins showing us their swimming and jumping skills

Dolphins

100's of Short Beaked Common Dolphins swam with the ship after we left Malaga. A fantastic sight to see, the highlight of the cruise.