Pied Flycatchers, Spurn Point

 Wearing a brand new shiny ring !

One of those days at Spurn with a bird in every bush, fantastic ! Just love Spurn, the best birding place in the UK without a doubt.

Icterine Warbler, Sammy's Point

Had a fantastic day at Spurn, probably the best yet, with a huge fall of birds after yesterdays bad weather. Caught up with plenty of old friends and had a right good laugh. Stacks of wrynecks, whinchats, pied flycatchers, redstarts and not too many people. We finished the day off nicely with this fabulous icterine warbler at Sammy's Point. A new UK bird for us taking Karen's tally to 343.

Catching up bits and bobs

 Buzzard

 Great Crested Grebe and chicks

Stoat at Blacktoft Sands

Red Kites

About 10 red kites around this afternoon, always distant and with no footpaths to walk into the valley, we have to be happy viewing these birds from the roadside. They really are fabulous, magical birds. All these and the chance of seeing David Hockney painting a purple tree !

Little Owl disgrace

Words did fail us with this demolition. We had watched this pair of little owls all summer and was so happy when 2 chicks were sat on the roof one day. We used to park and watch them a couple of times a week, but we were always cautious as we didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to them. Imagine our surprise when we drove past one day and the old building they had nested in was reduced to this pile of rubble. The chicks were well fledged but what if they had laid another round?
 I did enquire if a bat and bird survey had been undertaken before demolition - yes, a full ecological survey had taken place. Now how did they miss a breeding pair of little owls when owl pellets had been found on the site? Glad all our wildlife is in such good hands.

Green Woodpecker and Jay

This site never fails with these two birds, two crackers together.

Two-barred Crossbill

A new UK bird for Karen. These crossbills were at Stocksbridge, Yorks. They were mixed in with 150 common crossbills that constantly flew round and round. With a few hundred sets of eyes watching the top of every tree, we weren't too long before someone found one. Viewing was not easy and photography was near impossible, but saw them we certainly did. Karen got stung by a wasp and shocked the onlookers by her choice of language ! Good job there was another female birder there with some wasp ease in her bag ! Thank you x

Garden butterflies

 Painted Lady

 Peacock

Small Tortoiseshell

 

 

This summer has been one of the best we can remember in a long time, a total contrast to last year. We have had sun most days and temperatures have rocketed into the high 20's. This has been brilliant for our butterflies and moths and all the buddleias in our garden and absolutely covered with them. It really is a lovely sight to see, the gorgeous shades of purple with the stunning colours of the butterflies feeding on them - wonderful. Really don't want this summer to end.  

Virgin Media - what a shambles

Well, we were tempted by the excellent deal on offer from virgin media and are now living to regret every second. After nearly 2 months we remain with no telephone, internet or tv. Sky and BT have long since cut us off. How can such a multi national company be so incompetent is beyond me. We have had a stream of engineers and technicians at our house, full of apologies but that doesnt solve my problems. All we need is a plastic T junction in the street and we can be connected. Virgin have run out of this small piece of plastic and dont know when to expect delivery. What a total shower of shite. I wonder if Richard Branson knows how incompetent his staff are and the diabolical service they deliver. I will be writing to tell him tomorrow. Enough is enough!