Flying shadows
A trip on a light aircraft gives a wonderful perspective of Orkney. Here there are cattle, sheep and our shadow.
Sticky buds
There’s a fabulous Horse-chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, bud above me. It’s such a deep red colour. It looks like a moth chrysalis. Similar …
Long-Tailed Bushtits in blossom
The Long-Tailed Bushtits are still trailing in large caravans across the countryside, making desperate dashes between cover in family groups. Their contact …
After sticks comes mud
The Magpies have finished constructing their nest. Here’s one bringing in the twigs to construct the base. The roof was next. Now …
Dun
If you check out the details of the Dunnock you’ll see it described as “A small brown and grey bird”. That’s because …
Sheepstor frost
From the top of Sheepstor on Dartmoor there’s a wonderful view of long shadows and a frosted cattle field. Yes, I know …
Get off my land!
It sounds sweet, but it isn’t. This Robin is giving out a complex multi-level message to all-comers. Whenever you meet new people …
Shag in breeding plumage
Birds with crests always seem exotic, don’t they? As if they don’t belong. As if they should be in the Tropics somewhere. …
Plump Brown Rats
Someone’s put bird seed out on a stone next to the path. I’ve seen them do it. They don’t stay, they just …
When you’re not happy with something
Here are some photographs of a male Reed Bunting. I really dislike them. The photographs, that is, not Reed Buntings. The bird …
Chiff Chaff
There’s a small bird in the trees. It looks green in this light. It’s fluttering in exaggerated hunting trips as it launches …
Pictish Sea Eagle
It’s from the 6th or 7th Century. It’s carved in sandstone and was excavated by amateurs in 1936 from the ruins of …
Wild Daffodils
I’m walking through the industrial estate next to the River Teign again when I spot a patch of Wild Daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus. …
Pick up sticks
The Magpies are busy. It’s spring and they’re toiling building a nest. Last year they built two nests, yet despite all the …
Diving Shag
There’s a Shag on the River Teign. It’s working its way upstream. I have to walk briskly to the next position I …
House Sparrows
House Sparrows are exotic. Just look at this male: They’re now so unusual that people often ask what they are, not knowing …
Calling Crow
There’s a Carrion Crow on this security floodlight on my local industrial estate. I can just see it as I poke my …
Urban Magpie
On my walk through the local industrial estate I spotted a Magpie. I thought the complexity of this graphic image was just …
Learn to cook whale – in pictures
I love collecting books. There’s a lifetime of escaping to alternative worlds within the covers of a good book. One of the …
The Third Ladybird Book of British Birds – #6 The Reed Warbler
I’ve just picked up the third volume of the Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests from the 1950s again. Today …
Piro Piro Piccolo
There’s a Common Sandpiper on the River Teign. I can’t get close to it, though. I had much better views previously: I’ll …
Blue Tit blue day
I’ve not been out of the house for a few days. I’ve been sitting in listening to the spout of water coming …
Bathing Blackbird
There are puddles all along the footpath on the River Teign past the scrap metal works. This male Blackbird is making full …
Tracing shadows to their source
As a child, did you watch shadows? Did you strain to see them move as the Earth turned? Did you see how …
Redbreast frisky time
The territorial squabbling continues: It’s nearly frisky time for this Robin. And it needs all the neighbours to know about it. What …
The waterworks Buzzard
On a previous walk through the industrial estate I met a couple who said they’d seen a Buzzard at the waterworks on …
Dunnock babble
A Dunnock babbling is a beautiful sound.
Black Headed Gull in a moving work of art
The reflections of the bridge across the River Lemon make wonderful dancing patterns around this Black-Headed Gull.
Cherry pie, almond or vanilla? What do Winter Heliotropes smell of?
There’s a plant I think I recognise on the industrial estate. It’s Butterbur; except it isn’t. The flowers look right but they’re …
The Hall of Einar Sunday Recommendation #33
North Sea Swells – Joanne Coates