Phil Hasell's nature pics

Red fox

2012-01-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

I watched this dog fox make a rush at some ducks and swans without success, it then followed its nose into the large heap of cut reeds that can be seen in the picture and poke its nose in quite a way to pull out a mouse's nest and snack on the unfortunate beast, then after hearing my camera clicks it disappeared into the reeds.

Grey heron

2012-01-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

This was one greedy individual and a very good fisherman. I watched it wade around the large pond with the water up to its wings at times and suddenly lunge at and catch a large perch, he then flew to the shore and despatched it with some well aimed stabs to the head and body and then swallowed it straight down. I expected it to retire to digest it's catch but no, it was back to the pool for another fish!

Mute swans

2012-01-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

The top picture is of the swan 'turned turtle' having a bath and the second one is a pair bonding in the classic love heart shape

Short eared owl

2012-01-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

Having been to the Therfield / Sandon area twice since the new year I thought I would have another try today. We had seen the long staying great grey shrike on Saturday together with a peregrine giving a buzzard a very torrid time and plenty of other buzzards and red kites.
I parked up and walked to the spot I have permission to use from a good natured local farmer and settled down to wait. I saw a couple of buzzards having a little contre temps, and then the owl appeared from over the hill following a line of set-aside. Knowing that there were some birders nearby with a similar view, I sat quite still and it flew right over me and then turned and went back the way it had come and I took the record shot above. another thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, albeit a very cold one.

Bittern & Smew

2012-01-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

Les & I went to Amwell in the hope of seeing a bittern on a very cold & frosty morning with plenty of ice to force the bitterns to the edge of the reed beds and another couple pointed one out peering at us through a curtain of reeds, this was a very promising start, if not a great picture!

We then walked further up the Lea valley and were treated to a superb view of a male smew that was not the normal 200 yards distant, a cracking individual, we also saw goldeneye and a large flock of siskins so a good day was had.

Feral goose

2012-01-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

Our attention was caught by the blue eyes on this escapee from someones Christmas menu that was with some greylag geese at Cley, it is the final offering of our trip

Sperm whale

2012-01-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

The whale had been washed up on Hunstanton beach (long dead) and was a scene of great interest to many people, there was a constant stream of people arriving to ogle the sad remains of what had been a forty foot leviathan. Some delightful persons had chain sawed its jaw off, to presumably sell the teeth as souvenirs. The sanderling was one of a small group that were hunting the tide line quite close to the whale.

Pink footed goose

2012-01-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

A very tame bird that happily wandered in front of the hide at Holkham marsh. We also saw a firecrest but it was too quick for the camera. Thanks to the Met office who forecast sunny spells were were later caught in a squall that came up on us exceedingly quickly, the wind was howling through at about fifty miles per hour and the rain was travelling with the wind rather than falling it seemed - we all finished up rather wet.

Titchwell RSPB

2012-01-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

we noticed the reflection of the water in the hide windows, these are set at an angle so that the birds see none of their watchers. The other picture is of a flock of golden plover one of which on the right still had its summer plumage which I thought to be very late in changing to it's drab winter plumage.

Caspian gull & Arctic redpoll

2012-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

These were two further rarities we saw, both record shots only, both birds were at Titchwell RSPB site.

Western sandpiper

2012-01-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

These are some distant record shots of the tiny American wader that has spent several weeks at Cley-next-the-sea and remains there into January. Les & I spent four days up in Norfolk after Christmas with two friends and these and the following images were taken on this trip.

Snettisham extravaganza

2011-11-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

Although these two pictures were taken in very poor light, they give an idea of the huge numbers of mainly red knot driven up onto the shingle banks at Snettisham by a 7.4 metre tide. These do not occur very often and Les & I had wanted to see one for ourselves and apart from the weather we were not disappointed. Apart from the pictured knot, there were hundreds od oystercatchers,redshank, spotted redshank, golden plover, ruff, curlew to name a few. We both observed that when a large flock of waders flew just over our heads the temperature seemed to go up by a couple of degrees!
Another part of this extravaganza are the huge numbers of geese that roost out on the wash mudflats. Early each morning they leave to fly off to the local fields in their skeins of thousands, ominously as the fly over the Sandringham estate they are greeted with gunfire and I can only hope hat their aim is poor, like their outlook on nature and their record for destroying wildlife thoughtlessly. At least one of the culprits is the Emeritus president of the World wildlife fund and with his record I consider this to be a disgrace.

Robin & Nuthatch

2011-11-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

A trip to the lodge produces a pair of Ravens flying over calling and my first redpolls and a siskin of this autumn.The pictures though are of a robin that appeared to be admiring itself in the water and a nuthatch that was searching among the tufts of moss around the drinking pool.

Great grey shrike

2011-11-01T09:47:00.001-07:00

A digiscoped record shot

Signal crayfish

2011-10-17T08:22:00.001-07:00

These record shots of what I believe to be the introduced Signal crayfish were in Fowlmere RSPB nature reserve. I did not want to remove it from the water in ase it was the native British crayfish but after checking on the net I'm fairly sure this is the American one, also it was at least four/five inches long.

Kestrel

2011-10-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Lots of birds about in the Sandon area today, there was a large flock of linnets, 400 strong as an estimation, three buzzards patrolled the high ground, a flock of 50 lapwings were also in evidence. Large coveys of red legged partridges were calling and many brown hares were seen. My best photo opportunity came in the form of this nice female common kestrel.

Red knot

2011-10-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

I managed to get quite close to a flock at Titchwell, I just stayed still on the beach and waited until the incoming tide pushed them towards me. They were all making gentle noises as they kept in contact. I am going to try taking a low level seat with me next time to see what I can get close to.

Brent goose

2011-10-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

The flocks are back in Norfolk, huge skeins across the sky early in the morning, these flew low over my head, at Cley-next -the-sea.

Common seal

2011-10-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

We took the Beans boat trip from Morston quay, it was something we had talked about doing over the years but just not around to doing. It was very informative, the crew members came up with lots of stats, the weather was great and there were lots of seals to see, this one was the best poser.

Convolvulus hawk moth

2011-10-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

I had never seen one of these moths before, it was quite large, they migrate here from Southern Europe on the wind, I suspect that our 'Indian summer' helped this one here. It spent the day on a fence post at Titchwell.

Pintail (Northern)

2011-10-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

This female in very pristine plumage was at Titchwell.

Common buzzard

2011-10-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

A superb juvenile buzzard with pristine plumage, I am not sure if it was aware of me but it passed over me four times so I obviously did not concern it.

Rook

2011-10-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

This adult rook was on the grass by the exit to the Grafham car park and posed in the sunshine for me. It may not be a beautiful bird but I think they have a lot of character and they are quite clever birds. A lot of them have now moved their rookeries into the towns so that the farmers cannot persecute them so easily.

More phalarope pictures

2011-10-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

I had to put a couple more pictures of this superb little bird, I sat and waited on the dam and it gradually worked it's way past me completely undisturbed by my laying six feet away.

More from Grafham

2011-10-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got a chance to go over my pictures again. the top picture was digiscoped, the second one I used my 300mm lens for

Sabines gull

2011-09-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

This rare gull was at times viewable with the grey phalarope in the viewfinder simultaneously, for a bird that spends a lot of it's life far out in the oceans it was only too happy to lounge about on the edge of the water at Grafham water, this was the first time I had photographed one of these

Grey phalarope

2011-09-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

This stunner was performing at Grafham water today.

Amazing spider

2011-09-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

We found this beauty on Cavenham heath today.

Grey heron

2011-09-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

This juvenile was captured as it flew around Lackford lakes being pursued by the resident male.

Emperor dragonfly

2011-09-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year for the emperors.

Red admiral

2011-09-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

An open and closed case...........

Raptors at Sandon

2011-09-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours in the Sandon area in the aftermath of the 'Katia storm' and found lots of raptors about, the top picture is a red kite that was flying along the A505. The second, one of two female marsh harriers, this one flew directly towards me. Later on I watched it flying into the wind and it actually went backwards at times.
The small tortoiseshell was resting out of the wind.

Also of note were buzzards and a kestrel.

Flower power

2011-09-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy capturing insects on flowers

Grasshoppers and crickets

2011-09-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

All these pictures were taken close to home, I think these insects are very photogenic

New macro camera

2011-09-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

I have just purchased a Sigma 150mm macro lens and I am very impressed with the early results. Lesley & I went to Oughton head (source of the river ouse) in Hitchin and spent an enjoyable couple of hours walking round trying to find interesting insects to photograph, Les was good at spotting and here are a few of the results.........

The little capsid on the nettle leaf was smaller than a ladybird

Common rosefinch

2011-07-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Despite spending quite a lot of time trying I have been unable to obtain a good clear picture of what is locally anything but common!

I was great to get to see such a rarity so close to home (near Fowlmere).

It is a first year male and it was singing nicely from a ladies garden.

It was found by a local birder who was driving past and stopped for a bicycle and heard it singing, well done that man.
It is a shame it was not a full adult which is a cracking bird and not a dull little chap like this.

Honey buzzard

2011-07-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Another picture from Brittany and this was also taken by a canal. The bird was quite high above me but it came out as a reasonable image

Cormorant

2011-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

These were taken in Brittany by a lock on a canal and this is the tamest I have ever come across, I was more of a curiosity to the bird than a danger and it carried on with its business.

Apology

2011-06-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

I do not understand what has gone wrong with the blog but it is now not possible to enlarge the pictures once they have been clicked, but the older posts are still fine. I will try and find out how to cure the problem

Great crested grebe

2011-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

I was really surprised by the size of fish this youngster was given by it's parent, far too big I thought - how wrong could I be, it went down its neck in less than five seconds. I apologise for the quality, the birds were some distance away but you can get some idea of the size of the fish in the second picture.

Moorhen

2011-06-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

In the past I had always thought young moorhens were ugly little things but this picture proves me wrong - at least in my eyes

Marsh harrier

2011-06-24T05:09:00.000-07:00

This female had made a kill and partially eaten the prey and seemed to be panting as she flew past the hide on her way to her brood

Whitethroat

2011-06-24T04:59:00.001-07:00

These were feeding youngsters next to a road so the car made a very useful hide

Marsh harrier

2011-06-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

We watched this female harrier fly nonchalantly straight through a mob of various waders and terns and then stoop down to grab an unsuspecting fledgling

Spotted flycatcher

2011-06-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

We popped into the RSPB headquarters to go for a walk and found a flycatcher in residence in the garden, so it would have been churlish to turn down such an opportunity for a picture.

Stone curlew

2011-06-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

I have lost track of the number of times I have visited Weeting and seen a distant dot, so what a pleasant surprise it was to see the 'thick knees' up close. The bird with the rings on its legs then caught a worm and flew off to feed the distant chick. I then moved on to Lakenheath fen and had a flypast of four cuckoos - something one also rarely sees!

Common redstart

2011-05-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

A beautiful shbject in its spring plumage - does birding in Britain get much better?

More from Minsmere

2011-05-04T01:09:00.000-07:00

The first picture is of a distant flamingo that had escaped from Marwell zoo, you can see where they have cut it's flight feathers to prevent it from escaping.........................not very well.

Picture two is of a bittern taken in very poor light.

Cuckoo

2011-05-04T00:56:00.000-07:00

Taken at Amwell, the first pictures shows the odd markings on the tail

Minsmere images

2011-05-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

Picture one was taken at 05:30 from the beach, two is a drake pintail, three, a drake Garganey, four is a Broad bodied chaser and five is a Brimstone.

We had a super week exploring the Suffolk coast and walked many miles, the weather was very kind and the sun shone all day almost every day.

Les got a sunburned ear with a lovely blister and yet neither of us had any other sunburn.

Majorca extras

2011-05-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

I felt I had to add these two pics, the first is a greenshank and the second a wryneck.

More Majorca pictures

2011-04-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

These for the non birders are in order:-

1 Purple heron.

2Female Marsh harrier.

3 A black winged stilt seeing off a shoveller.

4 Osprey.

5 Little egret.

Majorca

2011-04-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

As I had a lot more holiday than Les this year I spent a week in the North of Majorca and got all my pictures using only a bicycle and public transport. I spent a lot of my time at the 'Albufera' near Alcudia but did cycle to Puerto Pollensa. The weather was superb with sunshine all day long and these are a few of the pictures I managed to obtain. I had considered getting a car but decided that I spent too much time driving and not enough out with my camera!

For those who are not bird experts they are from the top:-

1 Stonechat

2 Sardinian warbler

3 Black winged stilt

4 Purple gallinule

5 Spoonbill

ATTENBOROUGH LAKES NOTTINGHAM

2011-03-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

A very popular destination for local people judging by the number about and there were a large number of goosanders there although too distant for get a decent image, we also heard quite a few chiff chaffs singing.

Picture wise I have got just three to share, Tufted duck first, then a Red crested pochard and finally a male Egyptian goose, a creature that looks as if it was made out of the parts left over when the other creations were invented!

Lesser redpoll

2011-03-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

A stunning male posing in the early spring sunshine.

The lodge today

2011-03-07T05:03:00.001-08:00

These were some of the better images I got in one hour at the lodge today

Shore lark

2011-02-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

With just a hint of summer plumage starting to show through on its face I think this is a great winter visitor and it is a shame that they do not remain for the year.

Turnstone

2011-02-28T08:53:00.000-08:00

These are such obliging birds I cannot turn down a opportunity to grab a picture.........

Snow buntings

2011-02-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

A trip to Salthouse in winter rarely disappoints and the buntings were very confiding.

Water pipit

2011-02-21T02:57:00.000-08:00

This is the only decent image I got on a cold and heavily overcast day at Titchwell, a good day was had on the birding front though with good views of many species from the new hides.

Redwing

2011-02-11T04:31:00.000-08:00

Another trip to the new Letchworth cemetery came up trumps again when I found some redwings bathing in some puddles later joined by a corn bunting.

Great crested grebe

2011-02-09T03:21:00.000-08:00

Priory country park, Bedford provided the setting for this pair of courting grebes, the top picture was of a threat pose when an interloper showed up

Fieldfare

2011-02-09T02:56:00.000-08:00

I got these pictures at the new cemetery in Letchworth, I had a forty minute wait before they plucked up their courage to walk near the car and eventually this one posed for me beautifully.

Sandon buzzard & prey

2011-01-21T08:50:00.001-08:00

I was on my way back from what I thought was a wasted journey to photograph the raptors in the Sandon region ( as thick cloud had just obscured the sun )when I came across this Common buzzard at 'dead man's hill'. I was mildly surprised that it did not fly off immediately and sat quietly while it decided if I was a danger. It continued to peck at what looked like a rabbit. Then as a car passed me and blocked out the bird I opened the window enough to put the camera out and did just that when the next car passed. The clicks of the shutter made it uneasy again and it flew a few yards away which afforded me the chance to get some nice shots of its flight feathers. I then left it to its supper.

More Center parc visitors

2010-12-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

I was more than surprised when a moorhen wandered out of the woods to partake in the peanut bonanza! The squirrel pictured seemed to have eaten all the pies as well as a large number of peanuts and his leaping ability was rather restricted as a result.

Center parc pictures

2010-12-31T14:45:00.001-08:00

These were all attracted to the small patio outside our chalet in Thetford forest. It took 1/2 hour for the first takers to arrive - the coal tits and within an hour we had been visited by nine different species in what appeared to be a pine wood devoid of much life except for a number of obese squirrels!

Winter visitors to our garden

2010-12-27T01:18:00.001-08:00

The redwing and the pied wagtail have been regular visitors to our town garden for the past three days, the redwing was a new species for our garden (40th) but it has obstinately refused to pose for the camera, with this poor effort being my best but I will update it if given the chance.

Coal tits

2010-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

They posed quite nicely whilst I photographed them from the relative comfort of my car (it was a freezing cold day)

Nuthatch

2010-12-22T13:36:00.000-08:00

Pictured in some mid winter sun.

Waxwings

2010-12-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

I just cannot resist taking pictures of these, surely the most photogenic winter visitor to our shores

Winter evening

2010-11-29T07:32:00.000-08:00

The bottom image is a female blackbird filling up on Yew berries for the long winters night and the top one is taken against the late winter sun

Grey partridge

2010-11-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

Taken today in the Sandon area, I have seen a very healthy population of these in recent weeks, let us hope that they evade the guns....................

Merlin

2010-11-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

A trip to the Sandon area this afternoon brought the bonus of a merlin but too far off for a picture but great to see nonetheless. Also observed buzzard catching a corn bunting and red kites. A flock of 100 fieldfares also passed by

Redshank

2010-10-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

I seem to have been lucky in my pursuit of pictures of these waders, and laying by the pools at Salhouse beach early one morning I came up trumps again. redshanks seem to ignore you if you are prone and do not make any sudden movements and this bird walked up so close that I was unable to focus on it. The turnstones were equally as confiding and I have plans for the spring at another location where I believe that I can obtain similar pictures of other wader species.

Turnstone

2010-10-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

This picture was also obtained as a result of laying on the shingle next to a pool at Salthouse for an hour and a half. A few species will ignore you if you are laying down and a group of four turnstones walked past me no more that five feet away. The early morning light was superb

Pochard

2010-10-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

This fine male was at Lackford lakes which I visited on my way back from an enjoyable four days in Norfolk

Pied wagtail

2010-10-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Two interesting pictures, the first was taken at Lackford lakes and shows interesting colouration and the second was taken at Welney and shows how adept wagtails are at providing for their chicks

Red breasted flycatcher

2010-10-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

This proved to be a very elusive and difficult bird to photograph,spending a lot of time high in the trees or back from the path, however I am reasonably happy with the results, the yellow browed warbler pictures all proved to be blurred due to the poor light. It was a very cold day at Holkham woods but I did not really notice it as there was so much to see with lots of goldcrests migrating through and tit flocks to be checked out in case they had anything interesting accompanying them

Utah revisited

2010-10-15T05:13:00.000-07:00

I took another look at some pictures I took in Utah on a digiscoping family holiday, I have got some better software and was able to turn three very 'murky' pictures into quite passable images.

The scene is of the Green river entering the top end of the grand canyon in Southern Utah at a nature reserve called Dead horse point and as you can see it was absolutely spectacular.

The killdeer (named after its call) was busy trying to make a nest in the middle of an approach road to a nature reserve that could only have ended in disaster, the heat haze that is visible is indicative of how hot it was (it is not a blurred pic), I imagine that incubation would have been to keep the eggs cool instead of warming them up here!

The final picture is of a grasshopper sparrow, typically a skulker and hard to see, it obliged us by popping up in the grass nearby and giving us the full rendition of its song.

Stonechat

2010-10-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

A trip to Yorkshire to see a friend led to this stonechat pic at Spurn nature reserve, it is a shame it was not inside the frame ...... but if you look carefully it is taken up with a spiders web.

Sandon hills

2010-10-15T04:34:00.000-07:00

I went here to check out the raptors that seem to love this area and was rewarded with a hen harrier being mobbed by a raven which did not give in easily and the harrier was chased all over the fields with a following murder of crows that seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, the harrier appeared to be a juvenile but it was quite distant and hard to age positively. Also there were large numbers of meadow pipits gleaning over the freshly turned crop stubble.
There were also the resident buzzards about but I only saw four, also four kestrels were hovering over separate areas and a parcel of linnets flew over singing as they went.
I should get my camera back again from Nikon today it came back faulty last time and it's fingers crossed as I'm off to Norfolk on Monday for a few days dedicated photography all being well. I have missed a big chunk of migration with it out of action.

Red kites over Sandon

2010-10-01T06:16:00.001-07:00

On one of my regular visits to this area I was 'checked out' by three kites that flew low over me seemingly just curious, unfortunately my camera was playing up and the quality is not great but still worth a post. Also present were up to six common buzzards.

Roe deer & field mouse

2010-09-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a very enjoyable stay with my friends Harry & Pauline Bursell near Hull and the deer was photographed nearby on a trip to the coast and the mouse was snapped in Harrys barn on a sprig od Blackberries, it is a captive bred animal and Harry releases them into his garden which doubles as a nature reserve, they are wonderful little creatures very gentle and cracking subjects for photograpers. Thanks Harry.

Wheatears

2010-09-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Minsmere on a 'twitch' to try and see the first ever King eider ever to grace Suffolk. After some time we did manage to get quite a nice scope view and we then spent some time trying to find some Lapland buntings that had been in residence for a week but the only buntings we found on the beach were 'Reed' sadly but we were rewarded for our searching by this very approachable female northern wheatear.

Goldfinch

2010-09-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

Another youngster taken at our drinking pool.

Juvenile sparrows

2010-09-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

With my camera having problems I stuck my hide up in the garden to try it out on the 'locals' who eat regally from the fare that Les & I put out, fortunately the camera did not malfunction at all! the top picture is a young house sparrow, the second a young hedge sparrow.

Marbled teal

2010-09-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

This may well be a genuine rarity, blown over to the UK by the prevailing winds last week and with no rings on it's legs. I was found at Broom and showed well for a few hours, but it was always wary especially of other waterfowl. This was photographed on 8/9 2010.

Pheasant juveniles

2010-09-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

After failing to find any raptors at Sandon I went to the Temple End area and found large numbers of young pheasants , ungainly and with odd plumage but a couple of months will see them in all their finery.

Peregrine

2010-07-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

I had a surprise whilst gardening in Ickleford at dads, a sudden whoosh above me caused me to look up to see a peregrine moving away after trying for one of the large numbers of wood pigeons that populate the fields adjacent to his house, typically I had not taken my camera with me!!!

Common buzzard

2010-07-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

One of three buzzards that flew around me as sat in my usual area waiting for some raptor movement in the Sandon area.

Pied wagtail

2010-07-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

I took this while waiting (in vain) for the bluethroat to show at Welney, it certainly had a beak full.!

Starling juvenile

2010-07-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

This youngster was mooching about for food under my feeders and completely unperturbed by my encroachment to photograph it

Forest bug

2010-07-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

A species of shield bug and a very fine individual, crawling across Lesley's blouse after investigating her binoculars at length. I really must get a macro lens to do these justice!

Garden tiger

2010-07-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

A cracking little caterpillar

A Lesvos dawn

2010-06-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Rose coloured starlings

2010-06-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

One of the stars of the fortnight, they arrive once the mulberries are ripe,often large flocks and strip the trees and move on to their breeding grounds in South East Europe, where they are quite difficult to see.

Black headed bunting.

2010-06-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

Widespread and colourful, often heard before it is seen, perched declaring its 'patch'

Starred agama

2010-06-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Only when the sun was at its hottest did we see these lizards, they were quite large, and we were not sure if this one was watching us or the bee on the opposite side of the picture.

Vixen & cubs

2010-06-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Often seen in the early morning sunshine, suckling the cubs or watching them play fight.

White stork

2010-06-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

These birds are happy to live alongside man, often utilising a nest on a house chimney that may have been there for many years. The first picture was taken in a hillside village standing on a telegraph post.