Wednesday 17 August 2011

All quiet on the coast

All quiet here on the island. Birds are busy moulting, bugs and butterflies waiting for the sun to shine.
Could be a long wait!!
10th august, had a walk up to Ventnor radar station, the views from the top of Nansen hill looking towards Sandown bay were breathtaking despite the overcast weather. The heather was stunning.
A meadow brown butterfly was carrying red mites.

Despite the dull weather I had a lot of fresh air and the excercise coming up nansen hill wont have done me any harm!!
Spotted in my back garden last week was a Common Darter which was a surprise as I have no pond, just a birdbath...
A family of speckled bush crickets has taken residence in my helleborus, Ive seen 3 males and two females so far. Male shown below...
A trip to Bembride ponds with Rob on the 15th was quiet on the birding front, except for 15 Little egrets and a heron all packed into a corner of the large pond, not seen that many in one place before.
Last night I dragged the wife out for a walk to Alverstone, we were hoping to catch something unusual maybe an owl or two? A chap we chatted to, saw a kingfisher half an hour previous, he told us to keep an eye open, but it wasnt our lucky night. So a nice walk, plenty of blackberries picked, and the scenery was lovely...
This morning I met up with Rog who I met on the wildaboutbritain website. As I wasnt meeting him till 9:30am I had a look around before we met. I had a brief glimpse of a jay, but no photos. I spotted a buzzard on a pole so got this digiscoped shot through my scope...
We had a good old chat about cameras, wildlife, lenses, and life in general. Not much to see this morning. A green woodpecker flew past at a rate of knots, and the butterflies seemed to love these Hemp agrimony flowers,  would love some in my garden!!
Fingers crossed for an indian summer!!!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Dave,
    Some lovely photos there. You did well to get such a good digiscoped shot of that Buzzard, I can never seem to get close enough!
    The heather in your first photo is quite stunning!
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

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  2. Cracking photos Dave. The pink flower looks like Hemp Agrimony.

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  3. Lovely images and a really nice read...
    I have never visited the IOW but it is on my must do list...

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  4. Hi John,
    Thanks for your kind comments,
    Cheers Rob, will update the details,
    Andrew, you must visit one day, its beautiful, lots of lovely walks and scenery...

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  5. Superb photos, I love the Buzzard.

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  6. Thanks Bob,
    I was very lucky to see him within reaching distance of my scope!!

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