Psychocygnus

Don't be fooled by that long thin neck- Black Swan striking like a mamba and clearing 60 Mute Swans out of the creek in 10 minutes.  I expect DEFRA has its mind on other things.

Rubble at t' mill

Godwit at Stutton Mill solves ancient mystery of whether BTGs are brick-red or brick-orange.

The Rack and Pecker

Freshly done oil painting- title might also make a good name for a gastropub in Cape Town.   

Wind-shy shanks

A stiff breeze today and the Greenshank really don't like it.   Other roosting waders not bothered, but the G'shanks running to get in the lee of some muddy lumps.   30-40 in the roost this week, including 4 pristine juveniles and the colour-ringed adult RR-OW who breeds in Sutherland and has wintered here since at least 2010.

Dog day of summer

Small pic of a very big moment- Wild Dog has been right at the top of my most wanted list for simply years, but I've been too stubborn to go to Mana Pools or any of the other few places where they are twitchable.  This pack is denning against all the odds in the heavily-grazed Masaai lands east of the Serengeti- currently enjoying a fragile truce with the locals, but goodness knows that the future holds for them.

Fish-flushing falco

Quick 'n' messy pic of a first-summer Hobby at Minsmere- fish fry were jumping for their lives each time the H swooped in to take 4-Spot Chasers low over the water.

Hobby from Bittern Hide Minsmere

When there was no green

Little Grebe at Island Mere in May.   July just isn't my time, what with everything parched and stripes of lurid green overall.  So this afternoon I grabbed an old canvas and finished these from Minsmere, when the sky was blue, but all was still sepia and sienna.