Bugs & Birds

 Another walk around Burdon Moor yesterday (24^th) and this time the sun was out but the birds were not. I should have known when the sun shines there is a possibility of Shieldbugs however I only had my 500mm lens with me but I still managed a few shots. I finished off with a walk along the burn in the Causey Wood in the hope of seeing Dippers, they were a no show.

A couple of Gorse Shieldbugs enjoying the sun.

Single Gorse Shieldbug.

Another two on the autumn leaves of a blackberry bush.

7-spot Ladybird.

I thought it was about to take off when it opened its wing casing but it just stretched its abdomen

Raised it up

Then stretched its wings but did not fly off.

Female Blackbird eating berries.

Magpie.

Grey Wagtail at the Causey.

Robin.

Burdon Moor

 The weather and light might have been awful but I still had a canny afternoon at Burdon Moor last Friday (21^st). Nothing rare or exotic but a canny selection of birds (no insects though) were seen. At least two pair of Stonechat and a good few Meadow Pipit put on a show and a few Fieldfare and other Thrushes flew over. All in all, as I said a canny afternoon.  

Stonechat.

I wondered why this male was sitting down.

I found out that it had lost one of its feet.

However, this male had both feet.

The colours on a Meadow Pipit might be subtle but they are a bonny bird.

This Kestrel was just minding its own business.

But this Crow tried to see it off.

Fieldfare flying over.

This one was posing in the top of a bush.

This Wren was doing the same.

But this one was hunting for insects in the undergrowth.

This Reed Bunting was with the Meadow Pipits.

A fly over from a Mistle Thrush.

A few of the Teal that were on one of the ponds.

Twizell Wood

 My wife and I had a walk through Twizell Wood today and as it is late in the season for dragonflies it is probably the last time I will visit. We saw only two male Southern Hawkers but there were still quite a few Common Darters on the wing however I did not expect to see any butterflies but a late Comma showed briefly.

Southern Hawker hunting for lunch.

Southern Hawker eating lunch.

There was quite a stiff breeze and this Southern Hawker seemed to prefer to hunker down in the grass rather than fly around.

Male Common Darter. I did not see any females.

This Comma butterfly landed briefly on a tree unfortunately it was blown off by a gust of wind and I could not relocate it.

We saw three Curlew in a field on the way back to the car and I managed to get a couple of them in flight as the flew off.

Studley Royal

 Studley Royal deer park is home to three different type of deer Red, Fallow and Manchurian Sika. Unfortunately, there was not much rutting going on between the red deer stags while we were there last Tuesday. However, one red deer stag was doing a lot of bellowing and posturing and at one point he did chase a younger stag off but that was it. We did see some of the younger stags practising for when they get older by locking horns but it was nothing like the real thing. A couple of the images here are quite graphic but that is the nature of the rutting season.

This was the only Fallow deer we saw.

Sika deer stag.

A couple of Sika deer stags together.

A Sika deer fawn.

A couple of visitors were getting quite close to these Sika deer so they were running back to the larger herd.

Red deer bellowing a warning to other stags.

A couple of younger stags “play fighting.”

These two stags could hear the bellowing from quite a distance.

This stag does not look pleased to see me.

This was the stag that was doing most of the bellowing and posturing.

Sniffing the air to check if any of the females are ready for mating.

More play fighting between the younger stags.

A portrait of one of the younger stags.

My favourite image from the day.