Painshill, New Haw & Dunsfold

26th to 31st AUGUST 2010

On my first visit for some time to Painshill, I was pleased to find that a pair of Great Crested grebes had produced four chicks.

And I was even more pleased when a Buzzard appeared over the lake.

By the River Wey near Brooklands, a Kingfisher landed right in front of me.



Then on to the New Haw gravel pit, where a Kestrel was doing a circuit.

And the Linnets were still about.

A juvenile Linnet and Goldfinch take a bath together.

And another Linnet.

On bank holiday Sunday we spent the day at the Brooklands Wings & Wheels event at Dunsfold Park. as always, the red Arrows display was spectacular.

A Hawker Hunter flying in formation with a Hurricane is not a common sight.

And a star of the show was the Vulcan bomber.

The Seahawk reminded me of the days i lived near Yeovilton in the 1960s.

A Spitfire and a Mustang, both with R R Merlin engines, provide an interesting comparison.

Gymnastics on top of an airoplane? Hmmm. Not for the faint-hearted, I think.

And finally, the Typhoon (aka Eurofighter).

to be continued...

New Haw, Crawley & our garden

28th JULY to 22nd AUGUST 2010

I cycled down to Cox's Mill footbridge to see Gresley A4 no. 60019 "Bittern" pass by on an excursion to the seaside.

The logical place to move on to was then the gravel pits at New Haw. The first thing I noticed there was a small flock of Linnets.

As always, the Pied Wagtails were in evidence.

And I stood very still while a group of deer passed through.

A Whitethroat, I believe.

The next day, I was in Crawley for a retirement party, and visited Buchan Country Park. There, I was fortunate enough to see this Lesser Spotted Woodpecker busily clearing out a hole in a tree. I'm not sure why, at this end of the nesting season.

Back at home, I noticed a Blackbird in the garden with something unusual. On closer examination it proved to be a dead frog. I went outside for a closer look, and the bird stayed with it. He wasn't going to lose his prize!

A few days later, I was sitting in the summerhouse when our local juvenile Green Woodpecker landed in the garden and started foraging. I watched and photographed as he searched the garden, and it was only when he got very close that he suddenly realised I was there!

Meet our new junior Robin, still without a red breast but acting in every way like a Robin.

One morning, I noticed from our bedroom window that a Dunnock was sitting on Gwendoline's head, busily preening.

Then one of our Jay family arrived for his morning bath.

And after a bath, the apple tree makes a good place to dry off and preen.

Scottish Sea Birds & Cumbrian Ospreys

BETWEEN 22nd & 24th JULY 2010

This was a trip to Scotland with my brother to attend a family funeral. While we were there we filled in some spare time with walks in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and Aberlady Bay, and a visit to the Scottish Sea Bird Centre at North Berwick

On our way home we broke the journey at the RSPB Leighton Moss reserve, where we were lucky enough to observe (from a great distance and through misty rain) an Osprey hunting and consuming a fish.

On Friday morning we parked on the roof of the Ocean Terminal car park at Leith Docks, to have some lunch, change into our "guid claes", and watch the world go by.

Three Cormorants dry their wings.

A Great Black-Backed Gull soars past the car park.

One of four female Eider seen in the dock

On Saturdy morning we headed for North Berwick and the Scottish Sea Bird Centre, hoping for a boat trip round Bass Rock. On the way we stopped for a walk along the beach at Aberlady Bay.

Oystercatcher & Kittiwake

Bar-Tailed Godwits

Dunlins

Next we stopped at Scottish Sea Life Centre, North Berwick.

Bass Rock

A Gull with a damaged foot.

On our way home, we broke the journey at Leighton Moss, Cumbria.

Swallows & Coots on the lake

Here we watched an Osprey hovering and diving over the lake, from a great distance and through mist and drizzle. We moved to a hide slightly closer to the action, and found him in a tree with a large fish.

Distant Osprey, with fish

Osprey and Egrets

A male Marsh Harrier, near to the Osprey