The tinkling of gold on a grey day
Sometimes it’s just too dull for bird photography. Then I find a Goldfinch and even the greyest of grey days tinkles with gold.
The chick appears
Back in Somerset I’m delighted that the Great Spotted Woodpeckers have successfully raised a chick so it is large enough to appear …
The Hall of Einar Sunday Recommendation #52
Hello and welcome to my Sunday Recommendation. Thanks for joining me. Every week I read great wildlife and nature books, stumble upon …
A male Blackcap screaming from the treetops
Sunny intervals. Bright between light showers. I love this time of year, apart from the hay fever. Here’s a remarkable photograph of …
The class system is rife whenever we describe nature
I’m frequently baffled by the birdsong people appreciate. I hear people using words like mellifluous to describe the song of the Blackcap, …
Jumping pond skaters
There are Pond Skaters on Ducklington Lake. It’s a beautiful place, even if you do have to indulge in wild parking on …
Splash in the underpass
There’s an art project which fascinates me next to a Sainsburys, the A380 flyover and a small stream called Aller Brook. There’s …
How many notes in a call?
Collared Doves make a three-note call. “Coo-COO-Coo”. Woodpigeons make a lower pitched, more gravelly five-note call. “Coo-COO-Coo Coo-Coo” Neither of them are …
Red Kite hunting
We’re having a walk around Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire. It’s Oxfordshire’s largest body of open water. We have Anna the dog with …
Ground-nesting Herons
One of the things I thought I knew was that Grey Herons are colonial nesters in large heronries in trees. I’ve seen …
Tumble and glide
Jackdaws are fascinating to watch. They fill the fields here in Oxfordshire with their calls, scurrying and bounding across the ground and …
Olde Forde House again
I’ve already sketched Olde Forde House. It’s a lovely place to spend an hour wandering the gardens, despite the noise of the …
More Red Kites
Each morning here in Oxfordshire, over breakfast, after we’ve let the eleven chickens out of their bedtime quarters into their expansive run, …
Just when you think you’ve taken all the Robin photos you are ever going to…
Just when you think you’ve taken all the Robin photos you are ever going to, along comes this one: How could I …
Three flavours of warble
Yes, I know you’ve seen it before. This Common Whitethroat, Curruca communis, is singing again in the garden of my friend’s house. …
Streptopelia decaocto
There’s a Collared Dove cooing in the garden. Coo-COO-Coo. Again and again. Those three syllables again and again. Coo-COO-Coo. The Collared Dove’s …
The flame-coloured sun worshiper
It’s summer and it’s sunny. In the garden here in Oxfordshire, as we house-sit for friends, there are insects aplenty. Many are …
Singing again
Our resident Common Whitethroat is still singing for as much of the day as he can manage. The garden at the house …
Feeding time for the Long-Tailed Bushtits
Deep in the hedge surrounding this field in Somerset is a Long-Tailed Bushtit nest. It’s the usual assortment of lichens and petals …
Yellow Umbrella
Yellow Umbrella Gifts is a gift shop in Newton Abbot that I’ve enjoyed sketching on a postcard. It’s full of hand crafted items with a dizzying array of skills and materials.
Spectacular Starling
We have a few visitors to the garden at the house we’re house-sitting in Oxfordshire. A Starling is a welcome one in …
Milvus milvus
Here in Oxfordshire there are Red Kites over the garden. They come particularly low in the early morning, looking for food to …
Common Whitethroat scratching incessantly
We’re in Oxfordshire house-sitting for my friends. The weather is stunning and there’s a dizzying number of places here we can sit …
Woodpecker work
The female Great Spotted Woodpecker seems to be in their nest hole a great deal. When she ventures out I can appreciate …
In winter there are only females
There’s an Oak Apple Gall above me on this oak tree. It’s probably five centimetres wide and inside it are anything up …
Mortuary Alley
I’m not sure anyone’s ever sketched this alleyway in Newton Abbot before. It’s a commonly used cut-through filled with industrial waste bins from all the surrounding shops. Local people refer to it as Mortuary Lane, but I’ve yet to find out why.
Fishing
I love chugging out of Brixham on board the Kelly’s Hero. Brixham is still an active port, and it’s a pleasure to …
Lobe-finned fish fossil
The distinctive, smooth, grey rocks on Westray’s exposed sea cliffs and shelving shore host fossils of fish which died 390 million years …
Bear’s Garlic
I love being in the woods and surrounded by Bear’s Garlic, Allium ursinum. I really must make better use of it, given …
Puffing Pigs
There are Harbour Porpoise off Brixham. It’s a thrill to see a small pod of them moving fast. The name Porpoise comes …