Bird Twitchers once in a lifetime opportunity,

Bird twitchers will be moving en masse on Thurs morning from the Robin Redbreast site to a nearby waterway hoping for sightings of what could be a first ever record of a new Bird Species to visit our shores with this fine example of a Platypus Billed Duck. As a new species suggestions for its new Latin name would be welcomed. 

Gulp of the month!

The moral of this story would seem to be that if you're a Grey Heron swallowing a live eel you should at least make sure its unconcious first.

Robin Redbreast on the Catwalk,

Bird Twitchers will be gathering on Thursday morning to tick their scorecards at a sighting of this latest example of augmentation in the Birdworld.

Spectacled Eider Duck-- Somateria fischeri

This intricately patterned Sea Duck is one of the rarest and least known of the Eider group. Its breeding grounds are mainly in Suberia and Alaska but it can be found closer to home in one or two of the larger Waterfowl collections in the UK. Best photographed in Nuptial plumage in late Winter/Spring as its post breeding eclipse plumage is somewhat drab.

Red Squirrel - Sciurus vulgaris

Spring is once again upon us and those lucky enough to live in the right area can see Red Squirrels active again after a period of semi dormancy through the extremes of the winter weather. In the UK they are almost all of the fox red colour known to all but, in parts of Europe, their colour is variable and can, in places, be almost black.In very early Spring they are still searching for nuts and seeds they buried the previous Autumn though they never find them all. As Spring wears on many of the undiscovered ones germinate and add to the woodland understory.

Beat the shortage of Mothers Day Daffodils,

The good news is that there is no shortage of Daffodils in this delightful setting. The bad news (or dependent on family relationships maybe it's further good news) is that you have to send your Mothers or Mothers-in-law to Galicia to see them. One of the earliest of wild Narcissi to come into flower the delightful and diminutive Narcissus cyclamineus can be found growing in spectacular mountain settings in the North of Spain and Portugal from the middle of Feb through to March with a slight variation in flowering times dependent on the season. For more Pictures of Wild Narcissi please visit the Wildflower Galleries on my website.

Spring continues:-

Although Spring is still trying to decide whether it is here, just around the corner, or going to give us a miss this year, the weather must be improving as this Green Woodpecker male (Picus viridis) paid a visit to the lawn recently in search of grubs and ants that had been persuaded to leave their winter quarters by one or two days sunshine!

Spring at last!

Spring has finally sprung with the somewhat late arrival of one of the earliest wildflowers - the Snowdrops. Of  the genus Galanthus and from the same family (Amaryllidaceae) as the Daffodils, they are of indeterminate origin with the suggestion that they were probably introduced to Britain by the Romans

From wherever and whenever they came they have managed, since their arrival and with the undoubted help of man, to become naturalised in Britain in several different forms. Usually found in close proximity to human habitation, either past or present, they are at their best at the moment (late Feb/ early March) though peak flowering time does vary year on year depending on the vagaries of our winter season.

Apart from the traditional "drop" shaped varieties there are usually some larger flowered "double" types to be found with spreading petals