The Swift and the Sparrowhawk

This would have been a very mundane little walk tonight, on a pleasant if not spectacular evening, with just some pretty pictures of the dandelion clocks on the Devon Pastures, if it wasn't for a couple of spectacular avian encounters I had after I'd done my 2km trot through the park.

I'd just emerged onto Farndon Road, when I looked up to see a small bird being pursued by a raptor of some kind at very high speed. Abruptly the bird performed a handbrake 180 in the air, and its pursuer made a sort of desperate upward lunge to try and take it in its talons.

It missed.

With insane reflexes, it immediately lunged at another bird - a swift - which similarly escaped by pulling a scything, slicing turn and heading back where it came, at which point the would be killer settled itself down and slowly flapped off along the River Devon. I decided from its long tail and broadish, fingered wings that it was a sparrowhawk, although it was silhouetted against a low bright sun. 

Immediately afterwards, I went past the cob horse field and noticed a bird alight on a tree stump. At first I thought it was a thrush before I realised it was way too big; then it made a leap at a blackbird feeding nearby. It was a kestrel, although seemingly such a rubbish one said blackbird carried on happily feeding even after it had side stepped the attack.

Finally, although three is more than a couple, I had the pleasure of a close range head high encounter with a swift as it blasted past me before finding its way into a gap less than an inch high in the eaves of a nearby house. They've only been home a couple of weeks, so I'm guessing this is nest building rather than rearing, but I could be wrong. 

So good to see them nesting!

Si

A lovely evening

Ceonothus

Devon Reflections

What time is it?

Willow tree

Devon Pasture

Buttercups unfurl

Flare!!!

Cow parsley

Me in the river, at the lock

Sunset

Eurovision is not the Only Song Contest on the Telly Tonight

Our entrant installed himself on our TV aerial, watched by myself and the moon, at about 730pm.

The other neighbourhood entrants put on a terrifyingly high standard of song, and our plucky competitor was obviously overawed for he could only muster a few scratchy whistles before flying off in the face of some truly mellifluous music from the rooftops.

Looking at him, a better costume might have helped too. He looks a bit scruffy.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.05.16

Blue Gardens, Red Gardens

My evening walk was cancelled tonight, on grounds of the utter horribleness of the weather; greyer than grey and a cold North wind blowing every butterfly, bird and bee out of sky into far more sensible, cosy places.

Me I had my beloved "Top of the Pops" 1981 repeat to watch as well; Depeche Mode in armpit waisted baggy trousers, Adam Ant dancing with the divine Diana Dors, and an out of time Slade trying desperately to adjust to the era of "The New Wave of British Heavy Metal". Not even a thousand swifts screeching outside would drag me away from that.

I'm trying once again to 1) declutter and 2) eat properly. Several more bags of old clothes have gone to he great wardrobe in the sky, but the remainder seem to have expanded to fill the space liberated by their demise and I have no more pairs of cargo pants to sling out. All the Converse Lo-Tops with holes in the sole have gone too, yet there is still no room in my "shoe zone", which admittedly is hardly the size of Imelda Marcos'.

Just give me a flamethrower.

As for the food, I'm spending way more than I should on snacking rubbish. This will stop!

All my walking around, I notice there are two types of gardens; blue gardens and red gardens. Blue gardens tend to be the wilder ones, filled with forget-me-not and bluebell growing hither-thither, while the red ones are more cultivated, more regulated, yet still attractive to bees and butterflies.

Of course, I prefer the blue ones. But the red ones are nice too.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 13.05.16

The blue garden across the road

The red sconce shaped garden, at The Sconce Park

Buttercups on the Graves

Dryer, but just as grey today, with only a couple of penny sized patches of blue sky seen all day. It made it a bit easier to get outside, and in the morning I did a 5km walk to the park, and the afternoon found me doing a 10km run.

Not so easy when your thighs are covered with huge cricket bruises.

The cemetery has now reached its final phase of spring, with buttercups and white flowers I think may be saxifrage of some kind the latest flowers to swarm over the century old graves. They will be the last too, normally when the bluebells are over, the gardeners at the cemetery cut all the flowers down. I noticed also that there are tiny white flowers carpeting the ground at the base of trees, perhaps some form of chickweed.

Oilseed rape is now out in the Grange Road fields, but on a cooler day the thick scent of the flowers isn't so bad for the passing runner. I noticed some little brown birds with white bellies hovering in the wind above the yellow blooms, "peep-ing" away; meadow pipits I assume.

I haven't seen them in that field before.

So my detailing of the year goes on! The spring phrase comes to an end. I've been thinking about careers as ever; surely I am not too old to ever be a success?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 11.05.16

Ceonothus, but too dull for bees

Not sure what this tree is

More, and different, flowers on the graves

Saxifrage - I think - and buttercups

Closer up

Buttercup grave

Tiny chickweed type stuff

It was found at the base of trees

Oilseed rape

Horses and buttercups

From Sun to Rain

Well, the summer has now ended, as I woke to rain lashing my windows, a fetish it kept up all day.

I thus didn't run, but did take out my umbrella for a couple of walks to photograph the wet, glistening world. A few very bedraggled birds looked at me as if I was mad, which I certainly was when I found out that Rumbles cafe was closed for a tidy up and I had nowhere to sit to dry out a bit with a cup of tea.

So, a disappointing day on the wildlife front, but hopefully I've got some pictures that portray the town in a different light. i.e. a grim and dripping one.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 10.05.16

Oily Fish Rays

Cycled over to RSPB Langford Lowfields today, pondering an internal question as I turned the pedals on the easy downwind stretch from Stapleford Wood to Collingham.

Why does vitamin D come from two totally different things; oily fish and sunshine?

It made me wonder if all our current scientific theories are wrong? Maybe mackerel are not fish after all, but silvery blue packages of pure sunlight? Or the sun emits rays of fish oil instead of photons?

What a poser! The world is all wrong!

Anyway, at Langford I was able to concentrate on the birds, and ignore such existential meanderings. THe dominant birds were the sand martins in the air, of which there were many, and various loudly squabbling canada geese on the water. But there was plenty else going on.

A tiny little gravel island out on the water was the focal point for most of the activity. On this little spit, barely larger than a decent sized car, oystercatcher, common terns, and various ducks including a very late pochard were all sitting or feeding in the shallows. Possibly the terns and the 'catchers were nesting; I hope so.

I decided to walk around the whole reed bed, and everywhere a shrill song caught my ear. I've been researching birdsong like mad, and have concluded it was almost certainly a sedge warbler; certainly it is an ideal habitat for them. A passing birdwatcher told me of a hobby he had watched, but it didn't show up for me. Lots of butterflies were about, and I'm glad that orange tips are having a good year again, after last spring's disaster.

Brimstone flew strongly around the hedgerow margins, and peacocks sunbathed out on the paths in large numbers. No damselflies yet though, although they've been reported elsewhere.

Enjoy!

Si

Bugs on a rush

Cowslip macro

First look at the island

All sorts in this shot; pochard, common tern, oystercatcher, tufted duck,

Tern takes to the air

Oystercatcher preening

Oysters in the sky

Female reed bunting

She gave a lovely view