A nice quiet life

Common, yes, but not much darting.  Although they do dart about from time to time, common darters seem to spend most of their time just sitting around.  As soon as they spot a camera they strike a pose,

turning from side to side to make sure you have captured the best side.

Like all dragonflies most of their existence is as larvae and they spend most of their adult lives being not very active at all.

Cough it up

Like birds of prey and corvids, kingfishers regularly regurgitate pellets to get rid of indigestible parts of their food.  As they swallow fish whole I reckon the pellets are probably composed mainly of fish bones and scales.  It is usually pretty obvious when a pellet is about to be produced.

This guy had his back to me so it was difficult to catch the moment.  And the pellet is farther away from the camera and so is out of focus.

Another on on the same day, again with his back to me.

Here it comes.

This time the pellet went to his left.

I hope this hasn't put you off your dinner.

Stocktake in the owl box

I regularly hear tawny owls calling in the garden each autumn.  Thinking that it would be good to encourage them, I made an owl box and put it up at the end of 2014, probably a bit late for that season.

I monitored the box with a trail camera in an adjacent tree but there was no activity in spring 2015.  I set up the camera again in autumn that year and on one night did see a tawny owl checking out the box.

It isn't easy to be sure it's an owl from the still photo but towards the end of this video clip it takes its head out of the box and turns towards the camera so you can see what it is.

Despite visiting that one time the owls didn't return.  I presume they already had a nest site somewhere and only visit the garden as it is in their territory.  In spring 2016 there was interest from an American grey squirrel (an invasive alien species) so I had to close up the box for a while.

I put the camera up again last autumn and winter and again this spring but, apart from the occasional great tit standing on the platform, there was no activity.  So after three years I decided to give up and recycle the box into sparrow boxes. I climbed up the ladder this afternoon, planning to remove the box, but as I did so a stock dove flew out.  When I peeped inside I could see a chick.  I took one quick photo with the phone and beat a hasty retreat.  Looking at the photo there is a half size chick and an unhatched egg.

The BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) website says that stock doves nest from March to October and have up to five broods in a year so this is not particularly late.  I expect the unhatched egg is a dud as the chick appears at least half grown.  I'll have to decide now whether to leave the box or take it down this winter.  I doubt that owls will take any further interest in it.  I am happy for stock doves to use it but I don't want to encourage the grey squirrels.

More Mrs Nutkin photos

I had a wonderful time watching this squirrel the other day.  I wrote before about how she cleaned out a packet of pecan nuts but for some of the time she was far enough away from the packet to get a few photos.  I sat and watched her for half an hour.  The light was a challenge, with bright sun and deep shadow but here are some of the best photos. I am not sure if she is expecting or has just eaten too many nuts.

Dragons on the phone

Although I have an iPhone I value it more as a camera than as a phone.  Dragonflies will sometime sit still enough for a close-up portrait with a phone.  Here are a few examples.

In order they are male southern hawker, male common darter, male emperor and male migrant hawker, the first two taken this week.

Mrs Nutkin's self service

This photo shoot didn't go quite according to plan.  My model was waiting impatiently even before I had taken the camera out of the car and she became very interested when she heard the rustle of the packet of nuts.  I put a couple of nuts on top of a tree stump, hoping for a nicely posed and composed photo but she was much more interested those in the packet.  First she had a good look at the other camera.

And then she found the packet of nuts.

So I gave in and took these photos, which were not quite what I had in mind.

I reckon she ate about a dozen pecan halves.  She carried the last one up a tree and looked quite full up.  I did manage a few photos without the packet in view and I'll post those in the coming days.  With her grey tail I think this squirrel is not one of those I saw a couple of weeks ago but I wonder if she is the one I photographed a year ago.  If so, she was just as confident last year.

Running for cover

I was standing behind the hedge watching this mother and daughter walking into the stubble field.  I think they were aware of me but they were suddenly much more concerned about another group of four or five deer that appeared on the opposite side of the field.  They decided to run back to the woods behind me and bolted in opposite directions.

The fawn ran to my left and disappeared behind the hedge.

The mother ran to my right, bounding like a gazelle and at times almost looking like a red kangaroo.  Within seconds she had vanished but I managed a few slightly blurry photos.