Berttie Bassett's All Sorts

A selection of images from the last week or so, the wind has got up and most of the blossom has been blown away, a few butterflies from my patch and on three separate days I had a female mallard with 7, 11 and 14 young respctively, only a day or so old. I have a blackbird nesting in the back garden and one under my bedroom window, they have tried in the past unsuccessfullty with the number of 'domestic' cats and magpies hereabouts. I think the cats will be the greatest threat this year. (Last year the nestbox was left with 14 Blue Tit fledglings dead after the parents failed to continue feeding and I can only assume the parents were no longer alive). New birds have tried this year.... early days.

Cherry blossom – now all too soon blown away

Speckled Wood

Male Orange Tip

Male Orange Tip

Ma Mallard

Aaahhh

Comma

The Family bar dad! 

Another aaahhh

Speckled Wood

Bee on Lion's teeth flower

Female Blackbird sitting tight, in the back garden

Rodaside Bluebells – Ours or Spanish, I don't know

Male Reed Bunitng – Carr House Green Common

Dan de lion and Goldfinch

Another early visit in poor light.

A male Chaffinch, a pair of Blue tits, two or three Goldfinch, a Whitethroat, a pair of Linnet, a pair of Gadwall, a pair of Shelduck, 27 odd Herring Gulls of various ages, Coot and Moorhen, a Mute Swan on a nest and a Mallard with 11 young. They looked they had only just hatched and she was walking them across the field to the water, so the nest must have been well hidden, and just in time with those marauding gulls about.

One or two Goldfinches were feeding on dandelions in the roadside verge, see photos. You can see the yellow nectar on the crown of the bird. The bright yellow on Goldfinch has always been a wonder, yet when feeding on the ground on dandelion, the perfect camouflage.

Later that day, over at St Annes a Dunnock popped up as I was parking the car at the tax office! The Whitethroat pic is only so you know, I know what one looks like and it was still about on the way home later in the afternoon!

Hghi in the sky, I thought there was a Swift but on closer(!) inspection it wasn't a Swift. A couple of brief snaps at considerable distance, and not big enough for a Peregrine I am leaning towards a probable Hobby. What do you think? (see below)

Newton Marsh

A Bit Quiet

But that might have been because of the dog walkers.

A Common Sandpiper on Newton Marsh, while in the field to the east were a pair of Wheatear, a pair of Chaffinch and at least 6 what I think were Pied Wagtails. Later sightings in the week by others suggested White Wagtails but I couldn't be sure. A pair of Mallard and Shelduck were feeding before being disturbed, along with everything else by said dog and companions. A couple of record photos.