Blasted

It's nice to be back online at last! I get what I get when I go out and I'm not targeting anything in particular. I've spent more time looking to add birds to the Patchwork list but I'm not having much luck in that department - I can't even find a Pheasant to put on the list! Anyhoo, while crossing my patchwork boundary I came across a WT Eagle cruising along the shore but with nowhere to stop I had to keep going and that put some distance between me and the bird.

A bit of sunshine didn't encourage anything of note to appear in the areas that I visited (bet something showed up after I left though!) but there were nice views of Song Thrush...

...and Redwing to be had.

We got blasted by the weather - 60 mph winds and a bit of rain and snow - so the expectation was that something would turn up. It all looked fairly quiet apart from a decent smattering of GN Diver (about 20 birds) on the loch. Plants are fairly reliable so I checked out the Pale Butterwort.

A Redshank was feeding in the shallows but with strong light behind the bird - good pose though.

There were masses of gulls on the shore as the tide was receding so I gave them a good grilling and turned up a nice adult Glaucous Gull - result.

There were a few RB Merg along the shore and they look impressive in flight.

This Curlew may stand out quite well in the photo but trying to keep an eye on it while I found somewhere to stop wasn't that easy.

Ton of birds and some flowers.

Left to my own devices and in charge of a camera I was out there snapping away at anything that would stay still long enough. I started off with this Common Gull...

...and that was almost the extent of the birds. There was plenty to be seen but I got distracted by a bleating lamb...

...who then started to gambol. Note to Postie - all four feet off the ground;-)

The flowers have been catching my eye for a couple of weeks now so I thought I might as well have a go at them too. Lesser Celandine is starting to carpet the ground in places.

A bankside full of Primroses always looks spectacular but you can't get a poor display of this stunner.

I had a look around for Butterwort but they are not even budding yet so I had to settle for Pale Butterwort instead.

Oh look, a bird, quick with the camera - or not - Meadow Pipit wins again.

 

Wood Sorrel hides in the shady spots so it was a bit tricky to get this one...

...but then I found some in the sunshine.

Another bird distraction was this young WT Eagle flying over. You can see it's sporting wing tags so it's an east coast bird

Ton of birds, what's that about...Goldcrest was my one hundreth species for the year.

Another plant that will soon be in flower is the Wild Strawberry.

Just to finish with a bird - this is one of many Pied Wagtails around but all of them are male, I've not seen a female of the species yet.