Happy New Year Walks

 Firstly - sorry to be slow to extend New Year wishes. All was well, I was just busy. But I don't think that it is too late for this -

Just a few images here from walks across the Somerset countryside over the holidays.

Is it a path? Is it a stream? Well according to the local map. it seems it is both!

Here some linnets - a flock of forty or so that have taken up residence in the fields close to where I live. This is a UK red list species.

The low winter light can be very pretty.

And something more unexpected - a cormorant out in the countryside but he is close to a significant river and a small lake.

The fox was out on New Year's Day and took a good hard look before running off. 

Lovely Little Linnets

I was wondering, and to be honest quietly hoping, that my winter walks into the edge of the Somerset countryside would bring more revelations from nature during the ongoing pandemic. 

Despite the first lock-down, and the fear of the unknown implications of the plague that still enwraps the planet, Spring brought a series of small blessings (many of which I have shared here): the baby badgers, the unexpected roe-deer, the butterflies and beetles and many interesting plants and birds.

My expectations for autumn and winter are lower, but I have certainly relished the changing colours in the trees and little local woodlands, especially where there are mighty beeches and along the canal, where low November light brought beautiful fiery reflections.

And now I find a new species! Attracted by their gentle twittering song, I recognised something new, a small flock (maybe forty or so) of finches; small brown birds that favour an old ash tree along the narrow margin of an unworked field. These proved to be linnets, Linaria cannabina, and are on the UK's Red List, having suffered a calamitous population crash. 

I hope they will do well here in the fields just beyond my home. Here are some images of them.

November - reasons to be cheerful!

 The lock-down in England has resumed, the temperature is falling, the frost has returned  and November has rolled in. 

Reasons to be cheerful?

Young swans a calling!

Handsome well-loved canal boat homes!

Wild flowers still blooming in November!

Surprise garden visitors! (The sparrowhawk again.)

Cheeky starlings!

Equally cheeky squirrels!

Have I mentioned the flowers still in bloom?

The golden beech trees along the canal!

Trees!

Discovering new trees!

And sunsets!

Lovely sunsets!

Oh and ducks.... ducks always make me smile!

Requiem for a dolphin

One of the best-known dolphins in the world is missing and believed dead. Fungie, the bottlenose dolphin who had lived in Dingle harbour on Ireland’s west coast since the early 1980s, rarely strayed from the harbour and therefore, sadly, death is a reasonable assumption.

In fact, Fungie had a whole dolphin watching industry built around his enduring presence....

Full article HERE.

The Halloween Badger

As is now tradition, the pumpkin heads are re-purposed as containers for a few snacks at the Badger Halloween party. 

 

And how did badger react to the pumpkins stacked up?

Autumn colours 2020

 

c/o Westonbirt The National Arboretum 

Canal Life October

 Just some pictures from on and around the Somerset Coal Canal on a bright Autumn day.

Dunedas Aquaduct which spans the railway and the River Avon

Dunedas Aquaduct from above.

River Avon - swollen after heavy rain 

The Autumn Badgers

 

Sparrowhawk attack! (Warning - includes graphic imagery.)

The bird feeders in my garden bring me a lot of pleasure as the little birds come and go. Alongside the little birds is one spectacular raptor: the sparrowhawk! I have mixed feelings about her visits because she is very focused on the small starling flock which comes in every day to feed and their cheerful babble from the hedgerow is a great start to any day.  

The sparrowhawk is an adult female. She is standing on an adult starlng which she swooped in and, at great speed, took as the starlings fed on the ground. There was no struggle, I think her prey was dead on contact.

Over the next few minutes she plucked the dead bird and then started to eat it. The film below shows this (you have been warned). Then a few minutes later she was gone taking the remains of the body with her and all that was left was a sad little patch of grey feathers and half a beak. 

Scientists from across the world call for urgent action on whale, dolphin and porpoise conservation!

It has become apparent in recent months, via virtual discussions and meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), that many scientists working on whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively ‘cetaceans’) are deeply concerned about the future survival of the animals they study. 

Full article HERE

A visit to the American Museum in Bath on a Sunny September Day.

Over the last couple of years the American museum in Bath has really worked hard on its gardens. Here are a few photos.

Churchill made his first political speech at this place in 1847.

More about the American Museum here: https://americanmuseum.org/