Summer is back

Friday 20th September

Had a lovely walk over the Clent Hills this morning, was bathed in blue skies and glorious sunshine, the photo below of Autumn shadows was used three times by the BBC for the lunchtime weather and twice on the evening news.
Autumn Shadows

The four stones on Clent.

Thursday 19th September

Been a nice few days, clear skies and cold mornings, the clouds have gone for a while.

Today I've had a nice walkabout, lots of young starlings about, still too much foliage to see the birds, but they have been singing their hearts out.

On the pool it's very quiet, the Great Crested Grebes have left, the heron is still about, plus a few snakes, saw two today but they were too quick for me to get a photo.

I have managed to get a little closer with the heron as you can see with this one, the lens was only on 300mm.

Getting cooler

Tuesday Sept 17th

Very quiet round and about hence I have also been quiet.

The Great Crested Grebes have all gone from the pool, few Mallards, couple coots and couple moorhens remain.
There are however a lot of dragonflies still about, I saw loads this afternoon.

Had a walk around Harvington this evening, over a period of about 30 minutes I must have saw at least 200 Canadian Geese fly over in the direction of Bromsgrove, no idea where they came from though, they were in groups of 10-20 approx.

This shot is about 100 yards from Harvington Hall just after the sun had gone to bed.

Hope to post again soon providing I see something worth posting about.

Sunday September 08

Sunny and cool all day, spent a few hours by the pool, saw couple of Jays and just the usuals, sadly didn't see a Kingfisher, the  Great Crested Grebe chicks are all doing well and fishing for themselves.

Heron was only catching tiddlers but was fun watching, I do manage to get reasonably close, living in hope that he/she will catch an eel or a snake one day.

And what a beautiful end to the day, this was around 7.30pm.

Kingfisher

Thursday September 5th

Had an early walkabout this morning, saw a Muntjac deer but apart from that it was very quiet.
Sunrise was nice but was hoping it would have been redder, still the BBC used it on the evening.

Monday September 1st

Usual walkabout produced very little, lots of signs of Badger digging around, couple buzzards which I think were quite young were flying over the dead man's allotment.

Bright but windy day and I spent a few hours late morning and early afternoon at Captain's again and finally I got my reward, after many hours spent watching for the Kingfishers I finally watched one fly to a tree and perch, a bit of a way from me, hoping it may return to the same spot though for a closer photo.

the heron again

Friday August 30th
Cloudy day but still warmish.
An enjoyable walkabout early on, could hear lots of bird activity but due to the foliage couldn't see much at all.
Couple of kingfisher sightings on the pool and nice to see three very small grass snakes, each less than a foot long, still two of the original 3 moorhen youngsters still around, plus the four great crested grebe chicks are still doing very well, won't be long no till they split up from the parents.
Acorns and leaves coming away from the trees so I guess autumn is slowly on it's way.

Wednesday 28th August
Saw a Muntjac deer feeding around 8am and that was it, grand children day so wasn't out for long.

Tuesday August 27th

Another warm and muggy day, lot more cloud about though which made the light too poor for any action shots, but still enjoyed a few hours sat by the pool, so many dragonflies about, few more Canadian Geese about, but sadly didn't see the kingfisher.
Quite a few acorns dropping off the trees.
A walk over the fields didn't reveal much, still very quiet, guess I won't see much now till the leaves start falling off.

Monday 26th August

Last bank holiday of the year and blimey how hot is it, too much for me, so spent a while up at Captain's today sat in the shade and very enjoyable it was, three sightings of the Kingfisher plus the heron was very busy, mainly catching dragonflies.

The heron

Friday August 23rd

Just a few photos from the past few days as not been out much with the camera.
Hoping things will pick up soon.

Saturday August 17th

Finally a nice morning, walkabout early on which was enjoyable but quite, so spent a little while hidden away round Captain's watching the heron, didn't see him catch a fish, but just happy to watch him, certainly got more patience than I have.

Sunday August 18th

Very breezy but mostly dry, only managed a walk up the pool today, couple of heron's early on, took lots of photos but nothing special.

Stormy weather

Tuesday August 13th

Beautiful start to the day, walkabout early on but it was quiet, did find a dragonfly though tucked up out of the wind in a hedgerow.

Female Southern Hawker

Monday August 12th
Walkabout on the evening, quite but a pleasant walk, very quiet on the pool.

Sunday August 11th

Still very quiet out and about, been spending a bit of time painting some miniatures which I hope to do a lot more of this winter.

Victorian style cottage

Windsor castle from the river

Friday August 9th

Very windy and showery day, more like autumn than summer.

GC Grebe chick growing well as are the other three.

Got caught in the storm this afternoon.

The footballer hoverfly

Tuesday August 6th

Sorry but quiet at the moment due to Grandchildren minding, managed a walk round the pool last night where I managed two sightings of the Kingfisher and one sighting late this afternoon, but still no photos.
Late evening walk tonight and all very quiet.
Normal service will be resumed asap.

Friday August 2nd
Good walkabout but very quiet, been bust today, hopefully see more tomorrow.
Did find two more geocaches on my walkabout though.

Thursday August 1st

Had a good walkabout today, cloudy early on but brightened up as the day went on, but still not brilliant, at least it stayed dry.
Didn't see a lot to be fair, the pool was same as yesterday, a few swallows dipping on the evening.
Found two more geocaches, lots more to be found when I get chance.

The footballer hoverfly.

One of the humbugs, growing very quickly now.

2 more Geocaches, not as easy as yesterday but didn't take too long to find.