Thursday 28 July 2011

Bottle Art at Dinnington

Last weekend I did a bit more than Southern Hawkers so here goes with a few more pics.  First of all was a Swallow which really stayed put on a fence whilst we approached and only flew off when we were just 6ft (note the non metric measurements - now Im getting old I feel the need to rebel so changing from metric back to the 1824 imperial measurements is on the edge for me)


Next was a peculiar piece of "Urban Art" just outside of Dinnington.  It consisted of quite a few bottle tops (lots of beer ones) hammered into the ground by a budding Tracey Emin/Damien Hirst or just some P****d Up Numpty.


I also think the Blue Flash fanatics better get some bigger lenses as its now twice I have seen it decline the pleasures of the green slime deposited by the wind under the most photographed stick in Northumberland and head over to the island.



On the magnificent Budleia Bush on the path to the reserve at Big Waters a myriad of butterflies fluttering then alighting were a spectacle to behold, there were at least 6 different species flying around including Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell, Large White and the highlight was a Comma which is not regularly seen in Big Waters.


Also spotted was a moth which I think might be a Barred Umber but the bar across the wings looks slightly different (does that sound as I know what I might be talking about - not likely).


In the feeding station it was lovely to see young Tree Sparrows being fed by their parents.  If you want to know about Tree Sparrows on Big Waters you could listen to Saving Species on the Iplayer where a "local chap" chats to a BBC Radio 4 researcher about them.


Also keeping the people in the hide with cameras on their toes was a very active Common Sandpiper who was all over the place but always returning to the same spot on  the only bit of scrape viewable due to the influx of that wet liquid


Also in the feeding station were a few juvenile Willow Warbler.  They stayed there quite a while until an adult came in and called then they all headed off down towards the other hide .



Time for home but couldn't resist a quick spin past Arcot and arrived just in time to see the 2 Little Egrets heading up to roost high in the trees.



A stunning end to a great day.

2 comments:

Johnnykinson said...

The super posts just keep coming John.Just need that extra 100mm on your lens (thats 4inches to you)or a 1.4 or 2x telecoverter (thats 1 and 2/5ths or 2 and no 5ths to you)
I'm totally shocked that you had no other comments on your birth. Hope you enjoyed the cigar afterwards.

HowdonBlogger said...

John, have been looking at the movies and tried to upload one but blogger is not playing atm. Will stick them on a stick and you can view them "in private".

John