Fieldfare

Fieldfare
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

AUTUMNWATCH TIME!!!

Housemartin nest

We've had a slightly different nest this year - housemartins

Housemartin lining nest
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

more photos on flickr 

Autumn = Blog Update

Bless me father, it's been a while ...

Well the summer is over, and what have you done? Nowt much. Rain has been terrible, obviously, plus my feet are giving me jip hence preventing me from walking far if I wanna be able to walk at all the next day.

So a lot of my flickr shots have been taken from car parks and lay-bys and in gardens and not far from the car. I'm been semi-creative but somehow not been inspired - although visiting the Bead Fair at Rheged on Sunday was fabulous. I could have spent hundreds of quid ...

I've been reading other people's blogs - like me they sometimes have crises of confidence where they think no-one's reading it and are they wasting their time - well in my opinion they are sometimes the equivalent of the penpal letter to a stranger, only not always necessarily getting a reply. The doesn't make them any less interesting, and a sometimes so well-written they could happily be at home in a perfectly good book. Perhaps that's why I don't read books much (well OK that's not the only reason)

So what else has been going on -well some good friends of mine came oop norf from dahn sarf, the plan being to walk the Hadrian's Wall Path. Well that was the idea when the planning started, it soon became a portion of the interesting bit in the middle, but once they got here, Rain + Heavy Bags = Plan C. They are now experts in museums and the AD122 bus timetable. I think there must be some walkers out there that complete the wall in one go, but they must be pretty determined and also completely anal, let's face it. My friends took the better option of enjoying everything to hand when the opportunity arose, and found such a wonderful caravan they decided to stay there for the last 3 nights!

I visited them for a day and took them up to Kielder to see red squirrels, and lots of moss. They couldn't get enough of the moss, oh and the trees. That's two things we have plenty of up here ... and marshy bogs. They now know how the recognise the types of grass which like to grow in bogs (learned the hard way no doubt)

While at Kielder,we went to the Bird of Prey Centre at Leaplish. Now I've been to quite a few of these places now, and this was one of the best; they even had a vulture as part of the display team, and we were encouraged to pet a little Scops Owl called Tilly who just sat there like an adoring toy. She and her feathery mates were fantastic - well the pelicans were impressive but rather scary if I'm honest, and bloody huge!

For pics of the Kielder trip see here.

L8trs!

Dragonfly at Thirlmere

Dragonfly head -macro square
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

I'm really pleased with this photo! :-)

Bird action ...

At Kielder Bird of Prey Centre ...

Juvenile blackbird

Juvenile blackbird
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

... possibly?

maybe a fledgling from the nest about 8 feet away from this fence ...

Benny and the Birdfeeder

Mine, all mine!
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

Benny brought us a sparrow this morning.

Barhill Bluebells & Birds

Barhill Bluebells & birds
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

We visited Barhill Wood near Kirkcudbright yesterday - we'd heard it was a great bluebell wood but the view from the carpark wasn't promising much. But look what's over the hill!!

Three chicks!

Three in the bed ...
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

Trying really hard to keep the cats distracted as much as possible .. time will tell ...

Beady Bird Eye

Beady Bird Eye
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

She's still there... it's 11 days since the first egg was laid ...

Kilmartin Glen - the Reprise Trip

So we had another trip up to Argyll a couple of weeks ago (17th-19th March) because it coincided with B's birthday.

We booked at the Dunchraigaig House B&B again, it was fab last time we went so of course had to go back there. B was already looking forward to the breakfasts a week before we left home.

I can't blog in extreme detail about the wheres and whyfores because sadly I've not anymore got the luxury of being able to sit at my desk all day!!

We set off in good time and the weather was predicted to be chuffing marvellous, and it didn't disappoint. Better than last September when it rained for most of our visit. We took the M74 (ages since I last went up that road) but at Glasgow the roadworks led us onto the old A74 so we had a bit of a merry jolly through the rougher parts of town, past the Celtic football social club etc, but took note of the massive rash of new flats being built in that area. Anyway the traffic wasn't bad at all so we made it through to the M8 without pain.

Taking the scenic route via Dumbarton M&S, Helensburgh & Faslane peacecamp (resisted the flickr moment), there were some lovely views especially when we got up to the Rest & Be Thankful. Stopped there to take some photos (doesn't everyone?), carried on through Inverary and past the site of the Connect Festival (looks completely different in daylight - last time we were there we opted to dice with the traffic along the main road rather than take the swampy route back to the car)

We stopped by at Achnabreck rock art to discover that the carpark was closed for repair - however we found a good place to park further up the track at the top of the hill, which we wouldn't have know about otherwise! We followed a path from here right to the new panels, which were still covered in tarp. The good-old "hollywood" panels were further round the hill and I had a wander around while B took his photos.

then back to the B&B, and off out for a meal at the Carinbaan Hotel. Now let's get this straight right from the start - we were absolute PIGS on this trip and ate ourselves silly. We had three courses when we didn't really need it, because the menu was wonderful and the food completely gorgeous. We returned the next night, because there were things on the list we still wanted to try!!

Hen blackbird on the nest

Hen blackbird on the nest
Originally uploaded by pinkpebbleperson

Here's my hen blackbird on her nest this morning (don't worry I used the zoom! and it was daylight so glad OK to use flash)

Saw 4 eggs in there last night

The blackbird's nest

Nature is daft sometimes.

Remember that egg I found on the wall recently? It's been followed by a nest in the daftest of places - two feet from the ground above the place where the catmint used to be. It's been built inside a buddleia plant I've been trying and failing to keep under control. The egg I found was on the wall just beside the bush, so at least I know why it was there now!



So on Monday, there was just one egg in the nest, yesterday another appeared, now there's a third. I think that white bit is cat fluff.



So either the female blackbird is very very clever and has worked out that our two cats are slightly decrepit (until they hear baby blackbirds I bet) or more likely it's her first nest.

She's hardly ever sitting on it, either. Hmmm time will tell!

The nest is beautifully made, though.

Kirkcudbright Animal Park Baby Otters

Kirkcudbright Animal Park Baby Otters
Originally uploaded by pinkpebbleperson

This is the most popular photo on my flickr stream!!

It is *very* cute ...

Blackbird Egg

Blackbird Egg
Originally uploaded by pinkpebbleperson

I got home yesterday to find this lone egg on top of my garden wall. There is a tree nearby but it would never have a nest.

I wonder how on earth this egg got here? Did a bird just drop it off while passing?

How bizarre.

10,000 holes in Silloth, Cumbria

Or at least one big one. Have you seen this picture?? It's amazing what the sea can do!


(from the bbc website)

Gretna Green Starlings part 2

The next day, I remembered my camera. There were loads of cars parked up, two police patrollers and a TV van with big dish and twirly antenna pole!

I got this short film and the photos below....
I love the way the traffic noise seems to compliment the bird's flight!
If you watch closely, there's a bit where a small flock swoop low across the field.

Gretna Green - Swarming Starlings!

On my way home from work I come down the southern-most stretch of the A74 past Gretna. From there you can get wonderful views across the Solway to the Lake District Fells, at this time of year it's just sunset when I'm on that stretch and there have been some incredible pinky skies during this recent clear weather, tonight included.

While obviously keeping my attention completely on the road, and the skies, I am also watching out for those black swarms sometimes lurking above trees and fields in that area ... swarthy alien-like shapes created against the darkening skies... they are of course huge flocks of starlings!

Tonight I saw an amazing display. I came off the motorway at the tourist trap junction and headed slightly back north, just near the new Smiths hotel. There were already about 3 cars and two minibuses parked on the side of the road, their passengers all out standing by the fence watching the unbelievable swooping and dancing. I stood there watching until they all decided en masse to land somewhere towards the back of the field and the one next to it.

Why? How? Well one's thing for sure - it turns out that starlings are good at something, and are not just those noisy leather-jacket mobs that inhabit city centre trees just waiting for unsuspecting passers-by...

I'm gonna try to remember my camera tomorrow.


Here's a video taken last month

Check this web-page out: this was today!

Stoats and hot air balloons in deepest Northumberland

We took a flying visit to North'land yesterday to photograph some rock art at Buttony.

I forgot to take any alternative entertainment with me and the pine modern plantation was fairly sterile of anything worth macro-ing... It was sunny outside but freezing under the trees, so I huddled down into myself and tried to have a snooze - a mini hibernation, you could say. When all of a sudden, B stage-whispered "LOOK!" so I opened my eyes, took a moment to focus... and a furry creature was staring back at us! Another was running away - they had been having a little fight only feet away from us prior to them parting company, only to find human beans on their favourite high-bit-of-rock. A flash of white-tipped tail and he was away! We've googled them and we think they were stoats. No photies sadly :(

On the way back, took some pics of the WWII pillbox nearby and spotted a blob against the opposite hills ... turned out to be a hot air balloon taking off! Now considering this was about 4pm on a winter afternoon it was a bit late to be going anywhere in a mode of transport totally reliant upon none-existent winds. It came our way going right overhead as we walked back to the car. As we drove towards the A1 we passed it landed perilously close to some trees about half a mile NW of Chatton.

The tides were turning against us for a visit to Holy Island (next time, next time...) so we stopped off at the Alnwick bookshop only to find it closing in 10 minutes... so we headed home and enjoyed the sunset from the comforts of the A69 at national speed limit.

For a gallery of my photos from this trip click here