a dog's life in the Tamar valley, Cornwall, PL17

Swallows roosting in our porch. They have had one unsuccessful attempt to breed already. Something (probably local sparrows) raided the ne...

just one more for old times sake, the amazing sight of  an albino (or leucistic) sparrow in the garden of Spot's new(ish) abode

Once again it has been exceptionally mild this autumn. Mushrooms are out in abundance and they provide a few flashes of vivid colour in...

breakfast   lunch

We occasionally see a flash of brown and yellow through the trees and hedges in the garden as a sparrowhawk swoops down on a sparrow or g...

A souther hawker dragonfly. These dragonflies are very territorial, and will often hover around an intruder, providing a rare opportunity...

The second broods of martins have started leaving their nests. This little chap was found just outside our front door, he/she could flutte...

the first of this year's new swallows gathering for a geography lesson on the way to Africa.

swallows and martins have raised one brood, and now have started again. This is a swallow nest (they tend to nest inside buildings eg barn...

the rooks have heard that some people are complaining about the noise they make early in the morning .... they are planning their next mov...

The air is full of the calls of yellowhammers. They are fairly easy to spot because they like to sit on the top of bushes, trees and teleg...

all the young blackbirds flew the nest this morning except this tail end Charlie (Charlene I think). It may well be the bird rescued earlier...

 One of the main reasons for going to Lundy at this time of year is to see the puffins at Jenny's cove. They are not easy to spot withou...

things are coming along nicely in the blackbird nest. However, I think magpie predation may have started even though the nest is right ...

A pair of blackbirds have decided to nest in the wisteria by the front door. This allows me to get very close without disturbing the fema...

rabbit at prayers this morning, and this afternoon a visitation by a small flock of goldfinches. Goldfinches form flocks in the winter ...

Even by our standards this was a bit of a crowd. The squirrel (who looks very brown for a grey) is the new kid on the block, and the t...

It is little surprise that we seem to have a lot of wasps about in the late summer. There were at least three of these beautifully constr...

The swallows are back. I saw two last Friday (11/4). Usually these early birds fly on, but this year they are already investigating the ne...

We paid a visit to Weir Quay this morning. There were surprisingly few wading birds about apart from this grey heron, and a couple o...