on Weir Quay

We paid a visit to Weir Quay this morning. There were surprisingly few wading birds about apart from this grey heron, and a couple of shelducks waddling about. The black flight feathers on the grey heron are very noticeable. The male shelduck (the one on the left) has a little red knob at the top of his beak, otherwise the male and female are very similar.

yellow does it

This spectacular display of daffodils, forsythia and celandines is on the road (A388) into Launceston; it gets better and better each year. And a grey wagtail!

the importance of being yellow

A brilliant display of celandines on Broadgate lane, and a brilliant display of yellowness by a male brimstone.

spring flowers

The daffodil season is at its height now. These impressive double daffodils are growing wild at Old Mill but may well be a long established garden escapee. Greater periwinkle (vinca major) is adding vivid blue to the banks and hedgerows. It is a native species but seems to like growing near gardens as here in Tokenbury.

 

Finally, the exotic flower of rosemary, growing in a pot (!), only to demonstrate how elaborate small flowers can be.

Downderry

we went on one of our occasional walks to Seaton and Downderry this morning. The bird at the top was calling rather plaintively. It looks like a large pied wagtail, and I think it is most likely a white wagtail, a non resident bird and a very close relative of our native pied wagtail, on its way to its breeding grounds. A pair of oyster catchers also flew past.

 The cliffs at Downderry appear to have survived the great storms of the winter without too much damage.

rarity value

It has been a beautiful day. All the early butterflies (brimstone, red admiral and tortoiseshell) were out, the sap is rising, the birds are singing, the buzzards are trying each other out soaring above us; all is well. Purple toothwort used to be an absolute rarity but as can be seen from this photograph it is spreading quickly and now provides a purple haze across the forest floor reminiscent of the blaze of bluebells that will follow in May.

you looking for trouble

Feisty lamb (one of last years unless they are growing even faster) harassing timid dogs. And below the native wild daffodil is beginning to make an appearance.

Signs of Spring 2

The fields are full of them!

Signs of Spring 1

Two cock pheasants having a territorial dispute. Usually very shy birds, they were too engrossed in each other to notice us.

hard to believe

a beautiful end to a wild, wild day

pond life

water is appearing in new places everywhere at the moment. A new waterfall has appeared (visible through the trees just above H's head in the photo) from water flowing out of old mine workings. Some frog spawn has appeared (quite late this year despite the mild temperatures) with an unidentified predator.

Springing

Despite all this stormy weather, or possibly because it has been so mild, the annual cycle has started again. Snowdrops are out in profusion everywhere. These are complex varieties growing in the valley between Old Mill and Luckett.

Spring like

It was warm and almost Spring-like today, daffodils and snowdrops are out and there are signs of plants beginning to come into leaf already giving the landscape a hint of fresh green.

look outs at Luckett

Can we come for a walk too?

vandals at Greenscoombe

It must be so much fun driving your 4x4 illegally into these woods and meadows and driving at speed across a rare and fragile landscape leaving your scat so every one can know you exist, after all you are more important than anything else on the planet.

at the end of the road

what we really went to see, the magnificent, unearthly and ethereal Northern lights. We were fortunate to see a very active aurora on an crystal clear night. The photographs are deceptive in that the eye does not see such vivid colours, but they do capture the shapes and sense of movement that one can see. What a wonderful place (see link, Spot doesn't usually do ads but this hotel deserves it)!

Northern colours

dusk, coral beach at Sommaroy

the evening view from the Arctic Hotel, Sommaroy

dawn pictures

at this time of year dusk and dawn last for several hours creating some amazing scenes and colours.

reindeer

 

some wild life on the road around the island of Kvaløya

 

the white tailed sea eagle (see link)

huskyville

the huskies at Villmarkssenter (see link) making a hell of a racket as they get excited about mushing. This is a link to my facebook page where there is a fun video of the huskies setting off (link)

a trip to the North

things we didn't see in Venterdon, Tromso, at night

Spring bugs

It has been warm, almost Spring-like today. This is the hawthorn shield bug which overwinters as an adult, and has been fooled by the mild weatherinto waking up two months early, although it was quite dozy. I wonder why it earned its scientific name (see link) ?

hard to tell

I think this is a brambling in winter plumage, one of a small flock making high pitched "tink" to each other in Wareham woods today. These conifers are adjacent to some open fields.

A winter visitor to Britain, the Brambling is sometimes described as the Chaffinch of the north, for in the pine and birch forests of Scandinavia it seems to replace the Chaffinch as the commonest bird. In all plumages, Bramblings can be recognised by the obvious orange on the breast extending across the shoulders onto their wings. In winter the head and mantle are usually a blotchy grey-brown but in some birds these wear away to produce a stunning black head, even before they depart back to Scandinavia. In flight they show a neat rectangular white patch down the rump as well as white and orange in the wing. (from Guide to British Birds see link)

rain over Dartmoor

raincloud over Dartmoor this evening, illuminated by the evening sun; very striking.

communal bathing

starlings enjoying a wallow

on Shaptor

at long last Spot has found a dog stinkhorn (badly photographed unfortunately), smaller and more slender than its common cousin, but much more dog like (!, or maybe more appropriately :-). If only.

sunset

every pole should have a buzzard, every dog should have a home

Orion rising

the stars above the church tonight on the first clear night for a while.

sheep talk

"Am I really beautiful?"