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