Bird of the week

In Cornwall recently after having stopped for a coffee in Padstow at 'Down By The Ferry' amidst all the noise this fellow (?)  just below the top of the quay wall -

Gull waiting for the tide to turn

ignored everyone passing by.

Down on the ground - Thematic Photographic

Sometimes you don't have to look far for a subject, it's just there on the ground.

You have not even have to be down yourself. It's amazing what you can catch just by bending and using a screen that swivels to let you see just what is there.

Gull at Padstow, Cornwall

Homing pigeon in our garden

Of course you may not even have to bend for items on the ground.

This one looks like it has been there for a while.

Alongside a woodland path

Washed up on Saltburn beach, North Yorkshire

To get the lowdown on what others found down on the ground just visit Carmi at Thematic-Photographic-354.

Black & White experiments.

During the A-Z Challenge this year it was Eva, I think, who invited me to post some black and white shots.

I've thought about it for a while and this is what I have come up with. You may recognise one that previously appeared in colour, but which one was it?

Gull's boat on the River Tees

Infinity Bridge over the Tees at Stockton

Tractor park

Dead limbs

I will also share these with 

at My Memory Art.

White - Thematic Photography

My first thought on seeing Carmi's theme of 'white' was to put up  a photo of the White House. However I decided to show some holiday snaps instead.

Mawgan Porth, Cornwall

A white house, white water but what is that beast with its face resting on the cliff?

There's lots of white in the next photo, but some must have been a trick of the light,

Padstow Harbour

Also in Padstow I came across this bird obeying the white line at the harbour side.

Padstow Gull

Staying with wildlife, a butterfly caught my eye.

White Butterfly

The butterfly was photographed in the garden of this half-white house in St Mawgan where we stayed.

Bro Tref, St Mawgan

For my last picture this week I'm moving back the the North East coast of England for one of my favourite dog photos.

Whitby Dog

Hope you liked my white selection, for more white entries follow this link to Thematic Photographic 161

Bad Birdwatching

I have been a ‘fan’ of The Times columnist Simon Barnes for quite a while. Simon is a well known sportswriter, but his columns that interest me most are those on wildlife, especially birds. His book ‘How to be a bad birdwatcher’ was serialised on Radio 4; I have been fortunate enough to obtain a copy courtesy of a Mind charity shop.

Last January I posted a piece Watch The Birdie on my Writelink blog about the birds I saw in my garden in 2009. I have just collated my records for 2010. This year they cover 339 days (330 in 2009).

 

As in the previous year I have seen 35 different types, averaging 22 (23) and month and 8 (9) per day.

There has only been one change in the top ten most frequent visitors with the robin entering the list in place of the greenfinch. Top of the pile again is the wood pigeon on 95% of the days (93 in 2009), followed by rook 93% (78), blackbird 85% (89), starling 67% (69), collared dove 64% (72), sparrow 60% (41), robin 53% (29), gull 44% (48), hedge sparrow 42% (40) and the blue tit 40% (34).

A tree creeper put in an appearance in December; newcomers during the year were owls, fieldfares and the most spectacular arrival, a woodcock which crashed into the front window on December 27^th.

 

My favourite photo was of the goldfinches in the conifer in our front garden on Boxing Day (See Boxing Day Birds). Did you know that the collective noun for them is a charm of goldfinches?

However my favourite birds of the year were not in my garden but the sand cranes on Oxford Hills golf course in Michigan. They were quite content to share the course with us.