Westport Lake.

The remains of the hurricane was still hanging around again today, with very strong winds and alternate sunshine and showers....not to be put off we headed for Westport Lake in Staffordshire.There, in the S.W. corner of the lake was what we had come for.....an eclipse Ring-necked Duck (drake)...this bird had made the long journey from the east coast of America, blown off course by the hurricane. A very beautiful bird...even though its plummage was a bit rough.....love to see it when it has all its adult feathers. I just managed to get the images of the Herring Gull, a Pochard, and a Common Gull on the lake before the black clouds rolled in again!
Ring-necked Duck.

Herring Gull (juvenile).

Pochard.

Common Gull.

Black-headed Gull.

Peak District.

As the whole of Cheshire and the Wirral was to be covered in dark clouds and rain today, we decided to go to The Peak District in south Yorkshire...I have never been before. It was totally breath-taking....with the rolling hills all covered in gorgeous purple heather.En-route we saw numerous Red Grouse...flushed from the heather, although not photographable. Also seen were 2 Raven and several Kestrels. I could not resist taking these lovely views from the main road at Woodhead Pass. I would love to come back again, especially when it has just been covered with virgin snow. A very satisfying day!

Norfolk Puddle

We were in Choseley, Norfolk and sitting in the car, it was a really hot day and we noticed birds dropping down to quench their thirst in a small puddle just yards from us...in fact we saw about 12 different species in about an hour....these are just some of the images I took, considering they were all quite nervous.Later on it was apparent why they were so edgy...a Sparrow Hawk also dropped down in front of us and flew off with its prize...it was somewhat sad, but that's nature I suppose.
Chaffinch / Greenfinch.

Yellow Wagtail.

Whitethroat.

Yellowhammer.

Wirral.

Today was one of those days...was it going to brighten up or was the heavy black cloud going to follow us all the way to the Wirral.We reached Leasowe and within minutes the sun came out. There was not really much around, but I did manage to capture these Turnstones against the rocks.Not to be defeated, I turned my attention to the numerous butterflies fluttering around.....the Common Darter dragonfly just sat sunning itself on the wall and was fairly easy to capture, but the Common Blue I had to really chase around and was much harder to photograph.
Common Darter.

Common Blue (male).

Turnstone.

Here and there

Finally I have finished the painting of South Stack lighthouse..which was taken from one of my photos.

A very mixed bag......weather-wise today,but we managed to duck and dive the rain.
The images of the Med Gull were taken on the Wirral, one was of an adult moulting
and the other was of a first summer....I was very pleased to get the picture of the
Heron..as every time I tried to get near it...it decided to walk away from me, still perseverance paid off to a certain extent.On the other hand I did get some lovely views of the Redshanks...which just stood and posed for me.
Med Gull (adult moulting).

Med Gull (2nd summer).

Heron.

Redshanks.

I was just relaxing on a bench at IMF when I heard the sound of a Goldfinch..I just happened to look up and there was the Goldfinch in the nearby tree, singing its little heart out...not long afterwards the heavens opened again!
On walking back towards the car...the sun emerged again and I spotted a Meadow Brown sunning itself.
The Early Thorn was taken in the garden. Not a bad day!
Goldfinch.

Meadow Brown.

Early Thorn.

Out & About.

Six-spot Burnet Moth.

After a somewhat soggy morning the sun came out...and so did I. We headed for Moore Nature reserve.....mostly for a stroll, so it was really nice to spot some butterflies flitting by. There was also an abundance of caterpillers, which I later found out were Cinabar Moth caterpillers, very distinctive in colouring and they seemed to be everywhere...this is when I came across the Six-spot Burnet Moth, I thought this was unusal but apparently these moths are day fliers as well as night.
Comma Butterfly.

Comma Butterfly.

Cinabar Moth caterpiller.


Yet another washed out morning but a sunny late afternoon....spent at Inner Marsh farm. It was really relaxing and peaceful and I enjoyed taking these images of the Black-tailed Godwits still in their lovely summer plummage, a gorgeous rusty red colour as the evening sun winked on them.
Young brood.

Black-tailed Godwit.

Black-tailed Godwits.

Chasewater.

After a brilliant night mothing at Brandon Marsh.....which I thoroughly enjoyed (my first)Thanks to everyone there for making me feel so welcome...We headed to Chasewater in the morning, it is a beautiful place and one I would like to visit again, one for the list!