Out and About

Since we've been back from holiday we've only had chance for a couple of hours out here and there, visiting Rodley Nature Reserve and Fairburn Ings. Though at the moment work is busy, stressful and exhausting, which is not inspiring me to do much of anything right now.

A couple of hours at Rodley and it was a beautiful morning, quite peaceful and nice to escape for a little while.

There were lots of Bees and Hoverflies around, some of them were so laden with pollen, it's a wonder they could fly!

Fairburn the following week was not quite as sunny and I didn't take many photos, it was pretty quiet bird wise but it was still a good morning out and we followed it up with Fish and Chips!

The garden is as busy as ever, sitting watching the birds early morning before anyone else is up is my favourite thing, though the days are getting shorter so it's getting to the point i'm up before the birds now!

We've had lots of moths and butterflies in the garden all summer

Large White

Comma

Red Admiral

Our Fuschia looks like it's died off every year but then it comes back bigger than ever

This spider was on this poor bee in record time, spinning it into it's web before eventually carrying it off somewhere, it was fascinating to see.

We've had the odd Sparrowhawk around the garden, i've yet to see one catch anything though!

We always have a few passing Warblers through the garden at this time of year but these past few weeks since August have been the best yet with Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff almost daily and at one point a Whitethroat too, this is only the second one in the garden in all the years we've been here.

Our Magpie family has done well they visit the garden daily now including this beautiful bird below, the photo doesn't capture just how stunning the green on the tail is!

Robin

Goldfinch have done well too, lots of youngsters, I ended up having to put an extra feeder out for them, we've had up to 30 in the garden sometimes. 

We're still having visits from 2 or 3 Hedgehogs every night, 2 of them are very small so we think they are youngsters. At least one of the adult ones seems to sleep behind our shed during the day.

 

Of course we still have a Squirrel though not as often at the moment, which does save on the mess!

I have had a couple of walks in the Woods and parks - of course my walk to work is pretty scenic. There's very much an autumnal feel to everything now, conkers and leaves dropping, a chill early morning and some lovely misty sun too. 

Blackbird sunning itself

Hopefully things at work will ease off over the next few weeks and i'll be out and about a bit more.