View allAll Photos Tagged AutumnWatch
‘Life’s a Balancing Act’. Female Kingfisher perched on its 'stunning' branch, adjusting her grip on the stunned ten spined Stickleback before swallowing it whole. West Yorkshire.
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Eight Kingfisher Notes:
Kingfishers eat mainly fish, chiefly minnows and sticklebacks, but they also take aquatic insects, freshwater shrimps and tadpoles.
They close their eyes as they dive into the water, so they are fishing blind! They bob their heads before diving to accurately judge the depth of the fish.
Kingfisher courtship occurs in spring. The male will approach the female with a fish in his beak. He will hold it so that the head of the fish is facing outwards and attempt to feed it to the female. If he is unsuccessful he will simply eat the fish himself. He may have to repeat this feeding behaviour for some time before mating occurs.
A kingfisher pair dig a nest tunnel in vertical, sandy river banks. The nest chamber at the end has a slight depression to prevent eggs rolling out, but no material is brought into the nest.
The first clutch of 6-7 eggs is laid in late March or in early April. Each chick can eat 12-18 fish a day meaning the adults may catch over 120 fish each day for their brood.
Chicks are fed in rotation. Once a chick is fed, it moves to the back of the nest to digest its meal, causing the others to move forward.
Once out of the nest, the young are fed for only four days before the adults drive them out of the territory and start the next brood. 2-3 broods are often raised in a breeding season.
The design of a kingfisher’s beak is aerodynamically efficient, allowing it to dive from its perch, towards its prey, with maximum speed and minimum splash. In fact, the beak design is so clever that the front of many Japanese bullet trains are modelled to mimic it. Scottish Wildlife Trust Notes.
An Iberian Grey Shrike perched high on a wire, as usual.
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Autumn is so colourful and with the sun just rising over the River Stour Bournemouth the gold reflects on the reed beds. #BBCAutumnwatch
Gannet, portrait of head and eye detail, RSPB Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire.
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‘On the fence'. Stonechats are always a joy to watch and see them catching flies and flitting around their habitat. A female pictured here in the presence of its mate on a clear Mull morning. Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Notes:
The European Stonechat is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.
Stonechats are robin sized birds. Males have striking black heads with white around the side of their neck, orange-red breasts and a mottled brown back. Females lack the male's black head, but have brown backs and an orange tinge to their chests. Birds are frequently seen flicking their wings while perched, often doing so on the tops of low bushes.
As its name suggests, birds utter a sharp loud call that sound like two stones being tapped together. They breed in western and southern parts of the UK, but disperse more widely in winter. (RSPB Notes)
A Goldcrest on the move. There were many Goldcrests moving in and out of the bushes at Flamborough Head. (763)
Autumn sun rays through the trees at Bolderwood in the New Forest National Park shining on the carpet of leaves.
Steve, Max, and I have just returned from 3 nights staying on the outskirts of the New Forest. We make day-trips to the area every year, however this time decided to book a place for a more relaxed fungi hunt. This enabled us to not only visit new areas, but to spend more time at our usual sites.
Quick sunset snap from last night on the way home from uni! The sunrises and sunsets these past few weeks have been beautiful and I haven't always been so fortunate to have my camera on me!
'Daytime dreamer’. What a day for a daydream...This is my favourite Owl...I have childhood memories of me and my Father raising an injured Tawny Owl fledgling and bringing it back to health, then releasing it back into the wild. Captured here roosting during the day, our iconic silent woodland hunter the Tawny Owl, Strix aluco. Deep in the woods, Yorkshire, UK.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Tawny Owl Notes:-
Though our most familiar and widespread owl, it is strictly nocturnal and rarely seen during the day unless disturbed.
The typical nest site of a Tawny Owl is a tree hollow, wherein the owls will nest directly on the interior hole's surface. Tree hollows used may be as much as 25 m (82 ft) above the ground, but are usually within about 12 m (39 ft) off the ground.
The hooting of a male tawny owl is frequently used in TV and radio programmes and films to capture the essence of night. It is often misused in Irish dramas: tawny owls have never occurred in Ireland.
Because they don’t like flying over water they are also absent from many of our islands, including the Isles of Man and Wight, as well as the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland.
Only the male owl utters the familiar drawn-out hoot: both males and female also make the well-known kewick call.
Male tawny owls will occasionally hoot during the middle of the day.
It is relatively easy to imitate a tawny owl by blowing through cupped hands. A study found that more than 90% of male owls can be duped into responding.
Concern about our tawny owl population prompted the BTO to undertake a recent survey. It revealed that numbers were stable.
Owls are often credit with great intelligence: this is a fallacy.
There are many superstitions surrounding owls.
The hooting of an owl was often thought to be an omen of death.
Hill hooter and screech owl are both old names for the tawny. Several names are a reminder of its daytime roosts: wood owl, beech owl and ivy owl.
The pioneer bird photographer Eric Hosking lost an eye to a tawny owl while trying to photograph it. His biography was aptly titled An eye for a bird.
Tawny owls are famous for the fierce defence of their young: bird ringers usually wear crash helmets with visors to protect themselves when ringing baby tawnies.
Tawnies are specially adapted for hunting in woodland, for their short wings give them great manoeuvrability.
Like almost all owls, the wings of a tawny owl are completely silent.
Though small mammals are their favoured prey, an amazing variety of prey has been recorded in the tawny owl’s diet,
ranging from small fish and lizards to bats and hawkmoths.
Among the unlikely birds noted as prey are adult mallard and kittiwake.
The average distance ringed tawny owls have flown between being ringed and being recovered is 1km.
Adult tawnies drive their youngsters out of their territories after the breeding season. As a result, nearly two-thirds of youngsters die in their first year.
They like to nest in holes in trees, but will readily adopt nest boxes.
Few birds are harder to census than these, so estimates of the British population are really only educated guesses. It is thought that the British population is around 20,000 pairs, living with birds notes.
Photo taken from IMF hide.
I've recently found USB which I misplaced for two years, so I might post some oldies from 2018.
Photograph #1 in a series of 3.
Barn Swallows Mating ...Male in flight, approaching female as she waits on the bar gate. West Yorkshire.
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wild cherry ~ prunus avium
The late afternoon sun caught this tree branch and lit it up. After another damp dreary day it was quite a sight.
Fox on the slopes of the Betws mountain. It paused long enough for me to get a portrait...then gone!
'a long shot' ! Summer visitor, the beautiful Yellow Wagtail on the horizon at 560mm! In recent years there has been a serious decline in breeding numbers and the Yellow Wagtail is now on the UK Red list of birds of conservation concern. West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Male Bullfinch, West Yorkshire.
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‘Rare and elusive'. The Corncrake, once an abundant farmland bird in the UK but now sadly almost extinct as a breeding species in Britain, it is now confined to a few small areas including the Isle of Mull and East Anglia.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Corncrake Notes…
This secretive bird is a member of the rail family, related to coots and moorhens. The breeding call, a rasping rattle, is given mostly at night, sometimes for hours on end.
Species information
Category: Wading birds
Statistics
Length: 28cm
Wingspan: 50cm
Weight: 170g (male), 140g (female)
Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.
When to see: April to September
About
Once widespread, corncrakes have declined dramatically in the UK, and the breeding population is now restricted to a few key areas. Unusually for a rail, they aren't found exclusively in wetlands, preferring to nest in meadows and hay fields. Corncrakes prefer areas with lots of tall plant cover, where they spend most of their time hidden from view - often the only sign a corncrake is present is the strange call given from dusk till dawn. They are summer visitors, wintering in central and southern Africa.
How to identify
Corncrakes are round-bodied and long-necked, like a water rail, but with a short, stubby bill. The plumage is mostly yellowish-brown, with darker streaks on the back and pale bars on the flanks. There are grey patches on the throat and above the eye.
Distribution
Breeding corncrakes are now mostly restricted to the western and northern islands of Scotland.
Habitats
GrasslandFarmlandWetlands
Did you know?
Female corncrakes look after the eggs and chicks alone. Although they cannot fly until they're around 35 days old, the female will often abandon her first brood to fend for themseleves at 12 days old, so she can start another nest, WT notes.
‘Having a Peaceful Moment’. Dunnock, full frontal portrait, West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Notes from the BTO ...Although some people still refer to the Dunnock as ‘Hedge Sparrow’, the Dunnock is no Sparrow. Instead, it belongs to a family called the accentors. Originating in the Himalayas, these are cover-loving insectivorous birds with sharp, pointed bills.
National Trust. Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire. Autumn 2021.
It was purchased by the National Trust in 1946 and is listed Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
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No Group Banners, thanks.
Steve, Max, and I have just returned from 3 nights staying on the outskirts of the New Forest. We make day-trips to the area every year, however this time decided to book a place for a more relaxed fungi hunt. This enabled us to not only visit new areas, but to spend more time at our usual sites.
Panurus biarmicus
Wont be long and we will be looking out on cold still mornings for natures little acrobats
'High Flier'. Common Buzzard (The UK's most common bird of prey.) Back lit by the sun and soaring high against a clear blue summer sky, Holmfirth, Holme Valley, West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
The Fly Agarics at Stockhill were particularly fairytale-esque this year. I couldn't resist posting another set before the season is out.
So... Another mammoth stick starring afternoon at Westhay, three hours before this little fella turned up, always worth the wait though. It was sunny when I got there, but the cloud came over, not really a problem as they seem to take a better picture in a softer light, but I still managed to burn the white. Actually, it would be nice to catch one in the rain.
From Scales to Feathers: Autumnwatch blog 2017
4. Scientists think they know how birds first developed feathers
Click link below:
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/entries/eca9a443-3189-4c80-a...