View allAll Photos Tagged common
A couple more common blue photos. The weather seems to have really helped this species this year, much more than others, and it's also helped me photograph them, giving them enough energy to climb to the top of perches but not enough to take off and with minimal wind I was able to take lots of photos
A December visit to WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
A male Common Pochard on the Tack Piece pool.
Images best viewed in "lights out" L key.
A lone common goldeneye with striking black and white plumage calmly swims across a reflective surface. The water mirrors the bird and surrounding environment!!!
Common Fumitory / fumaria officinalis. Nottinghamshire. 23/05/22.
'FUMITORY BLUR.'
I got down to ground level and used selective focus to make this image. Not to everyone's taste I'm sure, but I loved the exuberant colours and habit of this little plant.
It's taken me a long, long time to find Common Fumitory because I've always searched for something much larger! I only spotted this one by chance as I bent down to tie my bootlace. It was so tiny. Hopefully, now I've found one, more sightings will follow, just like buses!
You will need to view the image as large as possible, in order to appreciate the one isolated flower ... though I hope you enjoy the whole Fumitory blur.
BEST VIEWED LARGE.
Not really all that common where I live so I was really pleased to find some! :)
Apologies for the Flickr silence for a while, I've been looking after a very ill pet (in between work and all the usual stuff) leaving next to no time for photography or Flickr. We've also then had a few busy days away this week.
Will look forward to catching up with everyone's photos over the next few days! :)
A return trip to WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire in mid November 2024.
Early morning grab shot of this Common Curlew as it flew low over the outer fields at Slimbridge. ( Flight sequence, 2 of 3 )
The Curlew is the largest European wading bird, found on estuaries in winter and moors in summer.
I have now realised I have got the tree branches obscuring my shot sorry.
Many thanks to you ALL for the views, faves and comments you make on my shots it is very appreciated
Despite its name Common Gull is actually the third rarest of Britain's seven regularly breeding gulls. We have about 49,000 breeding pairs of Common Gull while Great Black-backed has 15,000 and Mediterranean Gull 1,200 pairs. Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed all have more than 100,000 pairs while Kittiwake is the commonest at more than 200,000 pairs.
I'm not sure if Common Gull has always been so relatively rare in Britain but Thomas Pennant first coined the name in 1768 and he described it as "the most numerous of the genus". But they didn't have an army of volunteer counters and surveyors in the 18th century so it was probably his personal impression. He was from North Wales but undertook a big tour in Scotland where Common Gulls are common breeders. Though oddly this tour was taken a year after he coined the name.
Their main breeding area is throughout Scotland with just a few pairs in England (North Pennines) but they also breed in north and west Ireland. But in winter they are pretty much ubiquitous and are the gull you often see on playing fields paddling for worms. Is paddling the right word when there is no water? They patter the grass trying to charm worms to the surface.
This one with grey spots on its head is in winter plumage. In summer they look similar with greeny yellow legs and a dull mustard bill, but have a pure white head like this: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/35880816805/in/photolist . Its scientific name Larus canus translates rather prosaically as grey gull.