THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE.

Well here I am back in the land of Bloggers,Managed to get all my work done this week. Putting the shack back together(That's what we Hams call our Radio Room)found a problem getting onto the Internet. Turns out I had a conflict between Internet explorer and my wireless remote, took two days to find it fix it

Anyway on with the post, I was sitting in the garden yesterday and noticed a fly on one of my Rose Bushes, so rushing indoors and grabbing my G10 I proceeded to take a few shots.

Next I noticed some Worker Ants on the leaves, and not one to resist a challenge as these move very quickly shot of some more frames.

I thought that was pushing things a bit as they are quite small, that was until I noticed some Greenfly Aphids on a leaf, so in for a penny in for a pound I took a few more shots to see what I could get.

Finally sad case that I am I started to photograph Rain Drops on Rose Leaves.So Below are the results of my endeavours, and all the shots are Handheld in Macro Mode.

The greenfly is heavily cropped, as I could not believe it when I loaded it on to the PC.

The Fly 1

The Fly 2

Worker Ant.

Worker Ant.

Greenfly giving birth with newly born young around.

Raindrops on Rose Leaf.

Finally I would like to say welcome to Stephen Baird who picked up on the Blog ,Thanks for looking and I think you also have a great Blog going.

So from one Grand Daddyo to another many thanks and welcome.

COCKCHAFER THE MAY BUG

Finally got to set the Moth Trap last night, so up early this morning and not a Moth to be seen. I did however trap five large Cockchafer beetles Or May Bugs as we call then here. These guys are around 2 cms long and are really awesome insects to look at. So you can make up your own mind with the following Four images Also just to let you know this will be my last Post for a few days, As I have a week off and need to catch up on some decorating especially the computer room, so hope to post again later in the week.

BULLER DOWNS

Buller Downs is an area on the top of Lanner hill overlooking the town of Redruth and along the North Coast.It is cris crossed with old railway lines that used to take the tin from mines in the area to Portreath where it was shipped to smelting works around the UK. This is where I was born and lived until my mid Twenties.So this morning I took a walk along Buller Downs, and the following images show the area and some of the birds I found

The Top image is part of Buller Downs and the building on the left is the Old Mining Count House.

Image Two is one of the old Engine Houses that are scattered all over the area.

Image Three is looking across Redruth with St Agnes Beacon in the Distance.

Images Four and Five are a Song Thrush Enjoying a sunny morning.

Image Six is another view across Redruth

Image Seven and Eight are Linnets in full breeding mode.

MAGIC MOMENTS SHARED

Trees of Sycamore Oak and Beach Their Lofty tops far out of reach

A breeze that whispers through the leaves

As if to say come join us please

Old ruined buildings standing tall

Broken wheels by waterfalls

A floor that's strewn with Rocks and Boulders

The stream that rushes dancing over

Ferns and Grasses gently swaying

Birds and insects flitting playing

It's Seasons beauty never fails

My place of Magic Kennal Vale.

SUMMER SONGSTER'S.

Just a quick post tonight as the weather has not been good today, so did not manage to get out and have been doing some jobs around the house. The subjects I have chosen are two of our summer songster's, The Skylark and the Meadow Pipit. All through the summer months you can see and hear these birds soaring up into the sky and singing merrily and then parachuting back to earth. This really is the sound of Summer.

The Skylark. The Meadow Pipit.

FALMOUTH WATERFRONT

Just for a change tonight I thought I would bring you some images from the Port of Falmouth. As I have mentioned before Falmouth Is the third largest natural harbour in the world.

But today's post features some of the harbour frontage, where over the last few years the buildings have been transformed into highly desirable living accommodation. Add to this the British National Maritime Museum, Good Restaurants, and Harbour side Pubs and it all makes for a vibrant community with plenty of places of interest to visit.

LANDS END TO LANNER

This is another update on Sundays activities as I hoped the Raven v Buzzard aerobatics warranted a post on its own.

On Sunday morning Met up with my Friend Mark and we headed off to Lands End to see if anything special had turned up. It was very quiet species wise although there were plenty of Whitethroats and one Redpoll was observed, so just took an area shot for the Blog.

Looking towards Cape Cornwall from Lands End.

It was just after this that we received a call to say that a Golden Oriole had been heard singing at Trevean Pool Porthgwarra. Arrived at the top of Porthgwarra and made our way to Trevean Pool through an area known as 60 foot cover. This area is between Porthgwarra and Nanjizel valley. So spent about an hour here but nothing was seen or heard so think the bird had moved on through as they don't linger very long.

Trevean Pool area between Porthgwarra and Nanjizel, person in the foreground is my Pal Mark.

After this it was time to head for home, and spent the afternoon around the house and sitting in the back yard where I took the Raven/Buzzard episode. Only other thing of note are a couple of Magpie Flight shots which bring out the beautiful markings on these Birds. So I will leave you with these until the next time.

Magpie.

RAVEN LUNATIC

A quiet Sunday afternoon lazily soaring on the thermals rising out of the valley was heaven for three Common Buzzards life just seemed Fabulous. Suddenly out of the heavens a black projectile hurtled amongst them, with great screeching all three scattered could the calls have been "RAVEN" "RAVEN" for this is what the projectile was, and deciding the Buzzards were to close to its territory set about seeing them off. Two had already gone a short distance away, but this Light Morph specimen decided to try and brave it out. What followed was 15 minutes of aerobatics that was a delight to watch. Having seen off the first Buzzard there was one that was still a bit to close, but one pass was enough to see it off as the last shot shows.

GOLDEN TREASURE.

Got to Marazion early this morning hoping that maybe some Terns had arrived overnight,stepping out of the car there was a really cold wind coming in off the sea. So putting a warm coat on,(Really should be warming up by now) proceeded to have a look around. First birds of note were about 100 Swifts over the marshes and Longrock Pool area, a further 30 minutes produced very little so getting very cold I decided to head back to the Hayle Estuary on the Atlantic coast to get out of the wind. On arrival at the Estuary the tide was fairly high with very little of the mudflats exposed, quite a few Gulls, Curlews and Whimbrel's, also three Black Tailed Godwits, but to far out to Photograph. Then another local birder John turned up, he said that a male Garganey had been on the Ryan's Field area for about two weeks, so we decided to walk to the hide to try and find it. on the footpath to the hide a Little Egret was looking for breakfast in one of the pools so took the picture below as it looked very good.

Little Egret

On arrival at the hide another birder Peter was already there and said he had spotted a bird on one of the three small island,s but was not sure what it was. Looking at it through my Binoculars I was sure it was a Golden Plover in full breeding plumage which is quite rare in Cornwall, and as it was a solitary bird could even be an American or Pacific Golden Plover. The best place to get a good view would be back on the causeway from were we had just come. So to cut a long story short we went back spent a hour looking at it ,and was joined by my birding friend Mark and it was finally agreed it was an ordinary Golden Plover, but still great to see in full plumage. So below are three images of said bird, due to distance they are heavily cropped and are only Record Shots But I wound like to share them with you.

Golden Plover on Ryan's Field in full plumage.

On walking back along the pavement to the car someone spotted another Spring Migrant on the edge of the field, it was a Common Sandpiper and although common it was my first this year, so have included a photo below.

Common Sandpiper on Ryan's Field.

THE THREE WARBLER'S.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting the Three Warblers at St Gothian Sands.This trio are not in direct competition with the Three Tenors, although two of them can hold an excellent tune in their own right.Direct from the African Continent and after a short rest, the performance they gave was indeed beauty to behold. First up was the Whitethroat, very distinguished grey top, spotless white cravat and a song so pure it made the hairs stand on the back of my neck.

The Whitethroat

A little further along was the Sedge Warbler, perched on his stage and singing as if his tiny lungs would burst. This is the extrovert of the trio streaked highlights in his hair and side streaks of golden sand makes him a real hit with the ladies a unique part of his act was to take short flight and flutter down to the next shrub. This action probably made many a female Sedge Warbler's heart flutter.

The Sedge Warbler.

Finally we come to the shy one of the trio The Reed Warbler, this little fellow shuns the spotlight and stays hidden in the background, giving off soft backing vocals for its two colleagues. His attire is more modest and with a twinkle in his eye sure to be a hit with the females of the species.

The Reed Warbler.

So folks there we have the Three warblers, and Spring would be a much duller season if we did not have these guy's giving open air concerts.

THE KESTREL NO MORE BOGEY BIRD

In the last one and a half years that I have started taking photo's of birds, one in particular has eluded me. I have seen this bird many times but never managed to get a good photograph, So here's the story. Yesterday Sat 2nd May I got up early looked out of the window, weather was fine and clear so where shall I head off to for a few hours birding. I fancied somewhere different but in the end I decided not to waste time driving and headed off to St Gothian Sands at Godrevy. After parking and just as I got through the entrance to the reserve I heard someone call, it was Paul who runs the Cornwall Birding Site & The St Gothian Sands Blog. So we spent an hour walking around the reserve, birds of note were Swifts, Swallows, Sand martins, also Reed Warbler,Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat. After this Paul decided to go home as he had been on duty all night and needed some sleep, just before he left he spotted a Kestrel sitting on some wires a distance away. So here it was again my Bogey bird to photograph, as many times I have seen them sitting out but never been able to get close enough, so setting off across the sand dunes I got close to the path leading towards the bird when another person walked along the path about 15 metres in front of me. "Oh please don't flush it" was running through my mind, but as he got close off the bird went but it only went past the next pole and landed on the wires . So now it was slowly slowly moving forward and taking some shots every few metres, eventually I got almost underneath it stayed still. The following 30 minutes I shall never forget as I took photo's at will, and though it flew three times I always managed to get close to it and in the end I think it accepted my presence. So below is a selection of images of my not so bogey bird anymore.

THE KESTREL.