THE POLLEN HUNTERS

Everything is really buzzing in the garden at the moment, with all the insects feasting on the abundance of nectar, and pollinating all the flowers. The Bees particularly enjoy the dahlias so thought I would share two of these Pollen Hunters with you.

 Mmmmm LOOKS LIKE A GOOD SUPPLY HERE.

IN YOUR FACE ON YOUR FACE LOVE IT.

HOVER FLYS

Thought I would get back to some ordinary photography for a change, I spent some of the day in the garden and found three different species of Hover Fly. The easiest way of identifying these insects is by the body markings, and I have tried to show this in the images. Also as you can see by the sizes they are not large insects and I find it a challenge to photograph them.

EPISYRPHUS BALTEATUS 10-15mm

This species is common almost everywhere from April to November.

SCAEVA PYRASTRI  15mm

This one is common from June to October in flowery places esp gardens.

XANTHOGRAMMA PEDISSEQUUM  10-12mm

This Hover Fly is present from May to September and is uncommon, I have found it in the garden for the past two years.

THISTLE HEAD ABSTRACT

I went to Stithians Res on Sunday morning, very little avian activity except for a few Coot, Moorhen and Mallard so turned to the Macro setup and managed a few Insects which I will share with you in another post.  This Thistle Head below caught my eye, and with the morning Dew and a Spiders web entwined around it thought it would make a nice Abstract shot, so hope you like it.

I would also like to welcome Maria-Denisa as a follower, Thank you for looking and hope you will continue to enjoy my efforts.

THISTLE HEAD ABSTRACT.

BIRDS BY NAME IF NOT BY NATURE.

Thought I would grab a couple of hours birding this morning, the weather was fine although a little breezy. So went down to St Gothian Sands at Gwithian and had a walk around the Reserve, things are still a little on the quiet side although the Sand Martins were posing really well on the posts. Also had some good views of a couple of Pied Wagtails and a distant Kestrel. Then it was on to the beginning of North Cliffs towards Hells Mouth looking for Raptors, this produced two Kestrels and a Peregrine Falcon flying along the cliff face but no chance for photo's. Just before reaching the viewing area I took a couple of steps towards the cliff edge to view a small outcrop where I had some great images of a Peregrine two years ago. Imagine my surprise when I looked and saw a Juvenile Peregrine in the same place, so took a few photos a couple of which I have posted tonight.

Not much activity from the viewing area and as it was late morning I started to make my way back towards the car, just past where the Falcon was sitting something flashed across the path and was flying around the vegetation, what a surprise a Humming Bird Hawkmoth my second one in a few days, but hang on there was another one flying around as well, things don't get much better than this. Glad to say they do, as one of them landed so first get a shot and try for better ones if the chance occurs, but only had the 400mm on the camera and its closest focusing distance is 3 mtrs still I took a few shots one of which is below showing it on the ground. It then flew and landed again a couple of times the second time it landed on a plant and I now had the compact out and set to macro mode, I was able to get quite close on this time and got off a few shots of which the second image is one.
So well satisfied with the mornings foray I drove north along the coast road through the village of Portreath to home and a nice lunch and to reflect on the morning.

Finally I would like to say hello to the people who stopped for a shot chat which I found very pleasant.

LOOKING NORTH FROM HELLS MOUTH.

SAND MARTIN.

SAND MARTIN.

JUV PIED WAGTAIL.

PEREGRINE FALCON.

PEREGRINE FALCON.

HUMMING BIRD HAWKMOTH.

HUMMING BIRD HAWKMOTH.

PORTREATH.

RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS.

Oh Boy These sort of days depress me, I can stand the cold, I can stand the wind and I love the Sunshine, But sitting here looking out at thick Fog and heavy Drizzle and wanting to get out with the Cameras is hard. Still this is quite normal now as the kids will be breaking up for their Summer holidays later this week and thousands of families will head to the West Country for The Holidays. In this weather they cannot get onto the beaches and spend the days driving from one place to another to try and find something to do. I do feel sorry for them but also for us locals, as you cannot find any parking in the towns and the roads are just chock a block with traffic. Still to look on the bright side I still have Blog land and loads of friends and lots of great Blogs to look at, so I'm gonna remain upbeat and not like this poor Bumble Bee I found after a heavy nights Rain. I hope I don't look as sad as him.

 SOGGY BUMBLE BEE.

BULLER DOWNS 17/07/10

Woke up to a fine morning yesterday albeit with a slight chill in the Westerly Wind, did not have much time as I was expecting a delivery at home. So took a two hour walk along Buller Downs to see what I could find. On the bird front it was quite disappointing with just Dunnock. Chiffchaff, Greenfinch, and all the usual Corvids. A really heavy overnight Dew kept the insect activity to a minimum, with just a few Gatekeeper and Wall Brown Butterflies and a few Hover Flies around. The big highlight of the morning was a Humming Bird Hawkmoth which put in a quick 20 second appearance, but no chance for Photo's.

DUNNOCK.

HOVER FLY = SCAEVA PRYASTRI.

SMEATON'S TOWER MONOCHROME

Took this image of Smeatons Tower on a recent visit to the City of Plymouth, It is located on Plymouth Hoe and is one of the landmarks in the city. Plymouth Hoe is where the Pilgrim Fathers left for America, and where Sir Francis Drake played bowls before setting out to defeat the Spanish Armada. I like the human interest of the two figures walking around the base. This old Lighthouse was originally located on the Eddystone Reef seventeen miles South of Plymouth.

SMEATONS TOWER PLYMOUTH DEVON.

Smeaton's Tower is the third and most notable Eddystone Lighthouse. It marked a major step forward in the design of lighthouses. In use until 1877, it was largely dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe in the city of Plymouth, Devon where it now stands as a memorial to its designer, John Smeaton, the celebrated civil engineer.

SOLDIER FLY

Just easing back into the swing of things, caught up on some of the garden jobs that built up over the week.The hot spell seems to have broken, and the weather has turned much more showery which has not given me much time for Photography. Anyway thought I would share this head shot of a Soldier Fly with you.Some people may say how horrible, but I kind of like it.

SOLDIER FLY.

TICKET TO RIDE.

I bet you all thought I had emigrated or fled the country with no posts for a week, in fact my wife and I have been sampling the delights of North West England.We did a coach tour of the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Southport and Liverpool where we enjoyed some wonderful scenery in excellent company as everyone on the coach got on very well . We were based in Blackpool which I will say was not my Cup Of Tea so will say no more about that, but the rest was a real delight and here are a few images of the trip

HAVERTHWAITE TO LAKESIDE STEAM RAILWAY.

One of the excursions was to the to the town of Kendal where we had time to look around before we took the old Steam Train from Haverthwaite to Lakeside on Lake Windermere

HAVERTHWAITE STATION.

ALL ABOARD THE OLD CARRIAGES.

ARRIVING AT LAKESIDE.

On arriving at lakeside it was a short walk to the pier where we boarded the pleasure cruiser Tern for a cruise along the Lake to Bowness.

 PLEASURE CRUISER TERN.

LAKESIDE PROPERTY.

NEARING BOwNESS WITH SOME OF THE LARGE HILLS IN THE BACKGROUND.

Another excursion was on the famous Settle to Carlisle Railway, which we boarded at Carlisle and travelled through the Yorkshire Dales to Settle. This is sometimes pulled by Steam Train, but on this occasion a Diesel Loco was used. we went through some beautiful scenery and I took a lot of images, but a moving train and my compact with shutter lag I did not get any good shots(Should have taken my SLR). We then went to the market town of Skipton and my wife enjoyed some Retail Therapy.

Next morning after a hearty breakfast it was off on the next tour, which was a trip to the seaside town of Southport which turned out to be a real Gem, it was a great shame we only had just over one and a half hours here because it needed more time to explore further. We only had time to walk along the large semi covered shopping area with all its Shops, Bars and Restaurants, get a bite to eat before embarking for a tour of Liverpool. In hindsight we should have cancelled to tour and spent the remaining four hours here as we have been to Liverpool on other occasions.

 PART OF SOUTHPORTS LOVELY SHOPPING AREA.

So on to the tour of Liverpool which we have done before,but to our surprise as well as touring the city centre sights it took in a large area of the neighbourhood where The Beatles grew up. Through Sefton Park and along Penny Lane with sights of most of the buildings mentioned it the Song. Sadly a moving coach and compact did make for good photography. Finally it was a short stop at the Albert Dock before leaving for the journey back to Blackpool.

ONE OF LIVERPOOLS FINE ART DECO BUILDINGS.

THE LIVER BUILDING FROM ACROSS THE ALBERT DOCK.

SAW THIS LOVELY BRONZE OF THE SONS OF LIVERPOOL IN A SHOP WINDOW.

So next morning it was back aboard the coach for the eleven hour journey back to Cornwall with memories of a great trip and newly made friends. But it was nice to get a real Cup of Tea and crawl back into our own Bed.

I will try to catch up on all your posts over the next few days.

WILD IN THE COUNTRY.

Just a short post today as I have a lot of things to do, these are a few of the wild flowers I took last week during a walk along part of The Great Flat Lode. This is something else I am finding interesting, taking and identifying Wild Flowers.I may have got some named wrong, if so I will apologise and hope someone will correct me.

RED CLOVER.

HERB ROBERT.

(EDIT THANKS DEAN)

SNOOTH HAWK'S BEARD.

ORCHID.

(EDIT THANKS DEAN).

OXEYE DAISY.

BRAMBLE.

TUFTED VETCH.

CINQUEFOIL.

(EDIT THANKS DEAN)

BROAD LEAVED WILLOWHERB.

JOHN,PAUL,GEORGE AND RINGO : THE BEETLES

Aaah the early sixties, long hair, Rock n Roll and the memories of a misspent youth. Collarless suits, tight jeans (Had to be 501's) and bootlace ties all finished off with the latest Winklepickers
with Cuban Heels. 1961 I met a guy from London who had this weird Mop Top haircut, and I decided I wanted one, so left it grow for a while and then went to the local barbers and told him what I wanted. Mother thought I was mad, my mates were not sure except the one who had his hair dyed peroxide blonde. I got a few remarks around town from both sexes and this was two years before the Beatles. I went to a dance one night, and danced with a young lady who decided I was wearing a wig and she wanted to try it on,and promptly tried to pull it off my head "Ouch". So what brought back all these memories, well it has to be the Beetles which I also found in Tehidy Woods.Who would have thought they could stir up such memories.
So folks without further ado let me introduce you to my FAB FOUR

THE BEETLES  Yea Yea Yea Yeaaaa.

PAUL.

RINGO.

GEORGE.

JOHN.