What have you seen

We saw a couple Red Squirrels this morning crossing the road along Loch Tay, and heard some very strange calls in the heather when we were out for a walk near the Ben Lawers Car Park but couldn't spot anything. Thought possibly Ptarmigan, definitely not Red Grouse.

2 x Jay's put in an appearance this morning, first time I've seen 2 in the garden.  Hopefully they will return and I will have the camera ready

Watched a couple of young hares, playing in the paddocks beside the van last evening. They were joined by a grown up one. We then watched another hare come through a different paddock into the site, explore the paddocks edges on the end of the site before taking itself out via the site access route. Who knows if there were more in the other paddocks I was absorbed by their antics 😃

Went to visit the barn owl nest box another evening and one sitting on the beam, great view but it flew off as I reached for phone to take a photo. So silent so beautiful.  Lots of pellets on the floor so hopefully doing well.

Yes we are at Burnham Wick, sadly leaving today but duty calls. It's been glorious weather but early rain this morning. 

Also saw those wonderful green/iridescent beetles whilst walking - I'd forgotten how common they were in my childhood. Reports of adders but not seen them on our walks.

Great day coming across a lot of backwaters of the Danube.

Saw first Great Reed Warbler, a Ferruginous Duck and Yellow Legged Gull. Quite a few more reed warblers arrived plus a fall of Nightingales.

The Bluetits in our garden appear to have been successful in building the nest and laying eggs. The parents are now feeding an unidentified number of chicks with food all day long. They must be cream crackered. Both parents first land in the adjacent bushes check around for predators, then one always lands on the roof, the other flies onto the hole directly at speed.

Looking forward to seeing the fledglings around the garden shortly.

Great photos again Blue

Lots of Azure winged magpies on our site near Cordoba in Spain

here

Glad to hear that you saw the Barn Owl, and the Hares, at Burnham Wick, B2.

Talking of beetles we saw a couple of Sexton Beetles, on the path above our site at Killin, working away on some animal's droppings, which contained the carapaces of Emerald Beetles.

Thanks OP

Stuck at home at present due to the Tug being with the dealer waiting for Jag/LR to agree a warranty claim. Now into the 4th week of waiting, which is very frustrating. Out of boredom, I dug out my old EOS 1D which has 10 frames per second to compare with my 5D which has seven to compare the ability to catch the bird in more than one position. Even keeping the shutter going at 10fps, only one shot in flight per burst. Back to pressing when I anticipate the bird in the correct position. More practice today by the look of things.

I don't know whether any of you are interested in the night sky but this is a good web site for checking things out. see here

I've been watching a couple of interesting planets, one in the east (Jupiter) and the other in the west (Venus), they're showing up quite well late evening.