A Peek from My Perch and Beyond

The birds in the garden are as active as ever and eating me out of house and home. The Goldfinches visit the Sunflower seed feeders in large numbers throughout the day bringing their young with them.


I always think the juveniles look like they have forgotten to put their clothes on! They look so naked without the vivid plumage of their parents.

'The beauty of Nature the joys of the Spring
In that scrubby place where the Goldfinches sing
...
Their twittering low notes like fairy bells ring
The wonders of Nature a magical thing.'

(Francis Duggan)

Mum and dad forgot to tell this juvenile that they don't eat peanuts!

But of course these do

Blue Tit

Moving away from the garden, we had a walk around the local reservoir recently, I should mention that trying to get photographs of anything within its perimeter is quite frustrating as observers are unable to get within a decent distance of it. There is a steep, overgrown and impenetrable slope down to the very tall wire fence which surrounds the reservoir. Consequently the following photos are very heavily cropped.

There is often a lone Heron to be seen standing quietly watching and waiting on one of the buoys and on this occasion I was not disappointed. Of course, as is usually the case, it appeared on the opposite side of where we were walking so, wanting to get as near as possible, we hurried round to the other side as quickly as we could where I managed to get this photo.


Needless to say, although I was some distance away it was aware of me and soon decided to move further away to continue its solitary pursuit.

'The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing
Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
To and fro.'

(James Joyce)

As we walked on I spotted some small birds pecking at the water's edge. Being so far away I thought they were Pied Wagtails but on reviewing the photos later I was very pleased to find they were in fact

Grey Wagtail

It has been a long time since I saw a Grey Wagtail and I would love to have been able to get nearer to take better photos but they were still a very nice surprise.

'There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.
Most of the time we are not patient enough, quiet enough,
to pay attention to the story'

(Linda Hogan)

Of course there are always plenty of gulls around.


It was a reasonably nice day and I was pleased to see other creatures enjoying the sunshine including this

Common Darter

and this lovely

Comma Butterfly

which was on the rather thorny hedgerow on the other side of the reservoir, beyond which is the river. In the trees on the same side I heard the familiar sound of the

Long-tailed Tit

They are such gregarious and energetic little birds and it was lovely to watch them flitting in and out of the branches, chattering to each other all the time.

'There are few birds so quick as we,
When searching for good fare:
We peck the crevice of a tree,
And dart at insects there.

Sometimes we hear them talk within
The hollow where we sit:
"Beware," they say, "draw in, draw in!
Outside there is a Tit." '

(Attributed to Thomas Hardy)

The plant in the photograph below was growing on the river bank.

Orange Balsam

As we walked alongside the canal which runs a short way beyond the other side of the reservoir


we found more of it.

It is a non-native plant which is thought to have been originally introduced into this country as an ornamental plant from North America. It is less aggressively invasive than the Himalayan Balsam.

The next two photos were taken on another walk a few weeks ago on a gloriously warm and sunny day, which, given the rapid onset of autumnal weather this last week, is already starting to feel like a lovely but sadly distant memory.

Willow Warbler

What a graceful and delicately coloured bird this is!

'I feel the grass beneath me swell,
I breathe the rapture of the air,
I hear the chimes of June that tell
Of birth and bridal everywhere.
And in their music floats along
The Willow Warbler's sunbeam song.'

(I. Henry Wallis)

Yes, the sky really was that blue! How I wish our Summers lasted longer or that at the very least they could be consistently good, not heat-waves or thunder storms and definitely not whole days of relentless rain but just pleasantly warm and sunny with some rain at night to keep our lovely countryside green and beautiful.