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Autumn Sunrise

Clearly, magpies are hungry and do have families to feed - I had an egg stolen, from the "safe" place just outside the chicken run where I'd put it down for a moment, yesterday afternoon. I saw a magpie flying away, and there was no sign of the egg and no other culprit around. Bizarre!

I still love magpies though :D (but I'll admit I might be slightly less laid back about it if we were short of eggs, instead of being amply blessed, as we are at the moment :lol: )

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A shock the other day. Driving down an urban cul-de-sac and a sparrowhawk flew up in front of me, only about five metres away.

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The other day, my girlfriend, brother, sister-in-law and I went to see the sandpipers during their annual migration. They spend a while fattening up on little shrimp-like critters in the mudflats before taking off on a 3 day flight to South America. I got to play with the camera a bit:

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Wow, they're stunning ! :wub: I love autumn, it's so exciting with the summer migrants heading off and the winter migrants arriving... I went round a couple of reserves near Helsinki yesterday and there were immense flocks of barnacle geese flying around, feeding and calling. They'll go down to the Netherlands once the current heatwave is over.

If you are feeling bored or nature-deprived and have 18 minutes to spare, here is a beautiful short film about Finnish birdlife with superb lighting and landscape and lots of exciting species.

As for me I was thrilled to see my first ever black woodpecker, right by the side of the path in a place I certainly didn't expect one (not my photo though as it flew off as soon as the camera appeared).

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Thanks, Vervain!

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Currently on the Isle of Mull seeing wildlife galore. Osprey, golden eagle, white tailed eagle, peregrine, otter, red deer, roe deer and much more. Stunning scenery too and good weather.

Edit: Fallow deer not roe deer.

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Mull, fantastic ! somewhere I'd love to go. Will you be there for the rut, or is it a bit early still ?

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Awesome, Miss Terry! I've always wanted to go to the Isle of Mull, too!

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Autumn Sunrise

Currently on the Isle of Mull seeing wildlife galore. Osprey, golden eagle, white tailed eagle, peregrine, otter, red deer, roe deer and much more. Stunning scenery too and good weather.

Sounds awesome, Miss Terry :D (Otters - yay!) I hope the weather continues fine for the rest of your stay.

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nice and peaceful then ;) sounds idyllic...

It's suddenly become autumn here, the night falls fast and the leaves are turning, I wonder how long the fieldfares will stay.

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Back from the Isle of Mull. The hen harrier was another bird we had good sightings of, and on Iona large flocks of twite.

@ vervain Not sure where you are, but when the fieldfares leave you, we will start to see them here.

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Dammit this thread appeared during my sabbatical and I only just found it :blink: .

So enjoying all the photos and descriptions of birds/wildlife I would love to see myself. ^_^

I am a bit of a nature nut myself, living in the middle of nowhere in the wilds of Gloucestershire. (I'm pretty sure Miss T and I have exchanged bird stories at some point :) ). We are lucky enough to have such a variety of wildlife where we live...

4 types of deer, Muntjack, Fallow, Roe and Red (at least half a dozen Red Deer stags have escaped from the Park in recent years and are living wild in the woods now), badgers, foxes, stoats, weasels, rabbits etc etc. We have approximately 30 bats living in our roof.

And birds?

Well, we have Buzzards nesting in the copse over the road, Ravens about half a mile away, Greater Spotted and Green woodpeckers, Kestrels, Sparrowhawks, various types of owls (including Barn Owls nesting in an old byre 2 fields away), Goldfinches, Long-Tailed Tits (sooo cute!), we had a Goshawk visit about 5 years ago ( :( sadly we later discovered that the Gamekeeper shot and killed it after it started feeding in the pheasant pens, unfortunately a horrible but inescapable truth of living on an old fashioned feudal style Country Estate), we have seen Red Kites for the last 2 summers. One of my dreams is to go and see a Golden Eagle in the Highlands.

I have never managed to work out the whole spoiler thing so this is going to be a big post, apologies. :ph34r:

Here are just a few of my pics...

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Goldfinch, one of the ones which are actually nesting in our garden.

035_zps4jbxzcwg.jpgManaged to catch 2 Jays having a dust-up a couple of years ago. Action shot!!

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A Nuthatch and a Blue Tit trying to avoid each other.

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And just to mix it up a little, this is a Dragonfly which was hanging around near our pond last year.

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Autumn Sunrise

Ooh Elnae, what a wonderful place to live - so many different birds and animals to watch :) Feel free to keep the stories and pictures coming :D

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I got my first somewhat decent hummingbird photos today! My dad seems to catch hummingbirds all the time...but they don't show up often for me lol. Unfortunately they are fuzzy and not very clear because I was shooting through the window (darn screen was in the way!). I did the best I could with editing. :P (P.S. I love everyone's photos you're all sharing!!)

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Butterfly Belle

I haven't been around for a while but just as well I came back for a visit because this is the perfect place to share some of my photos I took when I went to the Bunya Mountains last weekend.

It was a big of a foggy start to the day.

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A bowerbird nest or bower

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This male Fairy Wren was attracted to his reflection in the car's side window and was fighting with it

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And who can resist the gorgeous wallabies, especially the joeys.

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Autumn Sunrise

Beautiful pictures, Butterfly Belle! You did well with the male fairy wren - ours usually barely stay still long enough to be sure it's a male and not a female :D

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Bloomin SQuirreL error ate my post this morning. :angry:

Second time lucky. Thanks Dave and Autumn. ^_^

Kelico, those hummingbirds are amazing!!! :) We don't have hummingbirds in the UK, but we do have these...

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A hummingbird moth! I saw this one in our garden 4 or 5 years ago and managed to snap a few pics. I've never seen another one since.

Butterfly Belle, those are awesome pics. Love the Fairy Wren. :P

And lastly, I have been trying to get a good picture of a Red Deer stag for months now, and finally, last week we were walking through the Park and the deer were everywhere, then 3 giant stags peeled off from the herd and walked up the hill above us and this one turned and almost posed, whilst giving us the haughty death stare.

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P.S. I've just remembered that I had a bird experience the other day. Went back to work after lunch and was walking across the car park when I saw a tiny House Martin fledgling sat on the floor. It was raining and I think it had got a little bit waterlogged. I stopped 2 of my colleagues from running it over and (without touching it!) herded it a few yards away where it sheltered under my mate's motorbike until it had got its breath back and dried out a bit and flew off. ^_^

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Autumn Sunrise

I've just discovered a new swallow nest under the eaves near our front door. I can also see it from my bedroom window. It seems like a rather heavily trafficked spot to choose for a nest, but they don't seem to mind :) I wonder if we'll get to see the young ones fledge, a bit later??

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I fought angry mosquitoes to get this shot!

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Butterfly Belle

Elnae your deer photo is gorgeous!

Autumn I've got quite a few other shots which happened to be just grass because the male and female wren were so quick and flighty.

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I fought angry mosquitoes to get this shot!

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Qute, Now THAT is true dedication to photography!!! Wow though!! Totally worth the mozzies. ;)

Thanks Butterfly. ^_^ My Mum was whispering "Here's your chance. Quick, take the photo...NOW!!!" :D

Autumn, I love Swallows, they're so agile and they look like they're having so much fun while dive bombing. They are nesting alongside the House Martins at work. The only downside? They constantly poop all over our cars in the car park!! :rolleyes:

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So today's light walking consisted of over an hour and a half of wandering a cornfield maze:

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Amaizing, Q!

Do you mean the shot of the moon or the expression on my face? :p

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Amaizing, Q!

Do you mean the shot of the moon or the expression on my face? :P

Sorry, just a corny joke.

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^^ humph

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Amaizing, Q!

Do you mean the shot of the moon or the expression on my face? :P

Sorry, just a corny joke.

I completely missed how you spelled that... *facepalm*

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