Some Waders

 

Three snipe at Venus Pool reserve.

Below, a curlew.

Giant puffball. I thought it was a football at first!

 

Spoonbills! What a surprise! At Parkgate RSPB Reserve, Neston.

Marsh Harrier over Parkgate Estuary.

Red Admiral.

Meadow Pipit.

Common Hawker

Black darter

As the Days Grow Shorter

 

It can be hard to see a Comma butterfly when it closes its wings because it looks like a dead leaf.

However, when its wings open, it's very bright and visible.

Above: toad. Below, Speckled Wood butterfly.

Baby swallows getting ready to leave the next and the UK. And a surprise redstart on Prees Heath!

Below, a Prees Heath family of flycatchers.

A watchful hare and a Migrant Hawker dragonfly.

Three UK Riparian Mammals

 A water vole, a water shrew and a wood mouse, for comparison.

Postcard from the Isle of Wight

 

Whitethroat

Spotted flycatcher

Whinchat above, meadow pipit below.

Jersey Tiger moth

White-tailed Sea Eagle

Green woodpecker

Chalk Hill Blue

And of course, red squirrels!

Rare Bird Alert

 

This is the first Red-backed Shrike in Shropshire since 1995!

Water Vole with One Eye

 

One vole with one eye, and another with both eyes intact.

Water voles are territorial and can fight viciously with each other. I've seen several who've lost an eye this way. They seem to cope all right, though.