Managed to snap a few quickies off when this big bumble bee paid a visit to my Fuji Cherry. Focus not great but he just refused to sit still 🙂
Category Wildlife
Spawn!
I would have thought it was still a little early for frog spawn but in the last few days I have heard two different people mention seeing it. My brother spotted some in a pond on Saturday and Hugh from the club photographed this in his pond.
Is Spring really here.
Twosome
Threesome
Orgy !
First Walk of the New Year
Sunday just happened to fall on New Years Day this year and, never to be deterred, we had our usual walk. About 9 miles along the coast from Holywood to Bangor, I must admit I could feel the holiday excess eating taking a toll!
As usual here are a few snaps taken along the way.
Some of my usual attempts to capture birds in flight or otherwise.
A goose
A hooded Crow
A normal black crow picking through the rock pools for sea snails .
and most unusual, these two different types of crow were together. First I’ve ever seen this.
Perfect wind for little sailing on the lough.
Hawthorn still carrying it’s harvest.
A nice mixture of moss, grass, heather, sedum etc growing in among the rocks. Natures kusamono .
Most important on a good walk is good company. My two brothers..
My mate Stephen, out with his new camera. Watch this space for his new bonsai blog coming very soon 🙂
and lets not forget my two best mates, Smudge and maggie 🙂
Eejits on Tour Part 3
The final instalment.
At one point on our day out, Phil took me to a river that he fishes on for Salmon. A beautiful spot. We lingered there longer than planned thanks to a show put on my 3 Dippers fighting over the same set of rocks. Must have been good fishing there 🙂
The water reminds me of a pint of Guinness getting poured. The colour comes from the peat in the area. The foam finishes it off 🙂
In the shot below you can see a branch that has been placed in the river as a perch for kingfishers. None on view today sadly.
What was sad to see was that some idiot was dumping into the river from the road side above! There was even the remains of a car in the pile. A strange pipe also drained into the river and nothing much wanted to grow below it 😦
Some nice beech trees along the riverside as well.
Some deadwood and a fallen Beech 🙂
We stopped for a Fish Supper on the way back at a lovely little Fish & Chip Shop beside a Harbour.
The fish was rather on the large size, but we both managed admirably.
That’s it! The day in photos that took 3 days to share with you. Hope you enjoyed viewing the images. You’ll have to wait for the yamadori photos 😉 but they’ll be on here in the Spring. I’ll leave you with a photo of a Heron winging it’s way along the coast.
Feed The Birds, It’s Christmas Time….
Just a reminder to feed those birds this Winter. I took a few shots of birds yesterday when I visited my parents farm just outside Belfast. Here’s what was on offer. Not very sharp as they were taken through glass.
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Robin, shy one. Just managed to get a quick one before it disappeared.
Chaffinch, female and male.
Goldfinch
These were not outside 🙂 My Dad keeps a few more exotic birds about the place. All taken through a wire cage so again, a little blurry.
and lastly, the other side of Christmas 🙂 Life on the farm…
I was going to rotate this one 180 degrees and make it look like they are taking off, but that’s just sick 😉
Alfred Hitchcocks The Birds!!
Driving down a country road this week, I spotted a field full of crows. I don’t think I have ever seen so many in one place. Proper Black Crows in Ireland used to be quite a rare sight. You only ever saw small colonies up until about 15 years ago. Now…
A few trees on the same road.
A typical tree choked in ivy. The extra bulk from the ivy can cause trees like this to blow down in high winds due to the extra surface area. Most farmers will remove it from time to time. Note the sheep sheltering underneath.
Todays Walk in Pictures
Here is some from my usual Sunday walk. We revisited the Clandeboye Way. We haven’t done it for a while as it can get water logged but today was enjoyable even with the mud.
I didn’t think the sign meant cameras so I snapped away when I could. Nice to see the dog using the pedestrian gate instead of going through the main one 🙂
I spotted these Fungi on an old fallen Birch log. My brother Sam thought they looked like Octopus.
On old rotten stump with beautiful deadwood.
Some of the landscape we crossed. The sheep moved away when they saw the dogs appearing.
Old Gate pillars made from Scrabo Sandstone. No longer used as a gate as the gap isn’t wide enough any more for modern machinery. New gate beside it.
We saw many trees along the walk that had fallen since our last visit. This one blocked the path.
Stephen wondered why I stopped to take a photo of the ground. I found it beautiful in it’s own way. It captures the season well. Can’t wait to see what he snaps with his new camera from Santa 🙂
Loved this old gnarly tree trunk. It tells it’s own story of life in the wood.
A birch full of witches brooms.
Just as we left the wooded area to walk along the coast, this Jay appeared in a tree. I snapped a few quick shots thinking it would only sit a few seconds. It was close by the path and was working hard to get grubs from a rotted branch. I quickly changed the lens to get a closer shot. Just As I was ready, it buggered off! Never get a chance like that again 😦
Birds were the highlight for the rest of the walk. Here are a few we saw.
A few other feather free shots.
My 2 dogs loved the water and enjoyed drying out in front of the fire back at home too 🙂
When Birds Attack…… Moss
Sitting at the computer yesterday, I glanced out the window and saw that a family of Blackbirds had descended on my trees to assist with the removal of moss. A Great Tit also got in on the act but kept getting chased off. I managed to snap a few quick shots out of the window.
First Frost & Sunday Walk
I woke up this morning to the first frost I’ve seen in a long time, I may have slept through one earlier in the week 🙂
It was a beautiful clear morning with blue skies, not a breath of wind and a perfect day for my Sunday walk. Here are the usual photos taken whilst walking from Hollywood to Bangor along the shore of Belfast Lough.
Hard to tell where the sea finishes and the sky begins.
Some Trees to inspire
Some Wildlife
Everyone looking towards Belfast hoping to spot a star or two. The MTV European Music Awards is on in Belfast tonight and the City is buzzing!
“I see Bieber!” “Who’s the Blonde he’s with?” 🙂
This guy was walking a horse on the Beach! Well, it was the size of a horse. My dogs gave it a wide berth. Pink lead made me laugh.
Maggie and Smudge at full tilt as usual! Notice some frost on the ground.
Crawforsburn
Just makes you want to sit down for a while.
end game, Bangor Marina.
Trident Colour
Even over the last few days of colder weather I have noticed the colour seeping into a few of my Trident Maples.
First one just starting to change.
Visiting wasp.
This one was defoliated and has hardly a coloured leaf as yet. These red ones are more like late new shoots.
This other one however, is well on the way and has some lovely purple leaves. This one was also defoliated in May.
This Speckled Wood was also grabbing what little sunshine was on offer. He didn’t want to move away into the strong breeze.
Bonsai Eejit 