Monday 24 October 2011

AFTER THE SORTOUT!





I've got two 1TB hard drives on which I store my images (the same images duplicated onto each hard drive, for safety) and they are rapidly getting full. Over the last few days, and I guess the next few days as well, I've been attempting to sort through all the images with a view to deleting the not so good ones to make some space (I find the whole routine very tedious and there  are plenty of 'break times').  But so far I've had no trouble finding plenty of the 'not so good ones', it makes me wonder why I thought some of them were worth saving in the first place!


So, here is a random selection of a few of the 'better' images that seem to have slipped the net from some of my earlier posts.


A Grey Squirrel looking for somewhere to hide his Chestnut




Whilst out looking for Fungi I came across a family of Common Lizards living in the hollow and rotting branches of a fallen tree.
When I first saw them, or rather when they saw me, they hid inside the hollow wood. I slowly and quietly sat down as close as I could get and patiently waited, after about five minutes they all emerged and started to bask in the sun and didn't seem to be at all bothered by my presence.



Not far away from the spot where I found the Common Lizards I noticed this large collection of nuts by the base of a rotting tree stump, and most had a neat hole gnawed into them. Back at home I checked my reference books and matched the pattern of tooth marks on the nuts to those made by Wood Mice or Yellow-necked Mice.
Both these mice will gnaw a hole in the nut with their nose outside so that the lower incisors inside the hole leave marks on the inner slope and the upper incisors create scratch marks on the outside of the shell.




Another example of feeding activity this time pine cones before and after the attention of a Grey Squirrel.



A couple of weeks ago I went for a walk around Incombe Hole in Buckinghamshire with Keith of Holdingmoments where, for about thirty minutes, we experienced three Sparrowhawks (possibly four for a time) initially playing what looked like a game of tag before being harassed away by Magpies and Crows.

Two massively cropped images!


Who says birds can't fly upside down!


A couple of images of the area in which I do most of my walking.


12 comments:

Bob Bushell said...

I lolve the Common Lizard, it's so magnificent. The rest of your blog is really excellent too.

The Herald said...

Thank you Bob...[;o)

grammie g said...

Hi Trevor...Trying to catch up with my favorite blogs and things here at home after being away..I think you slipped through the "cracks" yesterday...
I hope you didn't hurt yourself..lol ; }}
Isn't it amazing how busy those little critters are, and the nuts and cones they can haul into one place!!
Great to see!!
The Lizards you can have,and snakes...warn me please!! : oooooo !!
Fantastic shots of the Sparrowhawks ...very interesting to see there interaction!!
Nice to see your stomping grounds : }}
Speaking of Hairy ..what to heck is up with him...find himself a women or something..I wanted to hear from him about a photo of a sheep he took!!

Take care ....
Grace

Roy said...

Amazing shots of the Sparrowhawks Trevor and what a lovely area you walk in.

ADRIAN said...

Wonderful Lizards. I have seen Kestrel playing like that.......an odd thing to do but there seems to be no harm done.
Great images and the frame is worth the effort sets them off.

The Herald said...

Welcome back Grace, I hope you had a nice few days away.

Me slip through cracks? no chance,I'm the wrong shape for that!!

The lizards are great little creatures I really enjoyed my time in their company...[;o)

I've not heard from Keith for some time, you may well be right!!

The Herald said...

Thanks Roy. The Sparrowhawks were great to see, they were also using a tree to play a sort of 'hide and seek' in and around.

Yeh, it's a super area to walk in, lots of different habitats. Could do with a decent lake a bit closer to home though!...[;o)

The Herald said...

Adrian, thanks. I really enjoyed my encounter with the Lizards. I guess the Sparrowhawk behaviour was just their way of honing the skills they need to survive...keeping fit, I guess!...just like us going to the gym...well..er.. not us, but you know what I mean!!...[;o)

holdingmoments said...

I'm late catching up lol

Love the lizards Trevor, and those Sparrowhawks were amazing to watch.

The Herald said...

Thanks Keith, welcome back.

Yeh,I enjoyed both encounters, the Lizards were fantastic to sit and photograph and the Sparrowhawk 'display' was something I'd not seen before....[;o)

theconstantwalker said...

Apologies for being so late to make a comment.
Wonderful images and your patch looks fantastic in the last pic...

The Herald said...

Thanks Andrew. Yeh, it's a great place I discover something new on each outing!...[;o)