Wildlife mid 2009

[Ragged Robin]

On my evening stroll I came across this beetly thing that shone like gold then emerald then gold... it wasn't fazed at all during the photo shoot as it was so busy eating  

It is a green rose chafer, cetonia aurata.
Quite common in Sweden and is unusual since it flies with the "shell" closed. There are openings at the side that allows the wings to stick out. This must give good aerodynamics and they are quite fast.
Göte

Thanks for the ID and info, Gote, it certainly was a fast take off!

What a perfect hanging basket full of Motacilla alba growing up - I love Wagtails, their smart feather outfit and the bobbing on the lawn; usually with a beak full

[Paddy Tobin]

Wildlife can take many forms!

Here are the girls (April, May, June and Iris) out for a walk.

Ducks, Jemima and Deefor are inclined to be flighty and are not trusted outside just yet.

Paddy

[ranunculus]

These combined images of ours are really pretty fowl, Paddy.

A few more from the evening stroll near our house ...

[Paddy Tobin]

Ah, jeepers, Cliff, You've gone all artistic on us.

(Lovely images, though)

Aren't ducks, geese, swans a blasted nuisance to photograph. You always want them to form the perfect V or, at least, a straight line but there's always one who spoils the arrangement - the kind, if it were human, which would be a Scottish Rocker, I suppose.

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

What super pictures from everyone. They're all beautiful and I like the domestic ladies as well as the wild ones.

[Ragged Robin]

Wildlife can take many forms!

Here are the girls (April, May, June and Iris) out for a walk.

Ducks, Jemima and Deefor are inclined to be flighty and are not trusted outside just yet.

Paddy

Great to see your girls free-ranging in your garden and having a bit of what they fancy Paddy - is there a pecking order amongst them 

[Ragged Robin]

These combined images of ours are really pretty fowl, Paddy.

A few more from the evening stroll near our house ...

Do yo think they are practising for a new series called 'Come Swimming', Cliff  

They could swim away with the Title or fall fowl/foul of the judges  

[Anthony Darby]

This morning the nesting material had been partially hauled out of our tit-box. Magpies! Only one dead chick left inside.

[Paul T]

Such a shame, Anthony.  How common are they in your area?  Is the loss of a nest going to affect the population?

[mark smyth]

I wouldnt blame the magpies. Smart they may be but I dont think a magpie would/could stick it's head it a hole designed for tits.

[Ragged Robin]

It is so, so, upsetting when you have witnessed birds setting up home, watched their comings and goings and the start of new life and got to know them in familiar sort of way and then - horror and devastation.  Commiserations Anthony to you and the Tit family.  Dare I suggest the culprit could be a cat?

[arisaema]

Sounds more like a weasel?

[Paddy Tobin]

Robin,

Most definitely, there is a pecking order but it seems well established and accepted so there is no squabbling. Peace reigns. They are a very quiet little group, will come and feed from the hand, and allow you to pick them up and sit them on your lap etc. Very domesticated. The ducks are a little more shy. They are a nice interest in the garden and the hens give us four eggs per day.

Paddy

[Ragged Robin]

Heaven for all 

[Anthony Darby]

Magpie, or perhaps crow? A weasel removes the chicks. This smart bird just needed to put its beak in the hole and pull the nest out, some of which was on the ground underneath. The chicks would be conveyed to the hole on a moving 'carpet' of nesting material.