I take a camera along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.
The Bee Eaters were flying around this morning, very close too, however, it was a really grey and dark overcast start to the day as I walked around just before 8am, so didn’t even point the camera at them. But hey, at least it’s not raining! I stood and watched them acrobatically flying to catch their breakfast when I heard a very soft-sounding Woodpecker call which I knew immediately that it was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. It was in a nearby tree, but still too far away for a decent shot. I managed to get this terrible one. Due to the lack of a red cap, this appears to be a female.
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are very small, only a little larger than a Sparrow therefore not seen too often, we are lucky enough to have quite a large population of them locally to the Quinta.
I walked around to the sound of the Nightgales and Golden Orioles (that have recently returned) and thought I’d take a look to see if the fugitive Muscovy Duck was still around.
I couldn’t see him, had he disappeared? Er, no, I found him……….can you spot him?……..
I stood there and laughed at this stupid Duck perched on an electric cable over the river. I have never seen such an awkward looking bird. Why was he up there? I can only assume he went there to escape something.
