Thanks Barbara, it's a long drive up, some of it on single track roads but the colours of the hills and trees made the journey a joy too. Hope all is well with you and family? Haven't had a chance to read many posts yet as D is here today x
What stunning pictures, Anna - and it sounds absolutely idyllic! I'm surprised you could tear yourself away when it came time to leave...Here are a few more pics - we were living almost right on the beach shown in the photos, just a field in between. The deer came out of the surrounding hills at night to graze on the grass and the stag bellowed until someone shone a torch at them, when they bounded off . It's pitch black up there at night so unfortunately we didn't manage to get a pic of the deer. Hope I haven't bored you with the holiday snaps
I could easily live there Debra, apart from the winter months that is, when the whole area is cut off by snow. We first holidayed there in 1970 and have gone up most years since.
What lovely photos. Your avatar picture is just stunning full size.Here are a few more pics - we were living almost right on the beach shown in the photos, just a field in between. The deer came out of the surrounding hills at night to graze on the grass and the stag bellowed until someone shone a torch at them, when they bounded off . It's pitch black up there at night so unfortunately we didn't manage to get a pic of the deer. Hope I haven't bored you with the holiday snaps
What a wonderful list of birds, Debs you lucky girlIt's good to see that long-tailed **** are thriving here in the south-west. These 7 little chaps (and a bluetit) visited a couple of times this afternoon, but I counted 16 of them on the feeder at once yesterday, when it was newly filled with suet balls.
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It's not surprising that the fatballs are disappearing fast!
There are also a pair of nuthatches visiting this feeder every day, and a beautiful grey wagtail (who has a gorgeous primrose-yellow tummy) checks out all the plant pots around the koi pond every morning. A small flock of goldfinches and a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers are visiting the other feeders further down the garden on a daily basis now.
It's lovely to see them all coming back after the autumn moult. Just waiting to see the bullfinches start showing up again now...
I am lucky - you're absolutely right. They're so beautiful and it really lifts my day to see them all in the garden.What a wonderful list of birds, Debs you lucky girl
Our feeders are hedged in so the bigger predatory birds can not get to them. Glad you have LTT's we often have them but they have been missing for a while now!I am lucky - you're absolutely right. They're so beautiful and it really lifts my day to see them all in the garden.
The only downside is the occasional visit from a sparrowhawk for lunch, but of course they're also beautiful birds and I guess they have to eat too... I hate to see it in the spring though, when I think of the potential one-parent families or maybe orphaned chicks, waiting in the nest for a meal that won't ever come.
I feed them live mealworms in the spring for the babies, but I move the feeder to a different place each day, to avoid giving the sparrowhawks an unfair advantage because they are very clever, wily birds.
Gorgeous pictures, and the one with the crossed contrails is truly amazing - I've never seen that before, either!No wildlife, but we went for a walk on the downs yesterday and Mrs h-c managed to get this photo of the shadow of two crossing jet contrails, cast on to some thin cloud by the sun.
I'm sure it must happen from time to time but I've never seen it before and it must take a slightly unusual combination of the positions of the sun, the cloud and the contrails to create the effect.
... or maybe it's a pan-dimensional hyper-intelligent being, blowing us all a kiss?
It was bleak and wintry (and the wind was freezing) but there's a kind of beauty to the countryside at this time of the year.
Gorgeous!
