Natural highs and lows

Despite not having to rise early to give Mocha the cat her medicines and breakfast, I did manage to be up and about just after dawn this morning. Today we met up with good friend Alan (who visited us earlier in the Summer), at Stanwick Lakes Nature Reserve, near Raunds.  Although it was a warm day, the odes were few, but we found plenty else of interest. More birds were added to the holiday list, flowers were identified, the many patterns of Harlequin Ladybirds were photographed and we spotted three Otters, probably a mum and two cubs. There were several visits to the cafe, as is only right and proper. Alas, I am too tired to wrangle with video footage of the Otters, but here are a few views of the Reserve. The other highlight of the day was standing within three metres of the UK's loudest songbird, the Cetti's Warbler, as it belted out its "song". They sing from deep cover, so although we occasionally saw a bit of veget...

(This post was mostly written during a not so brief stopover at a regional transport hub) The pause in bloggage has been due to a trip south to visit family. How does that prevent post output I hear you ponder? Well, it was too hot, hot enough at least for a denizen of the Northern Isles experiencing mid May in central England. And when it wasn’t hot, there was so much more wildlife to see and hear. This is a known ecological phenomenon, (not the whinging about the heat, although that could be argued, eh?), the fact that larger islands have more biodiversity than smaller ones. And despite Bedfordshire seemingly being somewhere very near the Equator, there was quite a lot of biodiversity. It did take me while to find a House Sparrow, mind, as well as any Swallows, and of Swifts there was nary a sniff. But my bird list for the year went stratospheric, up by 16 in three days, and I managed 9 species of butterfly in the same timeframe. There were wildflowers aplenty and, glory be, a fe...