Babes in the wood

It's that time of year when the adult birds are looking a bit the worse for wear.  A hard time feeding the youngsters and the annual moult combine to increase the tattiness

although the nuthatches seem to remain ever dapper.

But it's the youngsters who have appeared who draw the attention - not least through the incessant begging:
Nuthatch

chaffinch

great spotted woodpecker

the slightly jaundiced looking great and blue tits

robin

dunnock

and a new one - goldcrest.

A few more new woodland visitors:

Chiff chaff

wren

and at our table top 'pool' a treecreeper.

A few more snaps - can you tell which of the snaps in this post were taken at ISO 1600?  

My new toy is a canon 5DIII, and so far I am distinctly impressed, much as I still love my 1DIII.  The latter is just not the right camera to have on holiday, the 5D does seem to have good low light tolerance (although perhaps the in-camera standard noise reduction is a bit heavy) so complements the set and the full frame does actually allow a fair crop for use on the web at least.  Imagine what the 1DX must be like - better than both combined.  Where did I put that lottery ticket?

Surely not Welsh ...............

Finally getting around to a bit of gardening when I caught a glimpse of some hot pink undergarments.

The hawkmoths are stunners at the best of times and the elephant is the one probably most likely to impress people not into 'bugs'.  It just looks so tropical.  A few years ago a South Wales  media story ran about an exotic insect that had been found.  Red faces I guess when the truth was out.

A reminder - I need to try some moth trapping.

Mexico

Been away for a while - couple of weeks in Mexico on a hotel/beach holiday, and then pics to sort through.  No car over there and anyway the land that wasn't developed was pretty much covered in surprisingly impenetrable jungle.  Still managed a few early mornings around the hotel and beach with the camera.  I dredged the memory banks for trips to the zoo and identified the mammals as agouti, coatimundi and more easily squirrel.

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

There were a fair few iguana around.

From Mexico Wildlife

Birds-wise the hotel grounds (note the value of a puddle) were home to
Great kiskadee

From Mexico Wildlife

Altamira oriole (nesting by the pool) - my favourite

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

grackles

From Mexico Wildlife

Yucatan woodpecker

From Mexico Wildlife

a hummingbird

From Mexico Wildlife

plain chachalaca

From Mexico Wildlife

mockingbirds

From Mexico Wildlife

and white winged doves.

From Mexico Wildlife

On the beach brown pelicans

From Mexico Wildlife

and an amorous little (least) tern - tried hard but didn't get anywhere.

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

An Uncle Sam moth flew the red white and blue

From Mexico Wildlife

and there were plenty of butterflies - some using building sand as a salt lick.

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

From Mexico Wildlife

Click the Mexico Wildlife links above for some more wildlife pictures

Chichen Itza was worth a look

From Mexico 2013

and the beach wasn't bad - storm coming.

From Mexico 2013

From Mexico 2013

Bits and Bobs

It's been a bit of a struggle to get out with the camera much recently, with work for our village community group and the inevitable dog walking swallowing up time (although I did spot a purple heron last weekend probably my rarest find to date and certainly my best dog walking spot.  A real birder found and reported it a few days later.  No pic's though).  I grabbed another half hour with the early purple orchids - the sun was a bit bright and they are in an area recently cleared so there's a lot of bits to catch the eye in the background.  I didn't expect the colour range though, and some of the pinks were really very attractive.  The last pic was framed against a tree and should have been taken from 6" further back to show the full height, but frustratingly I haven't learned how to move the tree in my back yet!  That's what happens when you snap flowers with your bird lens.

I was hugely jealous to see Brian Davis snap of Lady's Slipper orchids here - I wasn't aware there were places you could go to see them, although I know there are now quite a few sites where they grow, presumably closely watched.

Also around a few remaining bluebells which seem to have gone on forever this year, a violet and a euphorbia.

I really should put some more time and effort into taking flower pictures.  I recently came across the New Shoots website  set up in part by Jodie Randall a young photographer I met some years ago while snapping water voles at Cromford.  Her pictures and many of the others on the site show how art and wildlife pictures can be combined.  All young snappers (but some serious gear in use - I'm 30 working years older and flinch at the costs!) there is some real talent around.

To close I finally snapped a bee fly - while dog walking.