Bombylius major.

A few days ago on a very cold morning my wife found this bee fly lying in gravel in a torpid state but after a few minutes there was slight movement so we moved it into a sunny spot.    Sometime later it had recovered and flew away.

The Boss.

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Thought I'd better show 'the boss' otherwise she will be complaining!!!

Can anybody help?

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On 14th March this year I took my usual walk with 'the boss' and as usual we stopped at the far end of the walk.    It was a foul day - foggy with a fine drizzle and very poor visibility.     I was looking north when I became aware of a bird flying towards me on a line east to west.    It flew over me and landed on top of the only tree in the vicinity.    I could not readily identify it - it appeared smaller than crow and did not show the characteristics of a jackdaw.    The head appearance has that of the corvid family.    After hesitating I decided to try for a photo and managed six poor(very) shots and because of the distance I tried to edge towards it but with the inevitable result - it took flight westwards.    Because of the inclement weather and the fact that I only had a compact camera I did not bother to check the images until a later date.    There is very little detail to help identification but I am curious about the bar? on the right wing.    Can anyone help with any information please?

Outcast.

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This magpie has been with us for about two weeks during which time it has been difficult to work out what is wrong with it.    It is very alert and rather averse to the human form and any sign of a camera.    There are at least twelve other magpies in this vicinity and they all ostracise it.    I have to admit that they are a beautiful bird with a cunning intelligence but I do not like them because of their liking for the eggs and young of songbirds.   Already this spring they have taken the contents of  the nests of a pair of blackbirds and a pair of chaffinches.   This particular bird appears to have no use in it's legs and is possibly short of one foot.    It has to 'belly flop' to land and perches on its stomach - when taking off it's are not in evidence.     The best image I have been able to photograph the bird resting in a tree(still very poor).    I'll keep trying but as stated earlier it is very alert as it needs to be with the ever threatening presence of the resident sparrow hawk.

Back in Harness(3)

Hopefully all problems now resolved I can get back to blogging.   I am probably going to change direction slightly and my intention is to outline that in my next post so please stay with me.

ProStalk camera.

Last year I reported that I had purchased a ProStalk camera which gave very good results for some ten months and then started to malfunction.     I decided to upgrade to a ProStalk PC 5000.    This camera has given very good results and I am showing just two here.    The first is simply to illustrate the problem with magpies which are reponsible in my area for the loss of numerous song birds'nests.    The second one I found very interesting in that I was puzzled by the fox staring at something.    I believe that I have now solved the mystery and I will show that result in a later post.  

Swallows

For many years at least two pairs of swallows each raised one, two and sometimes three broods each year in my neighbour and friend's garage.   Sadly he passed away in April three years ago - apart from a cursory visit the swallows did not return to the garage.    It was the same story in 2009 and 2010.   We live in a very rural area and it was noticeable that there was no reduction in the number of swallows flying around the area culminating in families congregating on overhead cables at the end of the season.     In late March and early April this year it was a completely different scenario with quite a number flying in and out of the garage in what can only be described as 'excited anticipation' and happily 'chattering away' to each other - the attitude was completely different to that of the previous three years.    Unfortunately due to my wife's illness I was not able to monitor their activities but at the end of July I was able to get a quick photo literally minutes before the brood of four fledged.     To the right of this nest there is a second but at the time of the photo there was no sign of any activity - nineteen days later another brood of four fledged.     A story tinged with sadness and happiness which raises a number of questions to which I have no answers.