My blog is mostly about wildlife, particularly birds, walking, days out, all growing things and anything else that comes to mind.
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Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Strange orange light in the sky..

Today as dawn broke, the sun also stopped being shy and shone brilliantly.. and no, I'm not hallucinating; least I don't think I am!

I'd arranged to meet Hugh at the London Wetland Centre, so was pleased it wasn't bucketing down for a change.

Before I left, and just after the sun arose, the early morning birds were around in the garden as usual and, in addition to about 15 goldfinches, the usual mob of Ring-necked Parakeets were around. As the light wasn't too bad I managed a picture or two of some of them.

In the apple tree - best feeding station for miles around..


and when you arrive in the garden, you perch on a branch of the Eucalyptus tree.

So off to Barnes. This Great-Crested Grebe obliged us whilst having a fishy meal..
followed by a wash and brush up and...
a quick drink..
before having a look to see what else was around!

Later on, from the Peacock tower, something had sent up a large(ish) flock of Lapwings...

The sun then disappeared behind threatening grey clouds, so we decided a cuppa was a better option.

On the way back, a Mute Swan landed on the water near us.



The Bittern was in its usual spot, but unseen by us. When asking when it had last been seen, the reply was "about one and a half hours". We headed for the cafe....

A pleasant morning in the sun... A rarity in itself.

11 comments:

Neil said...

Great photos, especially the grebe. I remember one catching fish when I was there. Got some grebes today myself on this side of London too :)

Chris said...

Hi Tricia,
I don't even know which set I prefer the ring-necked parakeet or the grebe one! They are both of them gorgeous sets that i would have like to take... but tell me where is the amazing orange sky light ;-)

mick said...

Do you keep all those feeding stations filled? No wonder the birds love your garden! Great photo of the grebe with the fish.

Gaina said...

Brilliant photos :). I particularly like the first one - it's like a 'magic eye' picture, trying to spot all the parakeets!

Quantum Tiger said...

Ah yes. Sunshine. I remember that! From far off days before the rain. Glad you were able to be out and enjoy it. I was stuck in the office.

holdingmoments said...

The Ring-necked Parakeets haven't made it here yet, but they do look rather exotic, and different, hanging on those feeders. It must cost you a fortune to fill all those.
Good catch of the Grebe and fish too.

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos, particularly like the Lapwing group flying.
Strange orange light in the sky, you have been at that wine bottle again.

Tricia Ryder said...

Neil - thank you. Glad to hear you got lucky with some grebes too. I shall pop over and have a look.

Chris = you're always so kind with your comments. The amazing orange light seems to have disappeared again!!

Mick - Yes they're always filled and a have one or two more that are out of shot. And thank you.

Gaina - thank you for visiting and leaving such a lovely comment. There were other Parakeets elsewhere in the garden but I couldn't get them all in the same shot.

Hi Ian (QT) and lovely to see you here. Sorry to hear to were stuck in the office :( I'm having difficulty remembering the strange light now....

Keith - probably good that they haven't negotiated the M25 yet :D I have a reasonably cheap supplier relatively near; otherwise the feeder wouldn't get refilled so often.

Roy - thank you. Don't know what made them all fly up; we couldn't spot a predator...

An no - I hadn't been at the bottle again - on this occasion :D

Janine said...

Nice captures of the parakeets T. Its interesting how they managed to seek out a tree from their native Australia, the eucalyptus, to roost in.

Julia said...

Fun birding! Those parakeets are a crack up. It must not get too cold for them in your part of the world. There are a few flocks of parrots loose in the bay area too. Kind of startling to see them at first!

Tricia Ryder said...

Hi Janine. Thanks. The Eucalyptus is a very tall tree which appeals to the Paras!

Hi Julia - thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. I think they've adjusted to the cold over the years and we don't get much extreme cold. They are surprising to see when it's not their natural habitat isn't it..

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