Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
Number 36 has been a long time coming but it's not a bad one to add.
36. Iceland gull
36. Iceland gull
Not just me grounded by the horrible sleet and snow, several Song Thrushes and at least a dozen of these frosty beauties, only one female amongst them, all feeding frantically behind the house at 8.30:
46 Ring Ousel
Speaking of Yellowhammers, every evening a group assemble around the house and trees in the vicinity before going to roost, around a dozen throughout the winter on average. I joked with a friend that the Pine Buntings wintering in Italy weren't that far away so maybe one day one would 'hop' over the Alps to join my yellow ones. My heart missed a beat this evening when I glimpsed something odd arrive with a couple of Yellowhammers........... No, not a Pine Bunting, but only the second-ever 48 Rock Bunting for the garden. Just like the first one last year, it flew off before I could get the camera ready, a lesson learned (again ), but still a perfect end to my day, I had gone down to the lake shore east of Geneva and a wetland near the city and managed to find a Caspian Gull, my first Crag Martins of the year, a Cattle Egret and two White Storks, plus 'boxing' Hares. All in a pleasant sunshine and 9°C, the forecast was for 3° max with snow - Result :t:
Still rolling!.....only the 2nd time in 35 years, a high, fast winging Shoveler going South against a Western sky. no.56.