Flowering currant

Flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) in the grounds of St John the Baptist Church in Adel, after a downpour. An early flowering shrub whose scented pink hanging flowers open as the leaves emerge.

Harewood

Out today at Harewood on a beautiful day roadtesting my new camera.  Was expecting lots of red kites - which there were - but came across this lovely buzzard too.  Nice to see one quite close to see the markings on the underwing and to see how different it looks in the air from the kites.

Saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a long tailed tit - to my amazement it was a bat - a pipistrelle, I think. It was 2.30 in the afternoon and really bright sunshine. It was flapping around near a stream for a few minutes and then disappeared. I saw it again further up the track, this time being chased by a red kite. Thankfully the kite was not agile enough and the bat escaped...

And I couldn't come back from Harewood without at least one red kite picture, so here it is!

Long time no post

Time to give this blogging lark another go, so 'starters for ten' here's a Curlew, one of three we spotted in fields near Eccup earlier today. A few miles further on at Weardley, Red Kites were visible in all directions. I'd guess at 20+ during our short wander at Weardley and on the circuit back up to Arthington Road.

Jersey sightings - more butterflies

A few more butterfly sightings from our trip to Jersey, Wall Brown, Grayling, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper and Common Blue.

Jersey sightings

On a recent trip to Jersey, one of our best sightings has to be this Map butterfly (Araschnia levana) that we discovered quite by chance in a bramble hedgerow at east of the island.