2021......a Tortoise in lockdown hibernation?

[xelas]

It was a lovely week-end, and Goldcrest is a cherry on the top.

[Soukous]

a lovely Goldcrest Dave

[elefromoz]

What a little sweetie the Goldcrest is, gorgeous shot

[Dave Williams]

It's been a busy week here in North Wales! The weather has been glorious with plenty of sunshine but still bitterly cold on occasions too, especially when the wind blows. Still, Spring is well advanced, the migrants are starting to return and I saw my first Swallow a week ago. The window of opportunity to catch many of these species in camera is fairly limited and becomes more and more difficult as the leaves start to appear on the trees. It's a case of act now or miss out.... and didn't we miss out last year with the lockdown rules. Thankfully the limited travel has now been lifted and I can drive anywhere in Wales or England. That opens up lots of possibilities.

My first addition is from just a few miles away.

62) Greylag Goose

Greylag Goose by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

At the same nature reserve, a couple of 63)Shellduck which seem to be the only ducks, beside Mallard, still around in numbers.

Shellduck by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

A trip over to England primarily to buy some cheap booze ( it's a huge saving as Wales and Scotland have imposed a minimum 50p per unit on alcohol which means the identical product in the same chain of supermarket can leap from £1.99 in England to a staggering £4.50 in Wales. )

So, with that money saving motive and an invitation to photograph friend Steve's urban Fox in his garden off I went with my pal Mike. The three of us were supposedly off to Spain next week but that of course has now been cancelled.

Before going to Steve's house, a spot we knew that the birds are regularly fed for photos of

64)Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting by Dave Williams, on Flickr

and

Linnet by Dave Williams, on Flickr

 

Then it was off to the rather large suburban garden of Steve's that backs on to a nature reserve.

65) Stock Doves are common here it seems.

Stock Dove by Dave Williams, on Flickr

but the real star of the show was Basil!

You'll do! by Dave Williams, on Flickr

Edited April 17, 2021 by Dave Williams

[Dave Williams]

Yesterday saw Claire and I take our third 10k+ walk of the week, this time up in to the uplands of Snowdonia. I decided to take my 100-500 and Canon R5..the new go to walkabout kit. I felt the strain on a couple of up hill sections, I haven't been doing too many of them in the last year and not with a back pack when I have. I have to get fit for an upcoming trip though so good practice. We had almost got back to the car when at last the effort paid off.A single  66)Red Kite circled overhead.

Red Kite by Dave Williams, on Flickr

but best of all I caught some fleeting views of 67)Treecreeper

Treecreeper by Dave Williams, on Flickr

 

It's been a particularly good week then! Freedom to travel, decent weather and two of my bogey birds captured in camera in the space of 7 days!

 

Goldcrest by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Soukous]

Nice photos Dave, I wish I could find the last 2 

[xelas]

Excellent photos. The walkabout kit is performing like a star. Indeed the best camera is the one you have with you.

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

it's a huge saving as Wales and Scotland have imposed a minimum 50p per unit on alcohol which means the identical product in the same chain of supermarket can leap from £1.99 in England to a staggering £4.50 in Wales. )

Whaaat??? Devolution was a mistake. I need bigger car for my forthcoming trip to Scotland. How does mail order work?

 

Oh. Nice birds that I could see through my tears.

[PeterHG]

Excellent birds and photos, Dave! I'm glad the Canon R5 and 100-500 are proving their use as a walkabout kit.

[Dave Williams]

The week wasn't quite over ( from a birding prospective) as I had expected earlier today.I had to drive down the coast to the nearest "Screwfix" (DIYshop) and as I was passing I tried a spot I might see Dipper. I saw one several times but failed to get a photo however, I did manage a 68)Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail by Dave Williams, on Flickr

 

and while I was at it wondered if I have included a  69) Mallard yet so snapped a couple of images just in case.

I hadn't so here's my offering for 2021

Mallard by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Galana]

That is one bright Grey Wagtail but well done.

[Kitsafari]

brilliant shots all. but what a gorgeous and handsome Basil. 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful Dave, love the Linnet especially, and the Fox is so cool! And fascinating (for me) to get a Stock Dove like that, they are rare and so shy here it´s almost impossible to get a photo. Never got a good one.

[Zim Girl]

Really lovely set of latest additions, love the fox!

[Dave Williams]

Everything is moving too fast to keep up with my own progress never mind everyone else's.

Yesterday I went back to the previous day's site ( Back to the Future?) to try to capture the elusive 70)Dipper

(White-throated) Dipper  Cinclus cinclus by Dave Williams, on Flickr

and to my surprise, something I wasn't expecting 71)Mandarin Duck

Mandarin Duck  Aix galericulata by Dave Williams, on Flickr

 

I still have others from the weekend I could post but I'll wait for better.I was up at the crack of dawn today trying for my No1 target for 2021.How did I get on? You'll have to wait, I'm too knackered to do anything else right now other than go to bed!

Welsh Sunrise by Dave Williams, on Flickr

Edited April 20, 2021 by Dave Williams

[xelas]

That is one very hungry Dipper, and a truly amazing Duck, @Dave Williams!

[Galana]

1 hour ago, xelas said:

That is one very hungry Dipper, and a truly amazing Duck,

Same from me.

Sleep well and leave us wondering. a relative of #70 perhaps?

[Kitsafari]

Meeeh. how could you make us wait?

 

Love the dipper! does it have chicks perhaps? and an beautiful grey wagtail. those that pass through our island (in non-breeding plumage) aren't as bright and vivid as yours. 

[Zim Girl]

Great Dipper picture, as is your sheep at sunrise!

[Galana]

Hanging on every word.

[michael-ibk]

Very nice Dipper, running after them for quite a while myself but to no satisfactory results so far.

[TonyQ]

A beautiful Dipper and Mandarin 

[Dave Williams]

It's been another mad day here in gloriously sunny Llandudno!

A check of the trail camera had me really excited when I discovered the Fox has been in the garden every morning for the last three days so the afternoon was spent plotting the next moves with photography pal Mike.

 

If she returns in daylight it's a huge advantage!

Much to Claire's disappointment we have been hosting eight or nine of Llandudno's Kashmir Goats in the garden for the last few days. We don't mind them if they stay in the wild part but unfortunately they like Claire's prize plants and flowers too. it's virtually impossible to stop them accessing our land, it seems they can get anywhere they please. They are extremely photogenic and very handsome but enough is enough.

 

A way must be found to send them back across town to The Great Orme where they belong.

 

Anyway, no time to add other than a couple of photos from yesterdays trip out to the upland moors.

72) Western Osprey. The Osprey site has been commercialised still further with a new photographic hide overlooking the artificial platform. They will no doubt charge silly money. The nest is 150m metres away so no one will get a decent image and the nest is the equivalent of a bird on a feeder shot in my book. I took the cheap option to get an addition for the BY by going to the other side of the lake about half a mile or more away! There are actually two Ospreys in the shot too!

Osprey Llyn Brenig,North Wales by Dave Williams, on Flickr

73) Great Crested Grebe. The benefit of getting up early is the morning sun..."On Golden Pond" ( I wish they were Great Northern Divers aka Common loon  in breeding plumage though!. Mind you GCG is a handsome bird too.It's another small in the frame shot but it was some distance away and I decided not to crop it any further as this was more how it looked through the naked eye. A huge expanse of water with a small bird on it ( actually there were two).

Great Crested Grebe by Dave Williams, on Flickr