Wildlife and Lockdown

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The first Swallow - 7 April.

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Dunnock - misnamed Hedge Sparrow though no relation to sparrows and a gorgeous blue-brown in Spring.

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Jackdaw - the first to arrive when we put food out.

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Dipper - common all along the Upper Towy Valley.

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Hedgehog in the garden - using a remote trigger with a DSLR camera and two flash heads.

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Magpie taking meat scraps. They always seem to look angry!

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A common sight during lockdown

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Comma butterfly

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Collared Doves quite literally billing and cooing

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Chiffchaff - a few are resident but most arrive mid March, the first summer visitor.

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Wood warbler - rare summer visitor and top attraction at the Dinas reserve.

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Blackcap male - Females have brown caps. Very powerful song likened to the Nightingale. Common this year.

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Large Red Damselfly

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Orange Tip male (left) and female.

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Goldfinch and one of its favourite foods - dandelion seed.

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Bullfinch male - possibly eating a butterfly

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Greater Spotted Woodpecker picking up a peanut. I have seen them securing the nut in a crevice to peck pieces out of it.

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Canada goose in territorial dispute

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Garden Warbler. Powerful and varied song similar to Blackcap.

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Cuckoo - perhaps a few more this year than last? Still much reduced in numbers.

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Our first fledgling - a Pied Wagtail

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Little Grebe with chick

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Mallard family

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Garden Bumblebee (Bombus Hortorum) on Granny's Bonnets (aquilegia)

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Song Thrush living the name.

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Canada Goose family

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Broad Bodied Chaser, male

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Female Goosander with ducklings

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Goosanderlings!

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Blue Tit fledging. A few seconds later it was lost in the undergrowth.

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Common Blue Damselfly - very common this year.

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Large Red Damselflies. First mating position. If the female (below) is receptive she will curl her abdomen up to receive sperm.

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Even a House Sparrow can be beautiful - sometimes.

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Grey Wagtail on the Towy.

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Buzzard.

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Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on thyme.

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Bank Vole swimming on the Towy - much smaller than a Water Vole

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Bank Vole - easier to identify on land

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Grey Squirrel by the river

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Pied Wagtail on the Towy. Both Pied and Yellow Wagtails nest by the river but Pied also common in gardens.

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Unfortunately I had a wide angle lens on the camera, but this old hare was quite close

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This is the same image cropped. He (or she) has lost an ear and seems to have poor eyesight.