Some pictures I took recently

keps

In reference to earlier posts:


After the heron was disturbed from its spot by the swoops it landed here a few yards away( photo number 6251 on my Camera).

DSC_6251


Immediately, I noticed this irate male blackbird making its presence felt

( photo 6252)

DSC_6252


On taking all the events into consideration, I now think it was a female Blackbird and not a pigeon

Nightforce 65X55

And I also got this Heron catching 40 Winks....

keps

small tortoiseshell

ThunderCat

A few photos that I took last week when visiting the Palace of Versaille in France.


Rook
Great Tits
Male Mallard
Heron
Male Blackbird.

ThunderCat

A few more...


Chaffinch
Some sort of Parakeet
Parakeet in flight
Jay (proved pretty elusive)
Canadian Goose (I think)

ThunderCat

And two final photos...


Fish (unsure what exactly)
Feral Pigeon

Nightforce 65X55

ThunderCat wrote: »

And two final photos...


Fish (unsure what exactly)
Feral Pigeon

The fish is a common carp....

keps

Just an update for those curious.

I met another photographer today in Lucan Demesne and he had earlier today witnessed & photographed the swooping on the heron in the same spot as I had yesterday.

We looked at his pics on the camera screen and it was evident the bird swooping had a speckled breast- and we agreed it was either a song or mistle thrush.

keps wrote: »

A strange coincidence!

Earlier in the week we were talking about crows attacking/mobbing a heron.

Well today I saw 2 pigeons having a go at a heron- it took me a sec to realise what was going on.
Two pigeons did 2 'swoops' each before departing the scene.

Just managed to get one pic


pigeon

keps

2day


grey wagtail

TopTec

That one is a cracker Keps. Great shot.

TT

keps

Today also


sandmartin




sandmartin

keps

I thought it was only sandmartins- but checking through the photos I see this bird also... not sure if it's a swallow or swift?



swift ?

TedR

Thats a nice swallow. Swifts are arriving back around now though...

Nightforce 65X55

I have seen quite a few different coloured Rabbits in the wild but have only seen this colour once before , a little bit different from your normal run of the mill Bunny.....

Hotei

Bombus lucorum/terrestris (I didn't see its tail end so am unsure whether this is a White-tailed Bumblebee (B. lucorum) or a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (B. terrestris):




Mining Bee Andrena sp.




Crab spider feeding on a Hoverfly




Dasysyrphus tricinctus (Hoverfly)




Helophilus pendulus (Hoverfly)






Thistle Tortoise Beetle Cassida rubiginosa

savagethegoat

I only got a glimpse of this one before it vanished....looks like a young one


It was fairly close to some Moorhen chicks



edited with Moderators agreement

Hotei

The first image looks like an adult Little Grebe.

savagethegoat

I do believe you are right. That's the beauty of this forum and the people who share their knowledge so freely. Thank you, I'd never have spotted that

keps

grey heron

Keplar240B

Green tiger beetle burrow

Green tiger beetles breed in the summer and their eggs are laid separately in small burrows in the ground. When the egg hatches the larvae remain in the burrow feeding and growing.

The larvae also have strong mandibles that they use when hunting. The small burrow in which the larvae lives acts like a pitfall trap and they actively wait for passing prey to fall into their burrow which they then grab with their mandibles. The larvae feed on spiders, ants and anything else they can drag down their burrow. The larvae have a spine on their back that anchors it to the side of the burrow. Green tiger beetle larvae go through three larval instars and before each molt they need to enlarge their burrow.
- See more at: https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-habitats/green-tiger-beetle#sthash.MoEP1DEf.dpuf

See these all over an old dry sandy quarry and the tiger beetles out hunting.

savagethegoat

Popped in as I past and took a few pictures.


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153384862202161.1073742025.630552160&type=1&l=91299f62a1


I've no idea what breed the black Duck or the Black Swan are, or some of the Geese. Quite a variety for a location so close to the City. I suspect sme of them escaped form Fota at some stage
Apologies to non fb users, haven't time to repost them all here

splish

Comma, Orange-tip, Speckled Wood & Peacock on the wing at local wood today.

Comma Polygonia c-album by Ciarán Byrne, on Flickr

savagethegoat

savagethegoat wrote: »

Popped in as I past and took a few pictures.


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153384862202161.1073742025.630552160&type=1&l=91299f62a1


I've no idea what breed the black Duck or the Black Swan are, or some of the Geese. Quite a variety for a location so close to the City. I suspect sme of them escaped form Fota at some stage
Apologies to non fb users, haven't time to repost them all here

the wrong album...(right place though) thse are today

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153408581772161.1073742030.630552160&type=1&l=430a194bcf

OpenYourEyes

savagethegoat wrote: »

Popped in as I past and took a few pictures.


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153384862202161.1073742025.630552160&type=1&l=91299f62a1


I've no idea what breed the black Duck or the Black Swan are, or some of the Geese. Quite a variety for a location so close to the City. I suspect sme of them escaped form Fota at some stage
Apologies to non fb users, haven't time to repost them all here

The black duck is a domesticated mallard (they come in all sorts of colour and even size variations), the black swan is literally a Black Swan which is native to Australia but common in wildfowl collections, the geese there are mostly different forms of domesticated Greylag Geese and there's one there standing on the edge of the water that looks like it has some Swan Goose in it - possibly mixed a bit with the feral Greylags! They're all birds typically seen in private collections that then either escape or are released elsewhere. If Fota is nearby then that could quite well be where they're from!

keps

heron

savagethegoat

excuse my ignorance...Cormorant or Shag? I'm thinking the former..... Ballincollig Regional Park yesterday

sumtings

Red tailed bumblebee

sumtings

savagethegoat wrote: »

excuse my ignorance...Cormorant or Shag? I'm thinking the former..... Ballincollig Regional Park yesterday

Cormorant, I think the white on the head is an identifier. And by the looks of it, the eye sits in bare skin rather than feather, and it's quite inland at Ballincollig. I learnt something today, so good day already!

http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-cormorant-and-shag

Flying Abruptly

Some recent closer shots of Hoopoe


Hoopoe


Hoopoe

savagethegoat

I had a brief visit from a pair of Bullfinches today...missed the female but managed to grab the camera in time to get