Play Time

Haven't done many Golden Retriever focused posts, well haven't done any really as this is a birding blog, but it's time for one I think as she is such a big part of our life now.

We took Honey to see her sister Bella at the weekend - Honey is more golden than her sister but otherwise they are very similar in pretty much every way.  Both 'teenage' Goldies had an absolute ball of a time...

And at the end of the long muddy walk they both had the same idea....

This was the second time they had seen each other since leaving the 'nest' last summer. They first met up late September - when they looked like this...

Amazing to think I used to be scared of dogs as a kid! I once jumped in to a bed of stinging nettles when a barking dog came running at me...

Moony

Two weeks ago, this is how the moon looked...

I am yet to find the right camera settings to show the part of the moon in shadow but keep the side in light sharp

Last night it looked like this...

Had to severely dull this down as it was so so bright!

Absolutely cracking!  If you saw it last night I'm sure you also noticed the bright 'star' just to the left of it...

Well that's Jupiter. Dead easy to spot at the moment.

And although my photo of it is poor, the moonrise yesterday evening was absolutely spectacular.  It looked more like a sun rise as it was so massive, bright and orange...

Not that it looks like much in this picture!

It's Cold!

Nice to be in another spell of cold weather. Not had enough of it this winter in my opinion (am sure many people would disagree with me though!).

Teal on ice

Saturday could have gone a bit better, although we still had a lovely day.  Jess is an Owl lover, and there's one UK Owl that I've yet to show her; Short-eared Owl.  So on Saturday afternoon me made the hour and a half drive to the Wiltshire/Dorset border where up to five Short-eareds have been showing exceptionally well (mostly!). 

It was cold. Very cold....

(as you can see from how Jess is dressed!)

The cold wind was probably the reason that despite spending over two hours here, we saw precisely no Short-eared Owls.  Not a whiff.  Did see a few nice birds though, best being a cracking male Hen Harrier that showed twice during the two hours, with the second view being of it hunting over a field right next to the road for a good five minutes.  Stunning.  Other raptors included a few Buzzard, three Kestrel and two Peregrine.  There were also a few passerines about with a single Corn Bunting being my highlight, along with 15+ Reed Bunting and a few Linnet and Skylark.

Such a pity we didn't see the Owls though, they were there both days either side of Saturday! Bloody typical.  I can see us going back again soon when it's less windy...