Italy day 7

Bit of a cheat with this post as it's general scenery shots from the holiday so far. I'll be spending the day in Verona tomorrow so the next post may be similarly themed. All of these were taken on my mobile phone so please forgive the distortion and vignetting.

Italy day 6

I walked up a mountain again today and saw more of the Hummingbird Hawk-Moth. A stunning Bee Hawk-Moth was an exciting surprise though! I suppose I'd better post a couple of bird pics too (albeit boring species).

Italy day 5

As predicted yesterday, today was pretty much a non-photographing day. I popped outside briefly but only got shots of another Hummingbird Hawk-Moth and a Kestrel. A male Redstart and a Firecrest was also nice to see (will post pics at a later date if I get any which are less awful). Here's some of today's pics along with some from yesterday. The large bird of prey is a Black Kite.

Italy day 4

Another great day, and probably the last with half decent weather for a while. I spent pretty much all day out with the camera and saw more of the same; the only new species of interest was a medium sized (unidentified due to distance) Falcon. Here's the pics of Butterflies and Moths. There's some of birds too but I'll post them tomorrow as it'll probably be an indoors day and I want enough content for a blog post every day! The Hummingbird Hawk-Moths and Swallowtails were stunning; I hope to get some better shots of these before heading back to the UK.

Italy day 3

Another brilliant day from a wildlife sightings perspective! After the disappointment of missing out on pics of a self-found Short Toed Eagle yesterday due to a flat battery, I was pleased to see a Golden Eagle and a Goshawk soaring in the Dolomites area. Pics aren't blog-worthy as I shot them through double glazed windows. I also found 2 stunning Ring Ouzels and a few Redstarts. A single Fieldfare was also nice to see.

Chough

Redstart

Ring Ouzel

Ring Ouzel

Fieldfare

Italy (FANTASTIC) day 2

What a brilliant day. I climbed up a mountain today and saw more than I had anticipated... here's some of the pics:
Also please forgive these posts being short, I'm doing it all from my mobile phone! I'm transferring my pics from my DSLR via a micro USB to USB cable and the whole process is rather laborious! Ahh well, it gives me something to do whilst enjoying my cocktails... :)

Italy Day 1

I'm now in Italy for a while and have already been impressed by the wildlife here (compared to the last time I visited). I've seen a few Black Kites, Swifts, Swallows, Great Crested Grebe and these which were taken close to the hotel I'm staying in:

Curlew Sand, new Tits and a patch lifer

I popped over to Black Hole Marsh this evening to see if the Curlew Sandpiper which Tim Wright found was still there. It was, and also there was a Sanderling which is a patch tick for me. Not particularly rare, but there's never been one of these around while I haven't been at work.

Dunlin, Ringer Plover, Curlew Sandpiper

Ringed Plover, Sanderling (far right)

I had a quick look along the lower section of the River Coly on my way home. I paid particular attention to my sense of hearing and was led to these...:

BRILLIANT!! :)

3 posts in 1 and good Coly news

Been out with the camera most evenings, eagerly awaiting the fledging of many species on the Coly. The Dippers are still frantically feeding the nest, the Kingfishers are both still tending their nest but disconcertingly infrequently and the Grey Wagtails have been successful in their breeding. The single fledgling is shown in the pics below.

Here's another pic of one of the Robins before they left for good:

And here's the pair of Tufted Duck which put in a brief appearance at the Seaton Marshes Lagoon. Patch lifer for me (yes really):

Tim Wright tipped me off about these, and also 2 Hobby from yesterday evening (the pics are far too terrible to post). Thanks Tim!