Most of these were taken on Saturday, but were put to one side in favour of the garden time lapse sequence and sunset. I’d been down to the local recycling centre (with most of the wood from the pergola I took down a few weeks ago. The short trip takes me past Sheepcote Valley, which is one of my favourite spots for kestrel watching. I was in luck… almost.
That was about the only usable shot I managed. As I was moving across the valley for a decent angle, two corvids (a crow and a magpie) decided they wanted to share that particular tree. Why they chose that one and not any of the many around it I don’t know, but the kestrel objected to their company and flew off over to the far side of the ridge.
I contented myself with looking to see what else was a round, and was rewarded with this pretty little pied wagtail reflected in a pool of water. The pool is temporary. It was actually nothing more than a large puddle on a gravel path, but the wagtail seemed to like it.
Today was misty, so not many opportunities to go out. The only sighting of note was a buzzard over the garden being mobbed by the local herring gulls. Generally just one or two gulls will pick on the raptor, but with breeding season around the corner the gulls are taking this all a little bit more seriously. These shots are all cropped beyond anything sensible.
Finally to round things off, one more picture of Saturday’s glorious sunset.
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.





















