{"id":2001,"date":"2011-07-27T23:07:36","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T22:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/2001"},"modified":"2013-11-09T01:04:33","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T01:04:33","slug":"sparrowhawk-bees-and-a-very-peculiar-egg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/sparrowhawk-bees-and-a-very-peculiar-egg\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparrowhawk, Bees and a very peculiar egg"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

It was back to the pond today. It was quiet to begin, but the swallows were circling overhead, and a few ducks were playing at the water's edge. A heron lurked under the trees which overhang the pond. And then it appeared. I've seen a sparrowhawk circling above the pond several times recently, but today it came in low, sweeping across the water and causing a wild scattering of the local water fowl.
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It settled briefly in one of the trees.
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But not for long…
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I saw it come down to the water's edge, but didn't see whether its hunt was successful. With so many fledglings around at the moment I very much suspect it (eventually) was.<\/p>\n

There were other surprises as well today. At lunchtime I followed the flashing flight of a green woodpecker and ended up behind the village church. The woodpecker was perched on the old barn.
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I was more concerned about the bees. And then I saw why; or rather 'where'. A colony has taken over a large gap in the church stonework. There was a constant stream on incoming and outgoing workers. I kept a safe distance. I don't fancy becoming the host for a swarm<\/a>!
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The final shot for today has me puzzled. It clearly wasn't laid in this position. It appears unbroken. I doubt very much that it's viable. But perched upright in the crook of a tree, an egg. Peculiar. And given the location in a churchyard, a curate's egg?
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\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[993,990],"tags":[234,761,1154,115],"class_list":["post-2001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bee-insects-2","category-bird-of-prey","tag-bees","tag-egg","tag-sparrowhawk","tag-woodpecker","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t