Tuesday 24th June 2025, 3.50pm (day 5,052)
“OK, are you ready? I want you to get my best side…. THAT’S the one. Send me a copy….”
Duck pose
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: bird
Jackdaw in the sunshine
Tuesday 13th May 2025, 5.50pm (day 5,010)
The sunshine continues: if you hear any Britons complaining about the weather this spring, you have my permission to scoff. This jackdaw seems to be enjoying it just like the rest of us.
Red kite, green field
Friday 25th April 2025, 2.35pm (day 4,992)
Red kites (Milvus milvus) were nearly extinct in Britain at the end of the last century but in the 2000s, thanks to some serious efforts on behalf of conservationists, have made a remarkable recovery. If you are aware of the place you might not think that Luton would be one of their strongholds, but that is where this picture was taken, just on the edge of that town. There were a number of them gliding around this afternoon seeking prey, and clearly, Luton is not a great place to be a fieldmouse.
Four boobies
Thursday 10th April 2025, 12.50pm (day 4,977)
The boobies in question being, of course, the species of seabird (Sula dactylatra), of which there are hundreds, possibly thousands nesting on the Letterbox peninsula, at the eastern tip of Ascension Island. They fly very gracefully but have these big, ridiculous flappy feet and, on the ground, waddle in an amusingly silly fashion. It’s interesting that male and female masked boobies can be distinguished not by their appearance, but by their sound. Males whistle, and females honk. Both noises came out as they watched me pass by, I took the shot, everyone was happy.
Pigeon and pool (early)
Tuesday 1st April 2025, 7.55am (day 4,968)
Once again, not the most exciting day, photographically or otherwise. But this one can make the cut for the curiosity factor of a pre-8am shot in Manchester: the earliest taken there since December 2022. These used to happen a lot more often; in 2019 alone I count six. But in 2019 I was still trying to be some kind of ‘manager’ at work. Not any more. These days, the Exchange Square pigeons can have their early morning paddles without me. In fact that was the last day I will be on campus until the 22nd.
Canada goose
Monday 24th March 2025, 10.20am (day 4,960)
The bird theme continues: this is the fourth in a week. A well-lit moment presented itself, and I took it. The local Canada geese were very noisy this morning — a symphony of honking, which I attributed to the fact that it’s surely gosling-making season around now.
Scouse seagull
Friday 21st March 2025, 2.55pm (day 4,957)
“Who you calling a Liver Bird? I ain’t no Liver Bird. Call me that again and I will eat your chips.”
Waiting for lunch
Tuesday 18th March 2025, 1.00pm (day 4,954)
There seem to be a lot of sparrows in Gibraltar, and many of them have acquired the habit of hanging around restaurants and cafés: which seems a reasonable evolutionary adaptation to me. On Sunday I went into one place that had an entire flock of them seemingly living inside the building. Here, we are outside, but nevertheless, this chap looks quite content with his lot. All three of us — me, the bird, and the guy behind — were waiting for our lunch.
Bird and stonework
Sunday 9th February 2025, 11:05am (day 4,917)
C said she liked both the bird (‘magnificent’, she put it) and the stonework. I, myself, can see no other reasons to like the shot. So these things will do as a title.
Invasive species: two for the price of one
Tuesday 21st January 2025, 2.30pm (day 4,898)
St Helena has been subjected to many invasive species since humanity first arrived here five centuries ago, some deliberately planted or otherwise introduced, some accidentally so. In the background, New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), which a while back someone decided would be a good cash crop, it being the basis of things like rope and mailbags. The cash for it stopped flowing fifty years ago, but that doesn’t mean it all decided to stop growing. In the foreground, well, you know what bird that is (Gallus gallus domesticus, according to the biologists): much the same thing happened, but as a chicken is for life and not just for Sunday dinner, when there stopped being much economic point in people looking after them, out into the environment they went. There are now large numbers of feral chickens on the island.
Being 42 