terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: River Darent
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Pear tree and Beyond. Thursday, 6 August 2015. This lovely little riverside walk, no more than a quarter of a mile, can be found in Lullingstone country park, you can combine this with the much longer walk around the Lullingstone Loop, all of which makes for a very nice country walk. River Darent, Kent. Grass Snake in River Darent. As we waited for another view of the Snake, a Brown Hawker made its way down the river, a few male Banded Demoiselles flew out from the reeds but quickly disappeared. And that...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: November 2014
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Pear tree and Beyond. Sunday, 30 November 2014. Isle of Sheppey can be quite good for Raptors, especially in the winter months, getting close enough for a photographic opportunity is another matter. There have been reports of a Hen Harrier, including the impressive male which is always nice to see, around the Capel fleet and Shellness areas. Although no reports from here at the moment. Peregrine, Merlin and Kestrel can all be seen. This was the only one that came close enough for a photo attempt. The wal...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: March 2015
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Pear tree and Beyond. Saturday, 28 March 2015. Hairy footed Flower Bee! Hairy-Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes). This intriguing little bee first came to my attention last year when I was studying the Bumblebee's visiting the Flowering Blackcurrant (Ribes sanguineum) in our garden. And here we are once again after another successful breeding season. Male Hairy footed Flower Bee. Once the female has mated nest building can begin, this usually occurs in the soft mortar of an old wall, although they a...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: June 2015
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Pear tree and Beyond. Saturday, 27 June 2015. Tale of two trips! I would like to say that my three daughters have inherited my love of all things wild and natural, they should, they spent a good part of the growing up traipsing around the countryside and enjoying it, or so I thought, but sadly the answer is no. My middle daughters love of nature extends only to her two black cats, my son in law has embarked on a deforestation plan in their garden, their Hedgehog has had to find a new home. The weather wa...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: Dragons in the Garden !!!
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Pear tree and Beyond. Tuesday, 4 August 2015. Dragons in the Garden! I spent the morning walking around Rainham RSPB in the hope that more Dragonflies would be on show, it's usually very good for Dragonflies and Damsels, but once again, not much on show despite some good weather conditions. Perhaps I'm losing my touch, but all I could find was a few Blue Tailed Damselflies, one Common Darter, and one Black Tailed Skimmer. Immature Male Southern Hawker. And just one new Damselfly for this year around the ...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: July 2015
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Pear tree and Beyond. Friday, 31 July 2015. Wildlife in the garden. I thought I would put together some photographs and observations of the wildlife seen in the garden over the last few weeks of summer. I have often listened to those stories, usually told by old gardeners, of the Robin that sits on the garden fork while the flower beds are dug over, like an old friend. Well I have an old friend now, these last few months I have often had that feeling that I was being watched, especially when digging arou...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: May 2015
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Pear tree and Beyond. Thursday, 14 May 2015. I decided on a break from my domestic activities and go for a quick walk around Rainham RSPB, there was some warm sunshine and the winds had dropped, so it was with high hopes that I set off around the trails. Others birds noted around the reserve were Little Egrets, Blackcap, Reed Bunting, Mute Swan, Greylag geese, Pochard, Mallard, Gadwall,and Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Redshank, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen. Marsh frogs very vocal all around the reserve. My daily...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: January 2015
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Pear tree and Beyond. Sunday, 25 January 2015. It had been a bitterly cold night, the lowest recorded temperature for this winter so far at -9 deg Celsius. The weather forecast was looking good for the day though, beautiful clear skies with some winter sunshine, there was a light covering of frost on the vegetation, a good day for some winter bird photography. I did not linger and passed by quickly. Several Dunnock were feeding around the boardwalks. A couple of Brown Rats under the feeders, were being a...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: August 2015
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Pear tree and Beyond. Sunday, 30 August 2015. Garden Butterflies - Summer 2015. This has been the first year in which I have monitored the butterflies visiting the garden, to be honest not a great variety, the Buddleia tree planted last year did its best to attract the butterflies into the garden, but the flowering blooms were disappointing, hopefully this will improve next year as the plant matures. Small Whites have also been seen visiting various shrubs around the garden, here one was actually capture...
terryspeartree.blogspot.com
Pear tree and Beyond: July 2014
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Pear tree and Beyond. Thursday, 10 July 2014. Close Encounters of the 'Beardie' kind! There has been several Bearded Tit reports from Rainham over the last few weeks, possibly up to three broods were being seen on and off , particularly around the Dragonfly pools and the Northern trail. For me they remained elusive, I still had not managed to see a single sighting of this good looking bird here at Rainham. Dragonfly Pools at Rainham RSPB reserve. But always partially obscured by the reeds. Not so many Da...
