We had a good day today and I took a lot of photos, but I have to dedicate this post to the Marsh Fritillary. We met up with the very friendly John Nicholls. He showed me “Micro-Moths”. I have never heard of them before and if I had seen one on a Buttercup I would have thought it was some kind of bug! He showed us: Glyphipterix Simpliciella (aka Cocksfoot Moth) and Micropterix Calthella. Now, there is no way I could get a picture of these Moths, especially hand held so here’s some links to UK Moths’ website for anyone who is interested. Amazing!
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=391 and http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=723.
John went off hunting for Moths at Ninestones after our chat, only to return a short while afterwards to show us what he had really been looking for; Marsh Fritillaries. Not one, but two and copulating! They were beautiful. What a privilege. We took some pictures and then left the loving pair to it, under a leaf! We met up with Steve and Patricia a short while afterwards and went back to the site. By the time they parted they must have been copulating for about an hour and a half that we knew of, so who knows how long they were actually together. Roger told me this evening that he knew of a record of copulation, which was 9 days (I hope that’s right). The ones we saw looked exhausted today so I cannot imagine what 9 days would do to them! My photos are below, but treat yourself to a viewing of Steve Rogers’ images and information on the rare Marsh Fritillary at: http://www.swopticsphoto.com/
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. I took this one with my camera on Steve's tripod; Steve set up the camera and I just pressed the button!

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A short visit to Treskilling Downs this afternoon produced my first opportunity to take pictures of an Osprey. It was being mobbed by Corvids when I first spotted it and was even more distant by the time I got the camera from my car. At least I got record shots. I THINK it was a ringed bird.

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Bird conservation: Alaotra grebe confirmed extinct

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8702000/8702598.stm

I couldn't resist a few more shots today...
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Squacco Heron today at Snowlands Fisheries, Par. Sorry there's so many images, but it's not every day you get a Squacco Heron up the road from where you live, and I have to THANK Ashley for letting me know it was there. I am going to get that iphone Ash! It's a beautiful bird.
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We had a very lively visitor this evening. I grabbed a few shots with the Nikon Coolpix after cooling it down a little, but I didn't like to keep it for too long!

I think it's a Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata), but would appreciate it if anyone can correct me.
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Arial Mating Swifts

Whilst I was in the garden yesterday, looking up at the Swifts I saw something I've not seen before. There were two Swifts in flight together and in a split second one maneuvered itself above the other and they mated. It was all over very quickly. I was amazed, but suspected it would be common. When I mentioned it to Roger today he said that I was lucky to have seen it, so I thought I would look into it a little more. The link below is interesting, with in flight, arial mating shots:-

http://www.commonswift.org/Aerial-mating.html

An unexpected highlight to brighten my day!
I just had to get out this evening. I am so busy at work and with other "stuff" too; I just needed to get away from it all. I intended to do a bit of a tour of the area; Par, Menabilly, Porthpean and maybe even Pontsmill but at the first stop, which was Par I realised it was hopeless. It was just too cold and my condition is pretty severe at present. I can only describe it as like having a ball and chain. The will is there, but it always holds me back.
Enough grumbling!
I gave up at Par quite quickly and said I needed to go home, but Trevor suggested Menabilly and I could just stay in the car, which I didn't of course! On the road to Menabilly we spotted two blobs in a field. We pulled into a gateway and I jumped out to get some shots. (Unbeknown to Trevor) I had wedged his car door against the hedge and stood on the sill, leaning against the door to get some height, as I was not tall enough to focus on the birds above the grass! Anyway, they are over-exposed and I couldn't hold myself steady, let alone the camera, but at least I got some shots!

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I decided to take time out today to write a post. Much the same as always, I stocked up the feeders early morning and huddling my cup of tea I did the head count. Today is the first day for a long time that we have had 4 Long Tailed Tits feeding. There have only been two for a while now. The number of Swifts is increasing too. I saw my first two over the house early last week and the count now is 12. After I came in Trevor went out and within minutes I heard something that made my heart sink. It was Trevor sounding like something awful had happened… “Oh no… oh no, no, no…” I raced outside and he looked devastated. He had been watching the Wren, who has been spending a lot of time in the garden lately. It wandered along the fence and onto next door’s fence. The cat from next door but one must have been hiding, as, in Trevor’s words “it just appeared from nowhere and snatched the Wren”. I just hope that Wren got away; I have to believe it did.

I then went out to get Molly some sweets and chocolate. She loves fruit jellies. I visited her (in the residential home where she is staying) before heading out to her house to sort a few more things out (you can collect a lot of “stuff” in 88 years, and at this rate Molly will be 100 before we are finished sorting it all out!). We didn’t go for a walk in the garden today; it was far too cold for Molly, and me, truth be told. We sat by a window and talked, but we still managed to see a Green Woodpecker, Great Tits, a Nuthatch, Corvids, Swallows and a Buzzard!

I managed 20 minutes at Porthpean late afternoon. The sea was choppy and it was blowing a hooley! I could hardly keep the scope steady. I heard a Chiffchaff and saw GBB Gull x 3, Gannet x 5, Fulmar x 23, Great Northern Diver x 3, Cormorant x 3, Shag x 1, Sandwich Tern x 5, and just before I was planning to leave I spotted two back dots on the horizon, which appeared to be heading towards me. I watched them getting closer and closer until eventually I realized they were Swifts. As they got closer to land one took a drink from the sea, and then headed in towards Par. It was lovely to see them arrive. A very special moment and much needed after the sadness of the Wren this morning.

One of our garden Wrens…

Apologies for the length of this post, but it has been a while! I have not had much time to myself lately. My work and my friend, Molly have been taking up most of my time, which is good in a way, as I am unable to walk too far. Never take your mobility for granted! I have been concentrating on bird watching, rather than taking pictures, so I have very little to show in the way of images for the last few weeks...
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The Moon this morning (taken from my back doorstep)
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The evening Moon from my back doorstep
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A gathering at Manoa (St Austell Sewage Works)

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Collecting nesting material at Ninestones

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Bullfinch (M) in the garden

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Robins in the garden

In the garden again

Ninestones

Par

Garden

Garden

Par

Wild Flowers

My best friend... Up to no good!

Amusement for my best friend!

Taken at Siblyback

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10089022.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8653411.stm