Sunday 23 July 2017
Green woodpecker, Christophstal July 2017

Green woodpecker, Christophstal July 2017

Green woodpecker, Christophstal July 2017

Green woodpecker, Christophstal July 2017

Green woodpecker, Christophstal July 2017

Green woodpecker, Christophstal July 2017

Common whitethroat, Christophstal July 2017

Common whitethroat, Christophstal July 2017

Hawfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Hawfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Red-backed shrike pair, Christophstal July 2017

Red-backed shrike pair, Christophstal July 2017

We thought we'd seen a green woodpecker a couple of times in the last week and we certainly had heard one. Today I finally managed to get some photos of it. It is a juvenile and becomes the 82nd bird species that we have seen from the house.

It was a good day for birds. Highlights were a common whitethroat and several hawfinches.

Lots of birds seem to be enjoying the bird cherries. We've seen blackbirds, blackcaps and hawfinches gorging themselves. The hawfinches seem to like crunching the hard seed after sucking the fruity bit off.

Surprisingly, we saw a pair of red-backed shrikes hunting together today. They've obviously decided to stick together despite an unsuccessful breeding season.

I've got some photos of some interesting looking birds of prey too. I'm going to examine those a bit more closely before I put them up.

Wednesday 19 July 2017

Our thistle garden continues its success. We'd decided to set an area aside for thistles mainly to attract goldfinches. Today we were delighted to have two goldfinches enjoying the first thistle seeds.

Goldfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Goldfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Goldfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Goldfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Goldfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Goldfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Tuesday 18 July 2017
Heron yoga, Christophstal July 2017

Heron yoga, Christophstal July 2017

Heron yoga, Christophstal July 2017

Heron yoga, Christophstal July 2017

Heron yoga, Christophstal July 2017

Heron yoga, Christophstal July 2017

Clouds, Christophstal July 2017

Clouds, Christophstal July 2017

A heron was doing a yoga session down by the pond today. Here are some photos of the moves. I recognize Downward Dog, but the other positions are new to me.

In the evening, we had some impressive clouds which preceded yet more thunderstorms.

Sunday 16 July 2017

It was a really hot, humid day. The garden is a-buzz with insects.

Here are some pictures of some of the insects that are enjoying the thyme and thistles.

We've got a little pot of winged broom that we saved from the grazing cows a couple of years ago and has been growing slowly in a pot ever since. This year it flowered for the first time and we've got some seed pods as well - which we've never seen before.

I think the large green insect in the photo is an upland green bush cricket.

There was a tiny common lizard sitting under the thistles.

Finally, in late afternoon, several ants nests around the garden erupted with flying ants. They all seemed to be coordinated as they were within minutes of each other. The red-backed shrikes and other birds were really enjoying plucking the flying ants from the air.

Unidentified fly on thyme, Christophstal July 2017

Unidentified fly on thyme, Christophstal July 2017

Coelioxys elongata, Christophstal July 2017

Coelioxys elongata, Christophstal July 2017

<em>Volucella pellucens</em> on thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Volucella pellucens on thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Red admiral, Christophstal July 2017

Red admiral, Christophstal July 2017

Winged broom, Christophstal July 2017

Winged broom, Christophstal July 2017

Winged broom, Christophstal July 2017

Winged broom, Christophstal July 2017

Upland green bush cricket, Christophstal July 2017

Upland green bush cricket, Christophstal July 2017

Common lizard, Christophstal July 2017

Common lizard, Christophstal July 2017

Flying ants, Christophstal July 2017

Flying ants, Christophstal July 2017

Sunday 9 July 2017
Juvenile great tit, Christophstal July 2017

Juvenile great tit, Christophstal July 2017

Red-berried Elder, Christophstal July 2017

Red-berried Elder, Christophstal July 2017

Honey bees on cabbage thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Honey bees on cabbage thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Red-backed shrike with cricket, Christophstal July 2017

Red-backed shrike with cricket, Christophstal July 2017

There are lots of fledglings around at the moment, including this great tit.

The red-berried elder berries are nearly ready, so we're expecting to see the blackcaps visiting as they seem to enjoy these berries so much.

The thistles in our thistle garden are buzzing with bees.

The male red-backed shrike was catching some nice, juicy crickets today.

Saturday 8 July 2017

Early on we had a visit from a juvenile greenfinch.

Later, it turned really stormy. Blue tits are particularly good at illustrating how wet the weather is.

Juvenile greenfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Juvenile greenfinch, Christophstal July 2017

Wet blue tit, Christophstal July 2017

Wet blue tit, Christophstal July 2017

Tuesday 4 July 2017
Marbled White, Christophstal July 2017

Marbled White, Christophstal July 2017

It's a bumper year for marbled white butterflies this year and they're really enjoying our thistle garden.

Saturday 1 July 2017

The thistles in our thistle garden are flowering so I took some photos today. We've also got a wild carrot growing - which we haven't seen nearby before.

In the early afternoon, I spotted a new bird species for our garden list, the 81st, a black kite. I was expecting to see this bird long before now as it is relatively common around here, but it's taken nearly 5 years. Unfortunately, he was a bit distant by the time I managed to get my camera.

Spear thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Spear thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Cabbage thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Cabbage thistle, Christophstal July 2017

Wild carrot, Christophstal July 2017

Wild carrot, Christophstal July 2017

Black kite, Christophstal July 2017

Black kite, Christophstal July 2017