Category: David

Rook performing aerial acr9obatics near Worfield. Possibly one of the mob which had just seen off a red kite (yesterday’s post) celebrating the success.

Three pairs (at least) of goldeneye on Mugdock Loch, in the Mugdock Nature Reserve on the edge of greater Glasgow. The birds were keeping well away from the shore as they dived for fish. The reserve is very popular with people walking dogs.

Seen earlier this month. The ducks have probably now flown off to the Highlands, where they breed.

I was taken by the patterns left by the weathering in some of the stones on lower courses of the west front of Durham Cathedral. The stones of the west front are of corse the ones which take the full force of rainstorms.

I’ve no idea if these stones are from the original build of the cathedral, but if so they will have been there the best part of a thousand years. It would also make them some of the furthest-travelled stones in the main structure of an Englsh cathedral: Durham is built of Caen stone, Jurassic limestone from Normandy.

It also gives me an excuse for posting views of the river and cathedral from the two traditional viewpoints. From the Prebends Bridge over the river, showing the two mills below the cathedral; and from the mill on the left bank of the river, across the weir between the two mills.

Red kite flying over open fields near Worfield yesterday. Just as I took these pictures, my camera’s battery needed changing. At the same time, several crows tarted mobbing the kite – could have been carrion crows, rooks or jackdaws, all being around in that area.

Before I was ready to take any more pictures, the kite had retreated, flying off to the east.

A small toad crossing the main footpath through Baggeridge Country Park, heading from the woodland towards Spring Pool.

Several years earlier, I’d seen a pair of toads at almost in the same spot and heading in the same direction. The male had been clasped to the female, mating.

I’ve seen very few coltsfoots (coltsfeet?) this year. This one was growing by the wooden fence beside one of the tracks at Baggeridge Country Park.