THE NATURE
REPORT
July 2003
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I must Apologise for a somewhat short nature report this month but Phil has asked me to do the honors and I have a plane to catch in a few hours. I will try to put the most interesting points in so please bear with me.
This picture shows that nest located in the base of a tree on the cattle drive, impressive isn't it? O.K maybe not that impressive but if you were to disturb the owners of it I'm willing to bet you might set an impressive personal best sprinting record. To see why roll you mouse over the image. The owners are wasps, and they have foul tempers when provoked (they're pretty mean when not provoked as well).
A far friendlier creature than the wasps this young man is a fledgling robin. How do I know it's a "he"? I you look closely you can see the red breast feathers developing which give the adult male its distinctive appearance.
A summer visitor to the UK they feed on insects which they catch while flying low over the fields and around the farm buildings. Their aerobatic flying skill is very interesting to watch, though not if you're a fly.
I had just taken the photo when I heard a splash in the water and looked up just in time to see a blur of orange and turquoise as a Kingfisher disappeared from sight. While I was in the process of uttering some ancient language as a form of self chastisement, I realised that I could still hear a splashing, and took a closer look at the riverbank opposite.
By now I was lying down so as not to be easily seen when I heard a rustle in a bush close to my left side. Turning slowly to look there was this huge monster mink (well from my perspective that's what it look like) less than 4 feet away was mummy mink (a presumption by me) looking more like the female raptor in Jurasic Park. The next moment she had left the cover of the bush, walked right over my back and disappeared in the undergrowth to my right. this prompted a further episode utterence of some ancient languge, as I had not been able to bring my camera around to photograph her "*+&"$~#"
A nice tasty fish. Well that's sadly is all I have time for this month, I have to go and ready myself for the flight. Who knows I might get to see the farm from the air as it lies in the appoach and departure lanes for Manchester airport.
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A
little farther down the cattle drive I came across this young chap.
Above
on some power lines this adult swallow keeps a watchful eye on us.
Being
a little short of photo opportunities (not true but that's my excuse)
I was photographing this Cabbage White butterfly while Iwas down along
the banks of the 
To
my surprise I saw that it was a family of young mink. They were so engrossed
in there play that they had not noticed my presence (or didn't care).
How
ever they were not the only ones to be caught unaware.
A
little further along the river a glance into the water showed why it
is popular with the mink.