Harvest time … … with a fine spell of weather the grain has been harvested and the fields around the Loch are ‘tapestried’ with straw bales.
All the colours ….. … of a striking Rainbow above the village of Potterton a few miles to the north east of the Loch.
And then there were none! … sadly there is now a gap where …. … these two should be. They disappeared ten days ago and have not been seen since. So all six of this years cygnets are missing presumably taken by predators.
Two Peacocks ….. … the remarkable tail feathers of the bird … … and its equally colourful butterfly namesake basking in the sun along the boathouse track!
An alternative use of the Cormorant deterrent … … this young Heron decides it is a good observation post!
Off to Africa … … a young Osprey circles the Loch heading south on its long migration to Spain or North Africa for the winter. (The image is a clip from a dashcam video hence the watercolour effect!)
The ‘cruelty’ of nature – and then there were two! … …. sadly one Cygnet was missing last Friday and three more missing Monday. With no bodies found death by Avian flu, which is prevalent in the area, seems unlikely and with the Cygnets coming on land it is more probable that a predator has killed them! The remaining two with the adults have returned to the far side of the Loch… … and today (Thursday) they are out in the middle!
The Butterflies larder … The Buddleia (Butterfly) bushes provide ….. …. a meal table for the butterflies and attracts the Small Tortoiseshells and the Red Admirals and ….. ….. the bees join in.