Is this a tree pipit?
Thanks..

The little white mark is indicative of the species, looking like a letter 'Y' from which it gets its name. It's not a resident UK species but a regular summer immigrant.

Nice pics all. Jerry I think your teneral is a female common darter.
Here's a backlit common darter male, snapped late this afternoon.

Great catch Denise, and well spotted Jerry. Glad you got such a nice shot eventually. :) We think we *might* have seen one or two male brown hairstreak at Ravensroost meadow high in the usual ash master tree very briefly but not a chance of photos. Several purple hairstreak were also flying in and o...

Collection = Glanville?

I have no idea where you should stick them (!), Denise, but what a nice story. At least one council worker has learned something to the benefit of the local wildlife.

Ah, thanks Neil. Found it now, a female I presume.

Help required please. What species is this? Whitethroat maybe?
Thanks..

Further, it's a young adult male, not having acquired its full adult colouration. They seem to be instinctively attracted to bramble on which to rest, perhaps because potential prey will often visit blackberries. Migrant hawkers do so too.

Hi Felix, There are still Grayling at Draycott Sleights, but very few of them. I think at Stoke Camp they may be caught between managing for different species of blue - it seems to be suiting Small Blue rather better than Chalkhill now. This may be by design as Small Blue was the rarer of the two s...

A good indicator that butterflies that overwinter as adults do not mate until Spring is to watch their behaviour, particularly the males. In Summer these butterflies take nectar at a much higher rate than in Spring. The impetus in Summer is to maintain sufficient energy reserves to get through the w...

If travelling along the A368 Bath to Weston Super Mare road and you decide to stop at Herriot's Pool on the southern tip of Chew Valley Lake, you may notice an information board by the Avon Wildlife Trust. On that board is a photo of a common darter dragonfly taken about four years ago by yours trul...

A couple of rarities from Chew Valley Lake yesterday, a juvenile (first pic) and adult cattle egret. These were on the island in Heron's Pool and snapped from the roadside. I used a 70-400 zoom plus 1.4x teleconverter.

Migrant hawker yesterday at Stoke Camp reserve, Somerset.

Further, to mate, males have to connect, to put it crassly, from the rear. By lifting her abdomen in this manner, it means he cannot do so. So as already stated she is saying a definite NO. :) Yesterday Jerry (Xmilehigh) and I decided to try our luck with kestrels over Draycott Sleights having been ...

Hi Stuart. Sharpening artifacts detract a little from the painted lady, I think, but I like the peacock composition. It's sharp and well exposed, the subject is off-centre and nicely balanced by the buddleia bloom on the right.

The chalkhill blues took a backseat yesterday at Draycott Sleights as up to three kestrels gave a superb aerial display as they hunted over the slopes. I used a Sony AF Reflex lens on my A700 for this shot.

Guy, I'm not very good expressing myself in situations like this, so I hope it's sufficient to echo what has already been said here.
Sincerest sympathy,
Mike.

Hi Zonda. Welcome to UKB. If you want to embed an image that you've uploaded somewhere you can use the Img tab when creating your message. Alternatively you can just use the 'Upload attachment' option to load your image directly as I have done.
Mike.

This juvenile goldfinch appeared to be having a whale of a time eating thistle seeds. Taken at Backwell Lake on Tuesday 28th July.