Older and Bolder

Remember the fluffy long eared owl chicks? Well, they are not so fluffy now. They are bigger and bolder, still mewing plaintively for food at dusk but now flying out onto posts near their woodland roost. When one flew out, the other followed. What a treat to see them out in the open, as they were nearly impossible to see within the wood.

I was sent a mobile phone photo of the young leveret I’d photographed a month or so ago. Of course it had grown a lot. I think this photo below shows a leveret out exploring the countryside where I live. There were two of them going back and forth across the lane.

I was away on Uist when the woodpecker chicks in my local wood fledged. One was seen eating peanuts in a friend’s feeder. I caught sight of this one out exploring. You can see it’s a juvenile as they have a red patch on the top of their heads.

There are lots of fledglings out exploring just now, but still calling to their parents to be fed. Here is a fledgling blackcap.

I photographed this oystercatcher chick following its parent in a meadow on Uist.

These goosander chicks are not nearly so cute and cuddly now. They look a bit scraggy as they begin to take on more adult plumage.

This year I’ve been slower to observe the buzzard nest, now being used for a third year since I first noticed it. I think I’m seeing three buzzard chicks in the nest, so big that I wondered at first if they might be the parents. But I am fairly sure I have seen the parents nearby while I’ve been observing them on the nest. You have to look carefully to see the third , just a head peeing out on the left hand side.

It won’t be long before at least two are literally branching out, exploring the environment beyond their nest.

I’m keeping my eye out for young deer fawns. We spotted two following their mother the other day, but too far away to be photographed and often just glimpsed by ears poking above the long grass on the moor. It may be quite a challenge photographing them!