Starling - May 2019

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning for my photo shoot this week, which, for a change, will concentrate solely on my bird and bug buddies.

There were squadrons of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) zooming all over the place. Some had young chicks, and were out collecting food, others were trying to protect their fledglings from hungry Corvids, of which there were many patrolling the airspace above.

Rook - May 2019

The Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) were in raucous mood, cackling overhead as they anticipated an easy meal.

Jackdaw - May 2019

These were joined by the Jackdaws (Corvus monedula), who were much more adventurous, coming into land occasionally before being mobbed by groups of Starlings.

Magpie - May 2019

The garden was full of alarm calls from various birds, and this seemed to attract even more interest, especially from the Magpies (Pica pica), who were no strangers to feeding in the garden. This one had quite a few damaged feathers, probably from encountering one of the angry mobs!

Carrion Crow - May 2019

Surprisingly, the Carrion Crows (Corvus corone) glided by overhead, not making much noise at all, and made no attempt to swoop down for a tempting morsel.

Grey Heron - May 2019

The Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) wasn't interested in the noise below either, and soared away on the rising thermals, looking for a more fish based diet no doubt.

Blue Tit - May 2019

Meanwhile, the smaller birds were all staying alert, and keeping good vantage points. The Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) kept lookout high up in the trees...

Goldfinch - May 2019

...as did the Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)...

House Sparrow - May 2019

...and the House Sparrows (Passer domesticus).

Feral Pigeon - May 2019

I think that the only birds that didn't feel threatened by the Corvids were the Feral Pigeons (Columba livia), as they went about their usual daily business undisturbed.

Honey Bee - May 2019

Switching my attention from the Birds to the Bees, there was a small army of these Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) collecting pollen from the Cotoneaster bush blossom.

Rose Chafer - May 2019

I was quite surprised to see this Rose Chafer Beetle (Cetonia aurata) so early in the year, especially as there were no Roses open for it to collect pollen from. However, it seemed quite content with the pollen from the Spirae bush.

Hoverfly - May 2019

Conversely, this was the first Hoverfly (Syrphidae) I'd seen this year, which seemed a little late to me. It was certainly enjoying the Dandelion (Taraxacum) pollen though.

Flesh Fly - May 2019

The warm sunshine had attracted quite a few Flesh Flies (Sarcophaga carnaria), with this one enjoying warming itself on the leaf of an Acer palmatum tree.

So this week I went with Starling as my Image of the Week simply because I thought it was a half decent attempt at capturing a bird in flight...