Black hairy thick-tailed scorpion (Parabuthus villosus)

We think we have just identified this scorpion which we took 6 years ago in Namibia - I found it just about to climb on to my sandal!  It has just been featured on the channel 5 programme Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan and is the deadliest Scorpion in Southern Africa and apparently could kill a child/elderly person.  I remember at the time Wayne telling me not to worry as the bigger a Scorpion is the least dangerous it is!

100+ Waxwings minus one!

Over 100 Waxwings in Burton Upon Stather this morning but there is now one less thanks to a hungry Sparrowhawk!  Yes there is a Waxwing in this first picture, it is under the talons of the Sparrowhawk - all pictures taken from the car in very low light and gale force winds.

Long-tailed Duck at Messingham

Plenty of birds around today including this 1cy Long-tailed Duck - also at Messingham 4 Scaup, 60 Siskins and 10 Redpoll.  Unfortunately no Waxwings at West Halton today but apparently some at Burton!

Waxwings at last!

This autumn has seen an eruption of Waxwings into the country with flocks of up to 1000 strong being seen in the Highlands and around 300 just over the Humber in Hessle, so with that in mind we have been keeping our eyes open - so driving up to Whitton late this afternoon I noticed out of the corner of my eye a smudge of grey in the middle of a Rowan tree ,  we were driving up the main street of West Halton so I quickly got Wayne to stop the car and with a quick bit of reversing we soon found a couple of Waxwings but could hear many more - although these birds are instantly recognisable and charismatic they can certainly hide for example in the first image below there are around 52 Waxwings in the top of the two Poplar trees!  The only camera we had on us was an old Panasonic FZ20 so I quickly took a few shots but within minutes the whole flock was spooked by a Sparrowhawk and we were unable to relocate them and by 3.30 the light was fading and these birds are notoriously early roosters but who knows they could be back tomorrow to finish off the berries.

More autumn shots in the Park..

Another glorious autumn day with little wind but no further sign of the Kingfisher down at the fishing pond but still Siskins flitting around and a small party of Red-legged Partridges.

Two new birds....

Two "firsts" for me today - a new garden tick and a new park tick - first a Kingfisher down at the fishing lake this morning took me by surprise, I know they have been recorded in the park before but infrequently, and secondly whilst in the garden this afternoon 3 Whooper Swans flew over the house heading south bringing our "seen in or over the garden list" to 92.

Autumn colours intensify

Rushed out this morning in the hope of catching up with a Harrier which I watched fly over the garden and head into the park - I was unable to get anything on it  as I was looking in the direction of the sun but it would probably have been a Marsh Harrier - I never did catch up with it!.  Lots of Siskins flying around the park and the Jays are busy building up their winter larders, I also heard a Green Woodpecker and there is a sizeable flock of Long-Tailed Tits and the odd Nuthatch but other than that the park is devoid of birds at the moment.  The tree colour at the moment is dramatic - the Copper Beech have progressed from their reddish hue of last week and have developed a beautiful golden colour.

Feathered Thorn

What a stunning moth - flew into the kitchen tonight - its flight season is Mid-September to early December and it is a woodland moth - what did we do before Macro-photography?