St David's October 2015: Birds and Animals

Not a great time of year for flowers, with just a few desultory blooms here and there. And not really that good for birds as most of the cliff nesters were long gone. Quite a few seals (of the Atlantic variety) to be seen and they are always interesting to watch.

Oi! Who are you looking at? Get orf outta here or you'll have a taste of my flipper.

If we were on the cliffs in Cornwall, we'd be chuffed to see this chough (ooh, I do love a homophone) but, just over a hundred miles away as the corvid flies, they are quite common.

A lone shag on a rock just off Ramsey Island. It's got a lovely Latin name - Phalacrocorax aristotelis. The Phalacrocorax part means 'bald raven' which is wrong on both counts, it's neither bald nor a raven. And why the reference to a Greek philosopher in 'aristotelis'? Is it because of Aristotle's fondness of wildlife? Or is it because a group of shags look like a bunch of philosophers have a natter about ethics?

A captive hawk - nameless but beautiful.

Another captive hawk - also nameless but just as beautiful.

A little Owl. Or, more accurately, a Little Owl.

A Grey Heron waiting for a fish to spear.

A Little Egret, also searching for fish. Just look at the size of its claws, just perfect for stalking on mud flats.

A Great Tit, not a species we see that often on our feeders in our Cornish garden but seen aplenty on the feeders outside our B&B in Llanwyrda.

An acrobatic Blue Tit having a peck at some peanuts.

Let's face it, vultures are not handsome birds. And he looks as if he knows it.