Black-and-white

Found by Hannu today - a lovely first-winter male in da Ponte. Cracking bird, terrible photo. Otherwise I appear to have hit a mental and physical brick wall. Saw a flock of White-rumps and a Pec bombing around the village. It's still blowing an absolute gale; the novelty is kind of wearing off now. Plane cancelled today, and not looking good for Friday.

Good Corvo times...

Had a really good day today. After toiling around Cantinho and Fojo in the morning and not seeing a lot (no sound of the wood-warbler heard yesterday), I ambled down to the picnic area and had decent views of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak there. By this point, it was mid-afternoon and I joined a team heading to the Lighthouse Valley, including newly-arrived Julien Mazenauer. The Black-and-white Warbler was on show in its usual spot and allowed for some photographs to be taken:

Then it was back to Fojo, where we received word that the Rose-breasted Grosbeak was returning to a large piece of fallen corn to feed. It took about 45 minutes to show and, in the meantime, a mobile Indigo Bunting was seen and heard zipping around, and a couple of showers ensured we were soaked. That said, it was well worth the wait when the grosbeak finally showed. A completely fearless bird, it came down to the corn at a distance of five metres and afforded us some astounding views:

Barnack Hills & Holes

This is such a cool place for plants and insects and is just a few miles from where I grew up in south Lincolnshire. I remember being taken here as a little kid by my parents and seeing Marbled Whites, burnet moths etc - though it's only in recent years that I've realised what a great site it is for plants too.

I visited on Sunday - it was breezy but bright and warm. Plenty of Green Hairstreaks and one or two Dingy Skippers were the best of the butterflies. The Pasqueflowers were mainly over but some were still looking decent, with much the same applying for the Early Purple Orchids - photos of both (with my wide angle) below.

Early Purple Orchid

Pasqueflowers - a little over but some still looking nice

Sadly I couldn't find Man Orchid in the hour or so that I had spare. Having said that, I really need to buy a macro lens before I start seeing all these things!