common_nature | Recent Entries

Here are a few photos of the barn swallows around our lake. I went to take out the trash and recycling, and they were everywhere, swooping around for insects. I think they were probably making up for lost time after the rain, or maybe insects are easier to grab in humid air?

They'll swoop under the stairs to grab bugs by our front doors, and will swoop in and out of our balcony area for the same. We are cheering them on in eating up all those gnats, aphids and mosquitoes! They're fast though, hard to catch on film.

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yourlibrarian

Our sunflower maze is back, this year with an anniversary theme. Up top, part of the field. Below, the design of an American flag with "250" and at the bottom, followed by some of the wildflowers they share the field with.

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cmcmck

We visited the wonderfully pretty village of Beddgelert in north Wales a short while back.

Beddgelert means 'the grave of Gelert' in Welsh. Gelert was a hound belonging to Prince Llywelyn the Great of Wales and is the stuff of legends.

We got there via the Welsh Highland Railway, a steam narrow gauge line from Caernarfon where we were spending a holiday.

You arrive to mountains in the background. Beddgelert has been voted one of the most beuatiful places on the planet in an online poll recently.

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Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ereabouts

yourlibrarian

We've seen some around the area from time to time but this is the first time we've gotten any clear photos of one.

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yourlibrarian

My partner went for a walk which was delayed by this goose procession. From the looks of the sidewalk they had been hanging out in this area for a while.

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ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to the Buck Moon Walk at Whiteside Garden. The event calendar still says Strawberry Moon because things got a bit mixed around, but that was last month and this is the Buck Moon when the male deer are in velvet.

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Current Mood: happy

yourlibrarian

Some birds from my sister in law's deck and feeder.

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puddleshark

Summer meadows at Acton, near the Purbeck coast. A tiny village of old quarry workers cottages, set in a landscape of stone quarries and thin-soiled rectangular fields bounded by dry stone walls. I like setting off from Acton early. Before the inhabitants of the cottages are out and about, the village seems to belong entirely to the sparrows chirping from under the eaves, and to the swallows chattering as they swoop round the chimney pots.

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yourlibrarian

Another sunset which caught our attention, not just because of the developing color, but because of the speed at which the small clouds were moving. The 2 strands of clouds over to the right hardly seemed to move at all. But we could see the small puffs speeding by.

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yourlibrarian

We spotted a second set of ducklings on the lake! This was somewhat distressing at first because the babies were following mama to the retaining wall, which she flew up onto and they were stuck below.

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i_like_the_stars

Big ol' spider I stumbled upon when on a walk about a day or two ago. I think she has babies on her back!!!!!

Under a details tag for arachnophobic friends

cmcmck

Sunnycroft is our local National Trust property and is literally four hundred yards from where we live- you can see the roof of the building from our attic room windows.

It's a large upper middle class town house, a bit different from the nobby country houses that the NT often look after.

We visited on Sunday. We walked down the main avenue to the house- these trees are Wellingtonia, very apt for a town named Wellington. They are a species of redwood and therefore large!

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Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

yourlibrarian

One night the clouds were doing interesting things in the sky, almost like they were meeting at a point and preparing to swirl.

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littlewolfteeth

I took my dog out for a run today by the river and came across some really pretty flowers...

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pauraque

While walking in the woods on the last day of spring, I came across an Ovenbird fledgling!

grumpy looking baby bird with scruffy feathers sits in a pile of leaves

grumpy looking baby bird with scruffy feathers sits in a pile of leaves

Ovenbirds are named for their dome-shaped nests built on the ground in forest leaf litter, resembling old school bread ovens, so you could say this little guy is a bun fresh out of the oven. 🥁 It'll be able to fly in a few days, but the parents will keep feeding it for about a month. They mostly eat bugs.

Sometimes people see fledglings and are worried they've fallen out of a nest and need help. But generally if a young bird is fully feathered like this one, it's fine and should be left where it is. When they first leave the nest, fledglings often don't react to threats and will let people get very close, but that's a normal development stage. The parents will be nearby keeping an eye on them until they figure out How To Be Bird. This one's parents were a few feet away losing their minds when I (briefly) approached to take a picture.

There are photos of adult Ovenbirds on eBird if you want to see what this kiddo will look like soon!

yourlibrarian

Those ducklings I posted about in earlier weeks are growing fast! What's more, to our complete amazement, this is the first brood we've seen on our lake where not one duckling has been lost during that time. All twelve are still here!

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yourlibrarian

One of our local muskrats, spotted in what looks like a lot of grass blown into the lake. But the real view was what we saw a few weeks ago farther down...

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citrakayah

To start with, here's some photos of the local landscape:

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pauraque

We have a pair of Northern Cardinals nesting in our yard, and today I saw dad with a fledgling!

crested red songbird and small tan fledgling sit on the ground eating seeds

crested red songbird and small tan fledgling sit on the ground eating seeds

The fledgling was begging for food by fluttering its wings, a common signal in many baby birds. Dad was attentively finding seeds and stuffing them in Junior's mouth. The baby already has a little bit of a crest and some red on the wings, but it's too early to tell the sex. Mom wasn't with them but I saw her on the feeder later in the day.

( Mom cardinal )

yourlibrarian

Another recent sunset, loved the blurry painted nature of the clouds.

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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Recent Entries

Birds in Flight 1

Sunflowers Post 1

Beddgelert

Groundhog, Sunsets and Flowers

Goose Parade, Duckling Flotilla and Clouds

Today's Adventures

BIRDS!

A walk by the Purbeck coast

Fast Moving Clouds and Lake Rise

2026 2nd Set of Ducklings

Spider

Sunnycroft

Pink Light and Clouds

(no subject)

Ovenbird fledgling

First Ducklings Grow

Muskrat and Carp

Recent Hiking Trip Photos

Northern Cardinal parents and baby

Jupiter and Paintbrush Sky

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August 2026

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