Hel Hath No Birdies

Out and about this weekend for the first time in a while. Started out at the in laws on Friday evening, with a juv Goshawk in their garden at dusk as we arrived.  Goshawk - juv in the gloom I started out on Saturday morning at Kivenlahti, hoping to get some gulls. Not much in the way of these but another Goshawk, an adult made an appearance. Goshawk - I've decided to try an grab a few more distant shots of these, as I just find their structure and gizz so distinctive. No luck with gulls, I made my way to Juusjärvi where a Hawk Owl had been hanging out for a few days. An easy one to find, in a location I've seen them in previous winters, sitting on the power lines above a productive looking vole field.  Hawk Owl - The best bird in the universe. Got my winter fix sorted, and just a few minutes from the house.      I then continued on to Ämmäsuo in search of a couple of Shore Lark which had been present. Upon arrival I could see the gulls and forbids up in the air,...

Many years and kilos ago, as a teen working part-time in Dublin, I came across this book in the nature section in Easons. We are all the products of our upbringing and childhood influences, and this book influenced me heavily. Strangely, I never bought it. But the logistics of making it home to Ashbourne from the city center meant I often had an hour to kill after work, which I tended to use browsing the bird books, and I read this one cover to cover. It was really just a glorified bird report, at the end of the day, but the photographs in it were the actual rarities themselves, at times mere record shots. It was easy to get caught up looking at the photos of mega yanks, quite a few photographed in Ireland, but many eastern species were also captivating. And there on the cover, and further covered within, was Nutcracker. There was nothing quite like it to my eyes. This incredible chocolate lover's dream, with a mix of 85% dark, milk and white chocolate, tied up in a bizzare mix of ...