A couple of pics

[retropwr]

from this weekend

[seanmckinney]

good going retro,

[Anyanka]

nice, especially the frog pic!

[kaz]

Good pictures Richard... I also like the Frog one. Although I love birds, I'm not very knowledgeable... the blue tit doesn't have a faint line on it's breast, I wonder if it's because it is a youngster.

Your lily pads are looking healthy

[retropwr]

Thank you, I have a bit of catching up to do in the photo quality stakes

The blue tits are youngsters, I think they were orphaned.
There were 4 of them flying around seemingly not knowing what to do and they kept going down to the stream area, not landing just hovering over the water. The bamboo they are on in the pic is next to it as well.
After they went up into the trees I noticed an object in the stream, and thinking it was a frog went for a look only to find two dead blue tits

They were much larger than the 4 flying around and looked like a cat may have been involved

[alison]

The pics are lovely. Again like the others I love the frog pic.
What a shame about the parent bluetits. Our cat doesn't bother too much with any of the wildlife in our garden though he has on occasion played with a fieldmouse. (mostly been able to rescue them from him as he just likes playing and doesn't mean to do any harm )
I think that the bluetits should be okay to fend for themselves now as they look old enough. I couldn't see the gape that they have when they are very young so must be feeding by themselves. I hope that instinct sets in for them so that they just know without being taught by their parents

[retropwr]

Thank you, it's very rare to actually see a frog in my pond so to see one sticking it head out of the frogbit... now if he would oblige by climbing onto a lily pad.........

They have found the bird feeders we have so should be OK.

We don't have a cat of our own but we have two that visit. One is young and a real pest launching itself from the fence at the feeders.

The other lives next door and is quite old (14 years I think they said) and just sits and watches whats going on. I did see her stalking a starling once, went through all the motions, crouched down creeping towards it then then bum wiggling just before the pounce, then it was like it thought 'I can't be bothered' and got up and walked over to it.

Both cats have been in the pond, the young one lept at what I think was a damselfly on the bullrushes, luckily it got out without getting tangled in the net. The older one found a gap I left and was sitting under the net mesmerised by the fish until she heard us in the garden and tried to run in the wrong direction If only I'd had the video camera out there.

[seanmckinney]

excellent frog shot, I have only once seen a un spooked by me frog on a pad and that was actually on a floating heart pad not a lily pad