Bats

Despite the rain, I did get some good news. Apparently a colony of Bats live in the loft of the local Garda Station here in the village and I;ve been told that at any day around dusk, I can come with my Lumix to try and photograph them as they come out from under the roof, to feed.

I will go a couple of times, I think, as it is going to be very hard to get a reasonable shot of them. They are so incredibly fast!
At least there is a path around the building which I can not only ride over but also stand on without being scared of being stuck after a few hours.

At home I've had a few openings to get a shot of my birds.
The House Sparrow colony has increased to 18, a very good sight, as last winter I was shouting for joy by every Sparrow I saw coming into the garden and on the estate/road.

Birding On Wheels

Whenever the weather is favourable and the wind won’t blow my head off,, I will usually check the tides, take my camera from its home on the windowsill, {I don’t use accessories like tripods, or lenses.} leave the village westwards and go in search of the resident birds at the bay, and wildflowers along the little back road.
Most of my Birding is done at home though, where fields border us at the other site of the garden wall. We used to have a large colony of House Sparrows, however Trichomoniasis struck our Gang last autumn and the survivors have bred successfully this summer with 3 or 4 in the 1st and 5 chicks in the 2nd brood. It is a great pity that these cannot stay home with the parents, which would be great for rebuilding the colony.
A juvenile Robin too is a regular visitor for the summer, already showing signs of moulting into its adult plumage. Only our Great, Coal and Blue Tit pairs have not shown any sign of chicks yet.