DAN FORDER WILDLIFE

As I walked along beside Large Lake on my late lunch a sizeable GRASS SNAKE crossed the path infront of me heading for the water. I didn't expect to see one out in the open in mid-October, especially as there had been a sudden drop in temperature recently. I took this short video clip to share this beauty...   Watermead is the best place I know of for seeing Grass Snakes, with its two lakes bordered by the River Thame, mini marsh, & small floodplain meadows & wet woodland, despite it essentially being a housing estate. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for the latest videos...

Whist 'Vis-migging' (observing the visible migration of) autumn migrant birds on my lunch break at Watermead, I spotted a CLOUDED YELLOW Butterfly quite high over the water at Large Lake - it was battling the strong winds of an incoming storm & I was impressed with the control & determination of such a delicate & lightweight creature in such adverse conditions. Nature will always continue to amaze us. CLOUDED YELLOW Butterfly battling strong winds of an incoming storm whilst migrating - seen over Watermead Lake whilst 'Vis-migging' for passerines, 06/10/2020. Despite being such a small subject at a fair distance, & in windy conditions, I was able to get a few shots as it passed through, though not leaving many pixels when cropped. I liked the punch of sun-bathed yellow against the darkening background of threatening sky, so I put together a composite image this small part of its journey. The Clouded Yellow is a migratory species, originating from north A

On an excellent guided day tour in Andalucia, with Bob Bucker of Wingspan Bird Tours, I noticed a darker, more stocky than usual Griffon Vulture drifting over the cafetería near Casares, where we'd stopped for a coffee. I was dazzled by the sun as we left the shade of the veranda so I took some record shots for scrutiny - on inspecting the photos out of the bright sunshine, my suspicions were confirmed - it was a RÜPPELL'S (GRIFFON) VULTURE . Rüppell's Vulture near Casares, Andalucia, Spain. I later found out that just one  Rüppell's Vulture had recorded in Spain that spring, & this was likely the same individual. Here are the notable identifying features... dark & not at all rusty below no rustiness in underwing coverts no contrast between flight feathers & coverts well defined & distinctively shaped double light bars on underwing coverts thin double pale lines on coverts bulge to secondary edge starts right up to primaries orange/red translucency