Amelia's photos with the keyword: Animals

I think this is a late clutch of ducklings as most other ducklings that we have seen this year are now almost fully grown. She had 4 ducklings and I managed to get all four of them in shot in the PiP, but they are so quick moving, and the second photo was taken against the sun, so I had to lighten it, consequently the colour is no longer true. The second PiP shows that white ducks can have yellow ducklings which are absolutely adorable.

Sunday challenge this week: This week, the Animal World, cute and fluffy, or majestic and powerful, or anything in between. If you can't find a suitable animal, maybe an ornament, artwork, etc. Close up preferred. Both these photos were taken on a walk around Aston Cil Nature reserve. The lakes are gradually being colonised by more species. Yesterday we saw two pairs of swans, 5 noisy coots, a pair of mergansers, a few flying ducks and 3 varieties of butterfly. The orange tip is one of the the easiest to photograph as it seems to stay still especially on dandelions. The first PiP is of a small bluish black beetle also on a dandelion and seen in the same area as the butterfly. The second PiP is of a male blackbird foraging underneath our bird feeders.

The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The Eurasian oystercatchers are considered near threatened and there has been conflict with commercial shellfish farmers, but studies have found that the impact of oystercatchers is much smaller than that of shore crabs.

Today's Sunday Challenge: WILDLIFE This little fellow was quite bold. Usually squirrels scamper up the nearest tree if humans are noticed. There were two of them foraging for sweet chestnuts. The other was at ground level.

Attingham’s Deer Park was created in 1798 as part of Thomas, 2nd Lord Berwick’s grand improvements to the Mansion and grounds. Today, around 200 fallow deer, descended from the original deer herd live in the park. There was a group of stags, of which this is one, away from the main areas towards a shadier area where there was more grass. He was well camouflaged against the tree trunks.

Attingham is home to approximately 250 semi-wild fallow deer, all direct descendants of the fallow deer here at the creation of the Deer Park in 1797.