Cheeky House Sparrow!

   
Two quirky photos of a young House Sparrow landing on a young Starling's back to start off with.

Below that a few photos from West Links beach in Arbroath where I'm keeping an eye out for the arrival of Mediterranean Gulls. They often roost on the rocks at low tide, and sometimes on the roof of Chalmers Cinema at high tide.

Finally a new spider species for here. (I think).

Red-breasted Mergansers at Lunan Bay      Cucumber Green Orb Spider eating a fly

Two backlit photos taken from the couch, in my living room, looking through the double glazing with the blurred background of a neighbours garage door, and two of this year's juvenile birds. This one in itself was an odd bit of behaviour, but check out the next one and the expression on the Starlings face

You can't plan a photo like this, but every now and then you get some unusual

Lesser black-backed Gull, West Links Arbroath

Two were feeding half heartedly on the washed up seaweed while waiting for the tide to ebb

There was a Great black-backed Gull further along the beach, this is just a Lesser, look at the bill

Not many Sandwich Terns around and only three inshore briefly, colonies in France and the Netherlands have reported mass deaths due to avian flu

This Grey Heron wasn't paying attention to where it landed until it noticed a skate-boarder race past me, and it took to flight seconds after it landed

"Seed eaters", two Goldfinches thinking about feeding amongst the seaweed, I've seen a few on the beaches lately

I think this is a Cucumber Green Orb Spider, Araniella cucurbitina recognised from similar species by the red spot above the spinnerets

Common Carder Bee, looks like a new generation bee, no fading or wear