Timber Grab

There's still a lot of timber to be transported out from the felling sites at Whinlatter but this Timber Grab and winch was trundling through the gate this morning under escort.  Definitely one to give way to.

I spent the rest of the day on the Viewpoint with two of my great volunteers watching the osprey pair feeding chicks. It's long distance through a telescope and the chicks are still too small to be seen in the cup of the nest. However, Mum was busy standing on the nest edge tearing the remains of a fish into shreds and then leaning in to offer the pieces to her offspring. Dad put in a brief appearance, but satisfied all was well, went back to keep a lookout from a dead tree.

Closer to, a male kestrel gave us a grand display of hovering and stooping over the apron of rough grasses on the hillside below. At times he was so close we could see his dark eye gleaming and the buttercup yellow around his beak. Depending on their angle to the light his wings glowed rufous or golden bronze and his splayed tail feathers shone as transparent as tracing paper with an inked in edging. There must be thousands of voles and mice running just beneath the growing grass, but catching them without a green roof over their heads is difficult. He didn't manage to hook anything in the half hour we watched.