Flapping Great Tit ( Parus major )

Another Emergency blip.  Kat was with us up until lunchtime, then becauae of disruption to the train service (nothing new there then) I drove Kat up to Carlisle to catch her train home.  Then back and straight into our Social Club meeting.

The talk this time was about Honey Bees and despite having kept bees in the past I learned a lot.  Perhaps the most important part of the talk came at the end.  Here he talked about Asian Hornets.  These Hornets prey o nbee hives and can completely wipe out a colony.  They have spread right across Europe from a single queen arriving in a cargo.  Last winter was the first winter they have been proved to over winter in UK.

A lot of effort is going into finding and destroying their nests.  in 2016 a nest was destroyed, last year 71 nests were destroyed.  It is important that we all keep an eye out for Asian Hornets and report any we see.  The chances of an individual moving to another part of the country in a truck or even from abroad are high.  If you don't know what an Asian Hornet looks like do a web search.  They are basically an inch long wasps dark all over apart from a yellow band near the tail and the bottom half of the legs are yellow.  Reports can be made through the app or iNaturalist, photos if taken are a great help.

The blip! I was trying for birds in flight but in the absence of any Greenfinches bickering over perches I had to settle for a landing Great Tit.