Experimenting with my new camera lens I managed to get a picture of this robin as it landed on the bird table.

I was testing out a new lens for my camera and was lucky enough to catch a sparrowhawk in the garden just as he caught his lunch. They do hunt in the garden quite regularly but this is the first time I have been able to catch one on camera.

If this picture is genuine it is quite unique in that it shows an eagle holding a knife. It is claimed that it was taken by a photographer who cutting up chunks of meat to attract birds of prey dropped his knife in the snow. He later noticed the eagle flying away with the knife. I can’t help thinking the picture has been Photo shopped but none the less it’s a nice image.

A rare white penguin has been pictured in Antarctica. The Chinstrap penguin was photographed by naturalist David Stephens during an expedition to the Aitcho Islands. The penguins normally have black and white plumage but this one suffers from leucism, a condition that occurs in around one in every 146,000 penguins. It is different from albinism which is a complete lack of skin pigment. Instead it has pigmented eyes and a paler version of the normal penguins colouring.

This colourful creature is a Ansonia latidisca or as it has been more commonly nicknamed a rainbow toad. Previously the only images of the toad were those drawn from specimens collected by European explorers in the 1920’s. This was one of three toads spotted by Scientists from University Malaysia Sarawak on a recent trip to Borneo. It certainly is a striking creature.

This picture was taken by a couple in Maryland, USA and shows the moment when a bullfrog devoured a much smaller frog.  I love the comical look on the frogs face so thought it was worth reposting the article.

Whilst this may not look like the clearest picture when you take into account this cat has only been spotted a few times in the last 100 years it is fairly unusual. The cat is a Bornean Bay Cat which lives within the Borneo rainforest. It is thought there are only around 50 of them left in existence and it is rarely seen.

This is one of a series of firefly pictures taken by amateur photographer German Kristian. The pictures have been taken using slow shutter speeds to capture the creatures movements. You can see the other pictures on the original article.

We are lucky that we have lots of wildlife in our garden. I do my best to encourage more and tend to leave wild areas for the birds as well as leaving quite a lot of the fallen fruit on the floor for them to eat. I also tend to put food out for  them and am often surprised by the birds that come to the bird table. We have groups of crows and starlings that visit regularly but I was recently surprised by this group of jays that visited as I have never seen them in such large numbers. In all there were seven birds but they didn’t all land to feed.  I was, however, able to get a few pictures of some of them. Click on the images for bigger versions.

This unusual red squirrel was spotted in New Abbey near Dumfries by wildlife photographer Mick Durham. Unlike most other red squirrels this one has a unusual white stripe on its tail. Apparently this type of colour variation is quite rare so this ring tailed squirrel could be one of a kind.

This lovely looking creature is the caterpillar of a the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly. The caterpillar is only a few inches long but uses it’s unusual markings to make itself look like a snake and thus deter predators. This picture was taken in the US by wildlife biologist Jonathan Mays.

In what seems to be rather unusual behaviour a swan has been pictured eating an eel. The picture was taken by a wildlife photographer who has been watching a pair of nesting swans. Mike Davies was lucky enough to get a shot of the male swan pulling the eel out of the water and eating it. It is not clear why this swan has developed a taste for eel as their more usual food is insects, molluscs, plants and small fish.

Spring is here and with several fruit trees the garden is full of blossom. Here are a few pictures of the cherry and apple blossoms. One of the wild primroses and some shrubs that I am yet to find out the names of. And of course I have also included a picture of one of my cats surveying his garden. Click the images for larger versions.

Our cat Oliver is notorious for being very timid, he usually hides when we get any visitors and get beaten up by our other cats. Bearing this in mind we were very surprised when a large fox wandered into the garden and approached him. Oliver and the fox regarded each other for a while before the fox rolled on the ground. It was obvious to us that the fox wanted to play but Oliver seemed to miss the point and chased him away. You can see pictures below of the encounter, click on the images for a bigger version.