I believe these three which were photographed in a small pool on the outskirts of Punta Arenas are Wilsons Phalaropes. What delicate birds they seem to be and I do like that thin beak.

Tags:   Wilsons Phalarope Punta Arenas Chile

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Here's another bird that has been illusive when I have had my camera in hand. We see them around most days flying over the village but only ever at a distance. As a result photography isn't practical.

A couple of years ago that changed and to cap off a fine mornings walk we came across this lovely male Green Woodpecker posing on this fencepost.

Tags:   Green Woodpecker Brockadale Wentbridge

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Mark, once more dressed in just shorts, boots and a hat is seen following Marek towards the lake known as Estany Negre. This was high summer, we had descended a couple of thousand feet and as seen there was still a reasonable amount of snow at this altitude.

Mark and I had just climbed Como Pedrosa the high point of Andorra. We had hiked up the day before and stayed in a high mountain refuge. Marek on the other hand was just completing a thirty day 500km hike along the length of the Pyrenees. Bless him, he was shattered, so when we reached the roadhead at Arinsal and offered to drive him back to his booked camp site he was over the moon.

Tags:   Como Pedrosa Pyrenees Andorra

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For those who have a few minutes the attached link provides a most interesting read into the background of the World War 11 Gloster Gladiators of Malta. In essence when Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis powers Mussolini's airforce commenced airborne attacks on 11th May 1940. Seemingly without any air cover the British who governed Malta found themselves in a particularly tough place and could expect nothing more than an Italian invasion. Thankfully a number of crates were uncovered that had been left behind by a visiting aircraft carrier. Inside were the components of six Gloster Gladiators. These six ancient biplanes were hurriedly assembled and used in such a way that any three were always available to defend the island. Any combination of three (three of the six) became known as Faith Hope and Charity. At times literally hundreds of Italian bombers were used to bomb the island. All the time being harassed by the Gladiators. Somehow these old Gladiators managed to stave off the aggressors until at some point in June the RAF were able to replenish their defences through the arrival of a number of Hawker Hurricanes.

To put into perspective how important the island was to both sides, later in the war during the siege of 1942 Valletta became the single most heavily bombed place on earth.

This photo depicts the only one of the six aircraft to have survived. It is displayed without its wings inside the museum at Fort Saint Elmo in Valetta.

Here is the link for the full data. www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/british-biplanes-f...

Tags:   Gloster Gladiator RAF Fort Saint Elmo Faith Hope and Charity Valletta Malta

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Tags:   Armenia Yerevan

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