Making the effort

I made a determined effort to get out and about this week, I took advantage of the gorgeous weather to force myself out with the camera.

Old Moor RSPB reserve was my first port of call, surprisingly there wasnt as much about as I had hoped but the Wath Ings hide produced some good stuff, including a Curlew Sandpiper. I wasnt able to take photos due to the distance of the bird and an impossible heat haze, but a gentleman kindly allowed me to view the bird through his Scope and get another tick for the year (143 so far).

The water levels are very low and this meant that some nice stuff came close to the hide, there were several Herons both Juv and adult present.

Juvenile Heron.



Adult Heron.


Also present were at least four Greenshanks.

and Green Sandpiper, note the difference between these two pics, the sun is not out for this first one,

whereas it was for this second.

A trip the following day to the Anglers Country Park between Barnsley and Wakefield also proved very interesting. The main hide is an excellent place to see most of the birds that visit the lakes, the Lapwings were there in high numbers.

Half a dozen Cormorants were also present. This is a cropped shot of one doing a low fly past.

whilst this one was sunning itself on the rocks. This looks better in larger form and clicking on the pic should open a new window to show it.

The star of the trip, for me was this Juv Great crested Grebe, it came pretty close and the two following pictures are only small crops.

It was a lovely bird and surprisingly was alone, clearly making its own way in the world.

I have some more shots to post of the 2 days activity and will do so shortly.