I'm doing todays post whilst watching "Britains Natural world " on BBC2, Absolutely brilliant photography. I cannot wait for Spring and all it brings.
Two glorious days of reasonably bright sunshine and warmth had me out making the most of it. I'd been up to the hide monday and back home for lunch. After lunch I thought a trip to Moore Nature Reserve for a couple of hours was in order. Its about 20 miles away near Warrington, Chris G and I had been there photographing Red necked Grebe I think it was, some years ago. Its changed a little since then with more lakes and hides.
Species in residence at this time other than the usual were 2 Bitterns, A female Smew a pair of Goldeneye and in the trees of one particular part of the reserve a pair of Lesser Woodpeckers.
The afternoon was reasonably succesfull. I managed Gadwall, Little Grebe, and Coot.
I saw the Goldeneye in the distance but they weren't too obliging, The female came the closest.
It was a glorious two or so hours there.
The following day I returned earlier, the day had started heavy with fog and mist, I did get a very distant shot of the female Smew.
I sat for two hours waiting for the Bittern to appear but unfortunately it didn't show, Whilst i was waiting I was kept entertained watching the herons making their nests in their heronry I could see what appeared to be 3 pairs in the tree tops. I was also kept amused by the goings on of up to 4 Oystercatchers. one of which came reasonably close hunting along the edge of the lake.
followed closely by a Heron.
Back on the main Lapwing lake a little later in the day I managed the following:
Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Teal, and finally the male Goldeneye.
I also spent an hour or so walking up and down the area of road by the car park looking for the lesser spot which had been seen earlier, with no joy.
One thing I did observe which shows the danger of human waste was this Gull towing behind it a Tesco carrier bag.
it had been swimming around with it for ages. It was obviously caught around a leg.
The weather has turned colder and cloudier again so there's a bit of a lull at the moment.
Don't forget to click on the image for a larger version.
