Duck and Hide.

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.

Small, Medium and Large Birds.

Not a great deal of photography done this week, but what I have done I've enjoyed, largely because the weather has not only been brighter but several degrees warmer.

The best few hours was spent at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB Reserve. I managed to get the best shot of a Brambling I've had since I left the Forest of Dean, and added it to my yearly list. But what was even nicer was that I could sit down to do it and I got to chat to quite a few people who had no idea what they were looking for and who were delighted to see it when we did. I hope the RSPB's membership increased on that day. I also got another bird that I have not photographed out of the FOD, the Siskin.

I have started to dismantle the feeder station, I spent some time up there midweek and hardly anything was coming down, I don't know if it's a case of Sparrowhawk scare. I am going to do it slowly over a period of 2 -3 weeks. I have 4 seed feeders, 2 peanut feeders, a nyger feeder, A fat-ball feeder and 5 ground feeders (cut tree trunks) so I will remove one thing every few days. Weather permitting of course, if there is a change back to snow/frost I will delay it.

So lets see some shots, starting with Brambling,

and the Siskin,

and a rather sweet shot of a Goldfinch.



That covers the small birds. The medium is in the form of the following;

Yes a Jackdaw, one of four that were scratting around for tidbits under the seed feeders. They were'nt alone, the rats were present as always.

I also went to Frodsham Marsh today for the first time, and although I never took the lens out of the bag I did add Goldeneye and Common Sandpiper to the yearly list. Frodsham Marsh is an area between the market town of Frodsham and the site of Shell UK at Stanlow.It has often been the site of some great stuff but not today, not for me any way. Although I didn't cover it all by any means.

The big birds are two slightly different things, Both seen flying over the village this week.

A Royal Navy Sea king Helicopter.

Another Big Beluga Aircraft, I think I may have posted one before with its Airbus markings on it, but this one was bare. You can't really get the size of this thing from the photo but trust me its huge and slow.

It conveys parts of other aircraft to what was, and may still be, the Hawker Sidley site at Hawarden.

Since I started this post some 20 to 30 minutes ago I have been advised that there is more snow forecast over the next week or so. I really hope not. I want it to be Spring, Daffs are up, Snow drops are in flower and even some Crocus have started to flower in the village, surely that means it's Spring!!!!!

Come back soon won't you.

Damn the weather.

High winds, lots of rain and a tree at the end of the garden have kept photography to a minimum since my last post.

A trip to the Dee Estuary produced my first ever up close shots of a Knot, a really obliging bird that was rooting around for grub.

At the Feeder station the usual suspects were out in force A few grabbed shots there.

Away from the feeder station I have not done a lot, however her's a shot I took whilst out looking for fungi a while ago, I know it is a marmite shot but I quite like it.

I wanted to catch the fog.

I have purchased a temporary car, A skoda Fabia, it should prove more economical than the Lexus.

Come back soon when hopefully the weather will have improved.

Back at Last

Hello, I am back.

It would appear that the glitch that was preventing me posting pictures has been sorted by Blogger.

I have only had two photographic sessions this year and am not happy with most of what came from the first so I only have a few shots to show you. The first is another first at the feeder station and a very welcome surprise.

Yes a Lesser Redpoll, came on a very dull day and didn't stay long, but I managed to get one shot i could use. I know it's a bit over exposed.

Today (Thurs 31st) I went to Conwy RSPB reserve. It was a mixed day, some sunshine, some cloud, but constant wind, very cold gusty wind at that. I didn't get a lot of shots but I added some nice birds to the year list which for January can't be bad. I saw: Stonechat, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Raven, Redshank, Teal, Curlew, Cormorant and Red Breasted Merganser, as well as all the usual suspects of common birds. I didn't see the Lesser Redpoll that were at the feeder station or the Firecrest which has been seen a lot over the last few weeks, nor did I see the Water Rail despite waiting in a hide for over an hour having just missed it when I got there.
It was nice to spend 2 hrs or so at the reserve, the fresh sea air has left me feeling knackered and bed isn't far away this evening.

So here are a couple of shots of the Merganser.

and the only other thing I saw that I got shots of. A Curlew.

Okay, not a lot to show but I am up and running again and can't wait for spring.
Come back soon and see what I've got.

Happy New Year

Hi all, Happy New Year. I wanted to do a post with some pictures but I cant seem to be able to upload from my Computer files. When I hit the picture box as usual the box comes up but there's no "Browse" box where I would normally click to got to my files.

Anyone else having this problem with Blogger?

Hope it sorts itself soon.

Come back soon.