Chinese Visit !

A quick visit to the pond this afternoon opening the shutters I spotted this stunning male Mandarin quite a way off at first but slowly getting closer to within range of the 400mm,the light levels were quite good so the pics are a little better.not too many though as the ponds big bruiser saw him as a threat and moved him on.

 Other things of note 5 Goldeneye (no showy males) and a few flypasts by the local Kingfisher

                                                         Thanks for looking.

Three Kits a feeding !

A cold blustery snowy morning saw me heading for shelter in the key hide at Holywell,opening the window to the far left of the hide in anticipation of a little more shelter from the N/E wind, in the distance I could see 6 Goldeneye inc 2 stunning males,2 adult male Goosanders plus Wigeon and Gadwall .
The surface of the pond was quite rough with the wind as I heard a Grey Heron giving off its alarm call looking to my left I was taken by surprise to see three young Otters playing and feeding as they came past the front of the hide,I scrambled to get the camera out of the bag remove the lens cap and switch on ,this is the result.

 The above shows the three kits swimming away.

Morning at Gosforth

The weather early on Wednesday morning looked clear, no wind or rain, Gosforth Park was to be our destination looking for the Bitterns wellies were the order of the day on the well trodden muddy path to the hide.
First in the hide (that makes a change) opening the shutters slowly I could just make out a bittern to my right on a clump of reeds however it also saw/heard us and flew to another area of reeds,others were seen in flight leading us to  count three different birds,our patience was rewarded two and a half hours later when a bird dropped in the reeds close by, we watched the reeds moving for a short while before it came out on the opposite bank to the hide .

It didn't stay long before moving off into the reeds.

If I keep going long enough I might get some good light values for these pics !!!!

                                                              Thanks for looking.