Kite,s

As my mate and I were only having a morning out  we decided to visit Far Pasture. We had  quite a wait  for the sun to get above the trees and give off some reasonable light. A lone Signet patrolled the open water and the Water Rails were quite active around the fringes of the pond  a distant Red Kite caught our eye, then two, then three.  As they got closer two of them landed in the trees opposite one of which was displaying a white and blue wing tag with the number 76 on its left wing .
No tags on these shots tho.

NOTE

            My research into the white wing tag with the blue stripe on the bottom indicates the bird was tagged in the midlands in 2001 or 2010 i presume the number 76 would indicate which year ,a lot of Kites in the wild can live well into there teens( given a fair wind).

The following shots are from our previous visit.

And don't forget the car park !!

And finally this little fellas never far away.

thanks for looking.

Humming in the garden !

A shout from the kitchen ended my morning shave incomplete,there's a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in the garden. Its a good number of years ago since I last saw one of these moths and didn't manage any photo's then, these guys don't hang around very long so it was a mad scramble for the gear.

Not the best of pics but I was half covered in shaving foam(that's my excuse anyway )_.


                                                               Thanks for looking.

Minsmere (part 2)

I don't recall any other place that I have camped with the motor-home and managed to see Marsh Harrier, Barn Owl, Red Kite, Buzzard x 2, Green Woodpecker, and Cuckoo all before 8-30 am from the van doorway.
Anyway here's my alarm clock

On our way to Minsmere we stood on a small bridge and watched the Banded Demoiselles dancing between the reed stems.

This Demoiselle was a little larger with a broader wing and does not show the white dots on the wing which leads us to believe it could be a Beautiful Demoiselle!.

Our goal for the day was to try for the Dartford Warbler on Dunwich Heath, here's a few birds we spotted on the way.

We believe this to be a young Whichat ! which  was absolutely stunning.

The Dartford Warblers proved elusive at first but did manage a few distant shots.

Did we have a great time !! (we sure did)

thanks for looking.

Marvellous Minsmere(.Part 1)

I had a great week down at Minsmere with lots to see, first up and taking centre stage were the Bitterns offering me the best in-flight shots I have had heres just a few.

There were lots of people about, probably due to the fact that Spring Watch was present on the reserve,I seem to struggle trying for a decent photo of a Marsh Harrier and this next pic is no exception I only put it up for what it is carrying :yes half a rabbit;.

plenty of these about but no offspring due to the black-back gulls camped near bye. 

I will pull out some more pics from Minsmere and surrounding areas for part two.

Thanks for looking.

A Starlings Demise

The local Sparrow Hawk paid a visit this morning hoping for breakfast and he wasn't disappointed,
I suppose this is nature taking its course .

The action was rather quick but he did put up a long struggle,

The expected outcome finally came where he helped himself to a few bite-size pieces before carrying it off for later !!

Beadnell Links

A few days up at Beadnell gave us the opportunity for some nice walks along the beach and links,one of which was to Long Nanny Burn the weather was good but little to report in the way of bird life.
One thing that did catch my eye was how good a job these Exmoor ponies are doing on the dunes

Goldfinch, Greenfinch, and Pied wagtail kept us entertained as we walked thru the caravan site and back onto the dunes where we came across this pair of Stonechats who gave us the runaround as we tried hard to get a few pics.

 Reaching Long-Nanny Burn we were surprised to find a fish survey taking place by the Inshore Fisheries conservation authority we watched with interest from the bridge before being invited down by the team to take a few pics

.

A close up of the above showed it to be a Sea Trout (we were told )

Apparently they are going to survey the burn every month.
As we made our way back along the dunes we were still being watched by this young lady giving us perhaps a better shot?.

                                       
                                                     Thanks for looking.

Garden Visitor

This little Goldcrest has been visiting our garden for a few weeks now taking particular interest in our old and aging Honeysuckle bush,it's not the only bird that has shown interest as the Bullfinches also like the seed pods/heads that emerge when the flowers have finished .
Although it was constantly on the move,some times at what appeared breakneck speed it was quite obliging allowing me to get quite close at times.

                                               Thanks for looking.

A distant Smew

My highlight of the morning on the pond today was a rather distant viewing of a female Smew(not seen one on Holywell for some time),the mandarin was still present hauling out on the island occasionally, to complete the trio was a nice pair Goldeneye.

                                                         A distant Smew

                                                  getting ready for take off

Nice to get out and get some fresh air throu the lungs again after the usual winter cold.

ps Many thanks to the gentleman who called at my door to tell me of the Smew on the pond just as I was putting it up on the blog (a very kind deed)

                                                             thanks for looking

Cormorant awaiting

A lunchtime visit to the pond saw this Cormorant posing on the supposed Kingfisher perch as I opened the shutters I expected it to fly off ,but no it appeared to be quite happy to stay put even when two other people opened up the other shutters.

 It was nice to meet up with Cain even tho it was rather brief always a pleasure,no sign of the Mandarin or the Slavonian Grebe this lunchtime but I did have a surprise visit from the blue flash here are a couple of poor pics.

PS new glasses coming in a couple of weeks that might help !!

                                                              Thanks for looking.

Second time lucky

a couple of hrs on the pond on Friday morning watching Mandarin,Goldeneye,Goosander and what i thought was a Black-necked Grebe as it was quite a distance away(no excuse i know) I only had the 200mm but I rattled off a couple of record shots,when viewing them back home I realized my mistake even tho the pics were rubbish so I was really pleased to get a second chance this morning (sun) with the 500mm.

However I missed out on the reported Scaup.

                                                         Thanks fo looking.