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.

Two First's

It goes without saying that Otters have been dominating my previous posts and this post is no different in that respect other than its the closest I have ever been to a wild Otter ( 1st) and its the first time I have used 10,000 ISO to achieve any sort of a picture at f4 another (1st) hears the result of this mornings encounter.

         

                                                          Thanks for looking.

Otterwell Pond

I Slowly approached the members hide this morning squinting thru the viewing screen to see if the elusive Kingfisher was on the perch. Instead I was confronted with Otters three in front of the hide,I watched from a distance at first before slowly moving closer. I watched them for a good five mins before movement off to my right caught my eye and there was a fourth Otter feeding on its own before joining the rest and moving towards the middle of the pond eventually loosing sight of them on the north bank.,Holwell is certainly living up to its nickname now as Otter numbers are on the increase.

Gosforth Pk
Wednesday morning with my mate Bob was fruitless from the new hide with nothing of any note so we retired to the feeding station where I managed a couple of decent shots before packing up early due to Bob not feeling too good.

                                                        Thanks for looking.

Gosforth Otters

It seems that Otters are dominating my outings at the moment,watching three on Holywell or should that be (Otterwell pond !!)on Wednesday and Thursday now two this morning at Gosforth Pk.
An early morning shot of a female Reed Bunting started the ball rolling followed shortly after by the two obliging Otters.

They were splashing and thrashing in the reed and came out with a nice Eel.

The camera clicks didn't seem to put them off ,but the haul out at the end made for a great morning.

                                                              Thanks for looking
                                                                            Joe