Holywell Pond

A trip down the pond last week saw me heading for the members hide to seek shelter from the howling wind , opening the shutters i saw i wasn't the only one as this Goosander was doing the same.

                                                 Never managed to get this close before

Aptly named sawbill !

                                                   It was a nice surprise on a nasty day.

Thanks for looking.

Taken by surprise

Just arrived at Gosforth park unloaded our gear opened the shutters and there were three Otters making their way across the lake,didn't have time to look at camera settings this is the result.

Now we were settled these guys kept us entertained with there take off and landing skills.

This one was just chilling.

This little grebe played with this stickleback until it had it in the right position to swallow.

But this young lady is still surviving numerous reported Sparrow Hawk attacks.

Plus the sighting of a large dog Fox on the way to the hide made for a nice morning out.

Thanks for looking.

Joe 

Gosforth Park

An early couple of hours at the park proved quite productive this morning with the arrival of a doz Greylags and a very nice Ruddy Shelduck in and among ,they stayed for about 45 min before all leaving together.
Its the first time I have seen one of these ducks and was impressed with the size and the bright colour

As always I would have liked it a bit closer.

but this duck came closer.

thanks for looking 

Joe.

Loch Garten

A few days up at Loch Garten on the hunt for Crested Tits proved to be a little challenging,these guys are few and far between in fact two and a half day only produced seven visits in total and if you blinked you missed them.
High ISO's were the order of the day due to the weather and forest cover but here's a few pics.

All the above pics were taken around the centre at Loch Garten where we had a little more light,very tame Coal Tits delighted the visitors taking seed from your hand and even from your mouth that along with Tree Creepers and Red squirrels made for a nice visit.

Thanks for looking

Joe.

June Hols part 2

Norfolk was our next stop, Stumpshaw fen to see Swallowtails,disappointment struck again as it rained both days and of course no butterflies but Otters were present in good numbers.

                                  Even this guy was sick of the rain.

Then on to Cley  which to be fair was our most disappointing visit ( extremely quiet for Cley)

 Moving on to Tichwell to see the Red crested Pochards that had bred

                               No they just wouldn't  come any closer.

Frampton Marsh was the last stop of our hols and as we arrived the wardens were buzzing with excitement and couldn't wait to tell us of a rare bird discovered just minutes before we arrived,
it turned out to be a Black Winged Pratincol a first for me.

Shame the pics are rubbish but what a bird to finish off the holidays.

June Hols ( part one )

Minsmere was our first stop.
A Barn Owl quartering around the camp site was of great interest to every one on site.

Onto the reserve itself now and that didn't disappoint either with lots of Marsh Harriers around the reserve.

Down on the dunes there were two nesting pairs of Dartford Warblers ( fenced off by wardens ) sorry no pics but these little guys were keeping an eye on us anyway

.

This little one created a few aw,s when it was paraded in front of the hide with its mother (nice ).

End of part one.

Joe.

Holywell Pond

Quite a while since my last visit to the pond ,but a walk down with my grandson the other morning gave us both a nice surprise as we opened the shutters a Wood Duck was sunning itself in front of the members hide and of coarse no camera !.So that was that back home to check if it was a Wood Duck having never seen on before and then back down with the camera.

Then along came this flashing blue bonus

Which all made for a rather nice day

Joe.