I've been posting a little sporadically over the past six months, and there have been many outings resulting in images that I've never posted on my blog. I'm relatively up to date with the owls, but there are many 'other birds' from that period that have not made it onto my blog, so here are some of them.
Longmoor Lake on 2nd May, 2015
I'm a member of the Peter Williams Naturalists Club, and one of our members (Rhys Dandy) led a club visit to this location. The weather was not that kind to us as it was dull, cold, and windy, but it was an excellent visit and Rhys turned up some gems for us. The area round Longmoor Lake has relatively recently been planted as The Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Woodland - it's easier to say Longmoor Lake - and the tree protectors did rather detract from the photography. There were a few Wheatear around at the time, but the real stars for me were the Whinchat.
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| Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) (male) - Longmoor Lake |
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| Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) (male) - Longmoor Lake |
Undisclosed Site on 4th May, 2015
A visit to my Little Owl Site No.49 resulted in the sighting of a drake Mandarin. I subsequently came to the conclusion that the Mandarins were nesting in the same tree as the LOs!
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| Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) (male) - undisclosed site |
Now follows a series from Rutland Water, most of which were taken whilst on volunteer duty on the Osprey Project with pal John, or on my way to or from a spell of duty.
Rutland Water on 7th May, 2015
On my way down to start my turn of duty (John was to arrive later) I noticed my first Yellow Wagtail of the year on the path ahead of me. It flew up unto a tree as I approached and, because of the overall colouration of the tree, I found it quite hard to pick up again.
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| Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) (male) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Fortunately it returned to the path and proved to be relatively confiding. I subsequently found out that this bird was ringed as a juvenile at Abbotsbury Swannery, Dorset UK, on 11th September, 2013. |
| Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) (male) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Here are some of the other birds from that day - firstly some from when we were on duty. Although they Osprey images are not good, I was pleased to catch a sequence of a bird lifting out of the water.  |
| Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) (female) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
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| Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (male 33(11)) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
On our way back to the car park at the end of our shift we called into Tufted Duck Hide to see if the Otters were showing - they weren't, but I took some shots of a GC Grebe. OK, so these might be dirt-common, but I think that they are wonderful birds!  |
| Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
As we approached the car park, a Chiffchaff seemed to be collecting nesting material.  |
| Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Rutland Water on 13th May, 2015We applauded the female Mallard that had 11 chicks in her charge. I wondered whether she was looking after some for someone else. On a more sombre note, I wondered how many of these chicks would survive to adulthood.  |
| Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Here are a few more from that day. |
| Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve) |
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| Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
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| Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Rutland Water on 4th June, 2015
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| Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (male 33(11)) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Rutland Water on 11th June, 2015
On this day, Black Tern was a 'lifer' for me. Sadly, I only got rubbish distant shots, but I have to post a few here!
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| Black Tern (Chlidonius niger) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Undisclosed Site on 16th June, 2015
I was delighted to visit my Little Owl site No.49 in the evening and find the female Mandarin with three youngsters!
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| Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) (female + young) - undisclosed site |
Here's a few more sessions from Rutland Water. Please bear in mind that the dragons and damsels from these sessions will have featured my previous post, and some of the other creatures will feature in a later post, so the sessions weren't as unproductive as they might seem from these images!
Rutland Water on 18th June, 2015
From Shallow Water Hide we watched House Martins collecting mud for their nests.
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| House Martin (Delichon urbica) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
With the House Martins were a couple of Sand Martin. Here's one of them.
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| Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
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| Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (male 33(11) + unringed female) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
On the way back to the car park we heard and found these juvenile Blackcap beside the path.
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| Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (juveniles) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Rutland Water on 2nd July, 2015
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| Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (unringed female) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
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| Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
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| Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) - Rutland Water Lyndon Reserve |
Rutland Water on 9th July, 2015
A visit to the Egleton side of Rutland Water gave us distant views of Green Sandpiper.
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| Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
I must have spent a good half hour trying to get an image of a Reed Warbler that was flitting around well-concealed in the reeds outside Shoveler Hide.
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| Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
Then, for about one second, it showed itself fully!
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| Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
A Curlew showed quite well in front of the hide too.
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| Curlew (Numenius arquata) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
Near Lowesby on 16th July, 2015
On our way back from Rutland Water we found this Kestrel sitting on a pole.
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| Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) (male) - near Lowesby |
A long break in dates now as images from when friends from Canada, David and Miriam, came to stay have already been published.
Rutland Water on 3rd September, 2015
Pal John was the first to spot an Osprey heading past as we sat in Shoveler Hide on the Egleton side. Most of the Rutland Ospreys had already departed by then, so this was exciting!
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| Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
There were quite a few other birds seen from Shoveler Hide, including this selection.
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Redshank (Tringa totanus) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve
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| Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
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| Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
Rutland Water on 9th September, 2015
John and I had gone to Rutland Water to try and photograph the dragonflies, with a hope that we might also glimpse a Hobby. We'd been singularly unlucky in this last respect so far this year. We did have a Hobby briefly flashing around, but I pretty-much failed in the photography department!
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| Hobby (falco subbuteo) - Rutland Water Egleton Reserve |
Drakelow Nature Reserve on 17th September, 2015
As a change from our usual routine I took John to Drakelow Nature Reserve, which is managed by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. We were mainly looking for damsels and dragons, but we did see a few birds. However, I missed getting a shot of the Hobby that briefly appeared!
The state of moult of this Buzzard gave it the appearance of having a kink in its neck!
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| Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) - Drakelow Nature Reserve |
We also had flyovers by Cormorant
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| Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - Drakelow Nature Reserve |
These next two images are probably my favourite of this whole post. The subject matter may be ordinary, but there's something in the light and composition that just grabs me!
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| Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - Drakelow Nature Reserve |
That ends this post. Thank you for dropping by. My next offering is possibly going to feature some creepy-crawlies!!
