Bird of the day!

[Beryl]

Thanks Chris.
Looks as thiugh he has jusrt missed the small branch and knows it

[rolf]

You certainly caught the moment there Beryl.

[Beryl]

Thanks Rolf
Yesterday I photographed a pair of mallards with 11 duckling and swimming down the side of the brook was a rat and today sadly the pair of ducks were there but no ducliking. i was so sad.
I'm praying that the duck has hidden the duclkling some where

Beryl

[John]

Did a few sites today, all fairly local. Thankfully I managed to see one of my target birds (Redstart) and definitely my bird of the day. The only problem was it wouldn't come lower than about 100' up and stayed showing well at the tops of the trees. I have attached two heavily cropped shots.





John

[Deer Stalker]

Still great shots John.

[Beryl]

I think so too, John . relly nice captures

[richardkm]

Originally Posted by John

Did a few sites today, all fairly local. Thankfully I managed to see one of my target birds (Redstart) and definitely my bird of the day. The only problem was it wouldn't come lower than about 100' up and stayed showing well at the tops of the trees. I have attached two heavily cropped shots.





John

Great to see they've got as far as Coventry. I've been listening out for them on my local patch, but I've not even heard willow warbler or chiffchaff there yet, although I did see a warbler flitting in the trees which looked like a willow chiff, but it didn't call and then a noisy person with several dogs scared it off before I could get near enough for a close look . It always surprises me how ignorant people are of the wildlife that live on their doorstep. Most walkers in this wood are totally unaware that there are any orchids there, yet it's the premier orchid site in the High Peak!

[smartie]

My bird of the day yesterday was this beautiful glossy chap, who took command of the bird table in the sun.



And this morning a chiffchaff is going its ends in the garden somewhere, so if I can ever find it....

[Chris Hawes]

Originally Posted by Chris Hammond

Thanks Za,

Unfortunately there was a thick fog hanging around this morning. I did stop briefly at the owl tree, but my Sigma APO 50-500mm is too slow for such conditions and there was no sign of the owl this morning anyway. I will try another time.

I had hoped to finish work early enough to spend the last hour of the day at a relatively new RSPB reserve at Lakenheath in suffolk but the job ran on and I didn't get the time in the end. I don't know if any of the forum users are familiar with this area, but it's another little bit of fenland adjacent to the Little Ouse river and last year a friend and I were fortunate enough to spend quite some time watching an Osprey hunting over the river.

We were there to watch the Hobbys that mass there in late summer hunting dragonflies. The afterrnoon will live with me forever as it has to count as the most bizarre sight I've yet to see through my binoculars. You see there was an air display on somewhere nearby and at one time in the sky there was a Wellington Bomber flying across the sky in one direction with it's single Spitfire escort tailing it, and an Osprey flying in the opposite direction with a Hobby close behind it. All four were clearly visible at once in our binoculars. Three or four different people were there to witness it. It was quite uncanny.

THe reason I was hoping to drop by there this evening is because there is a small poplar plantation that has a resident colony of nesting Golden Orioles. I've never seen one, and had no idea that they bred in this country until reading about it on the RSPB website last year. i'm not sure the walkways permit getting close enough to photograph one, but it might be possible if one were to be visible on the edge of the copse. I'd be happy just to watch one through the bins.

So many things to see, and so little time to do so.

Hi Chris,

I visited Lakenheath at Easter. Didn't see the orioles, but it may have been too early for them - do you know when they arrive?

[Gaina]

Originally Posted by smartie

My bird of the day yesterday was this beautiful glossy chap, who took command of the bird table in the sun.



And this morning a chiffchaff is going its ends in the garden somewhere, so if I can ever find it....

Aww, poor little Chiffchaff! (My candidate for a 'Neck-Stretch' is a particular blackbird! ).

I adore crows, and that's a gorgeous photograph