How lucky am I? Spectacular birding on the Axe

I am so lucky to live across the road from such spectacular sights as this.  I was just cycling down to the tower hide and as I turned the bend I saw a hovering osprey take a dive down into the water.  Thinking I'd probably missed it catching a fish I arrived to find it had been unsuccessful and watched it being chased off by one lone rook.  It soon returned only to be attacked from above by a buzzard which it soon shrugged off and started its search for a meal.  It did not take long for it to succeed as you can see. 

Osprey, mackerel fishers and BHM

I'll start with the best pictures taken today from Black Hole Marsh which show just a few of its inhabitants and when I finally managed an improved photo of the ruff.

one of several green sandpiper

and the 2 greenshanks

Some dunlin 

and a snipe with a common sandpiper

There were plenty of lapwing several close to the island hide

and the usual black tailed godwits though this one was a bit wind swept.

Gold finches close to the island hide.

Now I move on to the not so good photos as the birds were all rather distant for my camera.  The last few days with all the mackerel about in the sea there has been quite a bit of activity.  Cormorants have been trying their luck though sometimes the fish have proved a bit too large.

Crows have been grabbing the whitebait

and the gulls have been trying their luck too.

and finally suddenly with no warning from the gulls the osprey was on the river, dived, caught a fish and headed up and off over the main road in the direction of Axminster again all in a matter of seconds.   As you can see it was rather distant but clearly visible and yet another great moment to see.

Osprey again!

Having given up on seeing the osprey this late afternoon I moved to the Island hide and within half an hour the osprey turned up on the river.  These first 4 photos were taken from the island hide whilst it was over the river so I was never very near.

A quick dash back to the Tower hide and I was just in time to see it dive (unsuccessfully) for a fish.  It  then proceeded to the edge of the river for a bath before flying off towards Axminster.  Unfortunately it was never very close but wonderful to see anyway.

I had actually gone back to Black Hole Marsh this afternoon for the ruff in the sun but was unsuccessful so here is one I took this morning when it was raining

Also in the rain a black tailed godwit with some of the dunlin