Stoats and much more

Well here I am at last.  It has been a while I know.  Many of you have been asking about my lack of blog postings but I have not had that much to post of late and did not wish to become too repetitive.  The last 10 days or so have improved somewhat with a few common and green sandpipers, greenshank and quite a few black tailed godwits beginning to pass though.  Plenty of curlew and and a few lapwings are on the river.   A nice surprise 1 day were 4 stoats on the tramline near the tower hide playing in the long grass.  Unfortunately the grass was cut the next day and we did not see them there again but they were so energetic and playful and such a joy to watch.

There are a few kingfishers being seen including this rather waterlogged one

and this very smart one

This stand off between the oyster catcher and the grass snake went on for sometime.  The snake was trying to escape the water but the oyster catchers, a pair of shell ducks and a little grebe were having none of it. It was fascinating to watch but in the end  the snake shot passed the oyster catcher at some speed into the undergrowth.

A fox one morning from the tower hide

and also this young pereguin

This reed bunting has probably been the most photographed ever as it has just sat right next to the path singing for weeks without any fear of people.  Here he is having a wing stretch.

The oyster catcher family are growing fast.  They lost one chick but have so far been successful with the other 3 although one is currently limping but seems OK at the moment.

A pair of swans had 2 cygnets on the Borrow Pit though they are quite large now.  This was taken a few weeks back.

I was delighted earlier this year when a pair of house martins took up residence in an old nest that has not been used for 5 or 6 years.  I don't know how many young they had but I collected enough egg shell halves from under the nest for there to be at least 4 possibly 5.  This little one (not a very good photo I'm afraid) was the last out the nest.  In fact the adults spent most of the day trying to coax it out and I even saw them trying to push it from behind!  It didn't work.  However by late afternoon it had finally gone.  I could only watch for a short time at longish intervals as did not want to upset the adults so didn't actually see it go.

The next day (last friday evening) there were about 20 house martins collecting mud from Black Hole Marsh.  Perhaps getting ready for a second brood.

And finally yesterday I was fortunate enough to see these 4 young swallows being fed on Black Hole Marsh.

Barnacle Goose

The barnacle goose in the rain this morning on Black Hole Marsh was worth a few photos.  A very small pretty little goose which the canada geese parents did not appreciate.  There was little else to photograph in this mornings rain so here are a few I took of the goose.

Night Heron

Thanks to a message from Ian M I got to see yet another great bird this week.  Sat in a tree this afternoon near the tower hide on Black Hole Marsh was this night heron.  This was a first for me which was nice.  The light was poor; the rain started and sadly it looked pretty exhausted.  Obviously it didn't do much and there were plenty of branches in the way but here are a few photos anyway.

Nightjar, short eared owl and some pink feet.

Last night I was so fortunate to be given the opportunity to see rather an unusual garden bird.  A nightjar was sat in typical pose along a fence within a local private property.  Am very grateful to have been given the chance of such a great view.   I have only ever seen them flying before when almost dark so have never been able to see such detail.  Having said that the light was pretty poor as it was getting darker on an already dull evening but my little nikon V2 did admirably under the circumstances.  It was way to dark for my dslr so did not even try it.  Not a great variety photo wise I'm afraid as it did not move much but it was lovely to see.  It finally flew just before dark.

Next a few more photos from the last week of the short eared owl which appears to have now moved on.  It gave a great show on Black Hole Marsh while it was here.

 

And finally a pink footed little egret