Wednesday 15 April 2009

Reflective moments at Cley

Spent the day with my G-daughter at NWT reserve at Cley, Norfolk. Somewhat cloudy with mist blowing across the scrapes. Plenty of Avocets feeding, a few Cootes and Moorhens about. Shelduck in number and Pochard. Had my camera monopolised by GD but did manage to get a few lucky pictures as did she amongst the many. Most of the time the birds were too far away to get quality shots but here are the highlights. A reflective moment for a Greylag Goose. An Avocet caught in flight just pointed the camera and hoped - two part shots and this. Must try to get my eye to the view finder next time!
A little luckier with this pair of ?? ducks, though the background confuses the subject.
A long shot of a marsh harrier bringing in a reed stem for nest building. The stem is probably 5 to 6 feet long, this was the average for the reed beds. The misty conditions added to the distance result in a lack of sharpness to the photo but I include it for the interest.


Three caught by my GD (aged 7)

Shellduck having a stretch.

Two Avocet and Black Headed Gulls


A Lapwing

Sunday 12 April 2009

First Blog...

Just to record my (our) sightings and wanderings. My home patch is the Upper Eden valley to the East of the English Lake District in Cumbria. Over the hill is Swaledale and round the corner Wensledale. "It's over there!" is our perennial cry whenever we spot something. Being limited in stamina, if its too far off the road then we cannot reach it so we depend on field glasses, scope, dslr for spotting & identification. Also local knowledge of where to stop and wait for that bird or animal to come by.

Travelling down the M6 yesterday highlights were three buzzards, over Ash Fell; East of Lancaster and over Prestbury. The latter being over suburbs (all be it posh suburbs with large semi woodland gardens).