Pied Wagtail

It feels slightly strange posting these tonight as we await the outcome of the Scottish Independence referendum, but here goes anyway! Just a pied wagtail looking for insects at the edge of Falmer Pond, but I can’t resist these pretty little birds. They’re great fun to photograph. Lots of movement and then some great posing.

Pied wagtail

Pied wagtail

Pied wagtail

Pied wagtail

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.

Posted in Birds Tagged |

Flying Duck / Swimming Rat

Two quick pix from early this morning at Falmer Pond, before the sun broke through the mists…

Flying duck…
Duck in flight

Swimming rat…
Rat swimming

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.

Posted in rats, water birds Tagged , |

New Ducks on the Pond + a common sandpiper

Life at Falmer Pond is generally fairly predictable. The gulls and geese come and go according to the season, the ducks stay around for the year, and the heron pops in every now and then. Once in a while though new ducks appear. Last year we had a couple of Muscovy ducks. The most recent additions are two near-white ducks which I saw for the first time yesterday (the photos are from today).

pair of white ducks

white duck

white duck

I expect them to be around for a while and they seem to be integrating well. Whether they arrived under their own steam, or were released, is another matter entirely.

One of the less frequent visitors is also one of our smallest wading birds, the common sandpiper. They tend to be shy (even of other birds), and I spotted this one picking its way through a shaded corner of the pond.

Common sandpiper

Common sandpiper

Common sandpiper

The last photo for today is a rather fine sparrowhawk, which was circling the car park when I arrived back at work after lunch.

sparrowhawk

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.

Posted in Bird of Prey, water birds Tagged , , |