Birds in the Gloom, plus a night visitor

November 27, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

After the beautiful sunshine yesterday morning, today was more typical. Mist, a faint drizzle, and an overwhelming gloom was the order of the day. All of which means that I photographed very little, though there are a couple of images from early this morning that, despite the poor quality, have sufficient interest (to me at least) to be be included here.

The first is a little egret. Nothing too unusual about that, but I liked the juxtaposition with the mini forest of road traffic signs behind.

Little egret and traffic signs

The other bird from this morning was one of several I saw of this species. It’s a curlew. There were four or five that flew overhead, in the few minutes I was watching. The photo is poor, but the best I could manage in the conditions.

Curlew

The conditions were a little easier this evening when Pretty put in a welcome appearance. It’s a few days since I’ve seen her, but it she is still limping on her hind leg. It doesn’t look serious and I’m sure she’ll be back to her usual self in a few days.

Foxes

Camera note: egret and curlew photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photo taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

Posted in Birds, Foxes, water birds Tagged , , |

A Heron Lands on a Tree, plus other pond-side life

November 26, 2013 by Words | 2 Comments

It was a case of pairs this morning. First a pair of cormorants. One was down on the water, fishing in deep shade, but the second was on the wing, circling the pond as the sun rose above the distant Downs.

Cormorant

The second pair were herons. Again one was keeping to the shade down on the water, with the second high overhead. I watched as it circled and came in to land on a tall tree on the far side of the pond.

Heron landing on a tree

Heron landing on a tree

Heron landing on a tree

Heron landing on a tree

Heron landing on a tree

That heron took off into the distance shortly after those photos, but the other heron hung around and despite its attempts to remain hidden in shade it couldn’t avoid cutting across the open pond as it searched out prime fishing locations.

heron

Neither pair were evident at lunchtime, but the water still held some attractions… even furry ones. This rat proved a powerful swimmer.

Swimming rat

swimming rat

It too was one of a pair. Here’s the second rat, sensibly keeping dry.

rat

I still think they’re cute!

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Behaviour, rats, water birds Tagged , , , , |

Early Morning Light

November 25, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

This proved to be a quiet day despite the lure of some beautiful early morning sunshine. The best of the early shots for the sense of colour was this grab of a mallard flying in front of the willow tree that dominates the small central island

Duck in flight

Back on the bank the most picturesque of the trees is actually little more than a stump. Today it was adorned by a crow…

Crow on a dead tree

And then, on a lower limb, a collared dove.

collared dove

There was little around at lunchtime, by which point the clouds had come in and it was altogether less enticing. I did, however, manage a few shots of this little fellow scampering among the tree roots which overhang the water.

Rats

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Birds, rats