Category Archives: water birds

Cormorant on the Pond (and a rat at the side)

October 23, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

I’m still making the early morning effort to see what’s going on at the pond, but poor light and the frequent rain is turning that into something of a lost cause. Fortunately the days improve as the hours pass, and at lunchtime it was really quite mild and I was able to enjoy a little bit of sunshine and blue skies.

I missed the moment it came into land (I was ‘rat spotting’ at the time) but I did manage to catch the departure of a cormorant paying a brief visit to the pond. It only stayed a few minutes… one swum circuit and then off.

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

And then it was back to rat-spotting. A few more wet weeks and the rapidly filling pond will flood the rat runs around the exposed banks. For now, there’s still enough room for them to lurk among the rocks, though occasionally they take to the water to swim round them rather than clambering over. No swimming shots today; just these.

rat

rat

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

Also posted in Birds, rats, Wildlife Tagged , , |

Snapshots

October 22, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Nothing but gloom today, but an early morning and late afternoon pause at Seven Sisters produced a few good sightings. The photos don’t do them justice and are little more than snapshot records of the day, the first being two shots of a peregrine falcon.

Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcon

Just as I was heading off to work, the klaxon-calls of Canada geese drew the camera.

Canada geese

Now to the end of the day and two little birds. The little grebe…

Little grebe

And the little egret (for once looking quite small).

Little Egret

The forecast for tomorrow looks quite promising for lunchtime… if the early morning rain clears.

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

Also posted in Bird of Prey, Birds, Wildlife Tagged , , , |

A Jay on a Rock

October 18, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

We are back to misty mornings, but the struggle to see through the gloom was was rewarded by a brief (and this year, a rare) sighting of a jay. These multicoloured birds are close relatives of the crow and the magpie, but are generally shy and more difficult to spot. This one stayed around just for a few seconds. Long enough though.

Jay

Jay

It had brightened up a touch by the middle of the day. Nothing too exciting to see, so these are just a few shots that I quite liked. The first is one of the local white ducks.

Small white duck

Next up is a very standard shot of a gull (black-headed variety in its winter plumage) in flight. The reason I’ve included it is that I was quite taken with the exceptionally miserable look on the bird’s face!

Black-headed gull

I was pleased with this final shot. The little pied wagtails are a common sight locally, and the relatively mild weather means that they are still leaping about over the rooftops catching insects on the wing.

Pied wagtail

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

Also posted in Birds, Wildlife Tagged , , , |