Leighton Moss...Egrets and Waders

I hadn't visited Leighton Moss for many months and I was keen to visit again.Autumn had arrived and thankfully the very high temperatures of the Summer were a distant memory.It promised to be a lovely day as I arrived at the Eric Morecambe hide.There were plenty of birds on show especially the egrets and greenshanks.It was greenshanks particularly that I had come to see and I knew that a number were at Leighton Moss.At this time of the year they are passing through on their way to sunnier climes.I think they are one of the most elegant of our waders and I was hoping for some nice images.

Egrets were there in good numbers also and with the little egrets was a splendid Great White Egret.In one of the images below you will see how much bigger the great white is compared to it's smaller cousin.It was a lovely sunny morning and was perfect for photography.Later on as high tide was due in Morecambe Bay an influx of redshanks arrived and gave more excellent opportunities for the camera.Hope you enjoy my better images from the session and on my next visit to Leighton Moss I hope to capture the bearded tits which are visiting the grit trays and are one of the special birds of Leighton Moss.Thanks for looking in and enjoy what looks like a nice sunny day tomorrow.

Pinks..Parasols..and a Phalarope

The weather was warm and settled ideal conditions for the pink footed geese to arrive from Iceland.I like to witness one of nature's spectacles as the geese arrive at Martin Mere for their winter holidays.There were already about seven thousand geese in the area and I was hoping for many more during the day.As it turned out it was relatively quiet with only one skein arriving during my stay,A lot more have arrived since then and there are now many thousands at Martin Mere.Next arrival will be the whooper swans from Iceland and they will be arriving nearer the end of October.It was still a very pleasant day at Martin Mere and it was nice to bump into Tom Charles from Liverpool who I hadn't seen for a number of years.

On the way back driving down one of the country lanes I discovered parasol mushrooms at the side of the road.This was a fungi that I always wanted to find and I made the best of this discovery by taking a number of images the best of which are shown below.I have since returned to the spot and they are still there although not looking quite as fresh.

Finally a grey phalarope turned up at Newton Marsh.A good number of these scarce visitors had been blown inland following recent storms so I felt obliged to twitch this bird as it was on my doorstep.It was a smart little bird and was very busy spinning around as only phalaropes can do.It was a little distant but I managed a few record shots of this scarce visitor to Lancashire.Hope you enjoy my latest images and my next posting will feature the many Egrets and Shanks present at Leighton Moss.Thanks for looking in and enjoy the weekend.

Owls Revisited

It was eight years since I had last seen Long Eared Owls up in the Pennine Hills.Paul Foster had found them and I was privileged to have seen this elusive owl hunting over it's territory up on the moors.Out of the blue Paul recently rang me to say he had been back to the location to discover that the Long Eared Owls were still about and also there was a barn owl in the vicinity.

So I met up with Paul around tea time and we travelled up to the location.I could not yet walk too far or over very rough ground so I parked myself at a gateway at the end of the track up onto the moors.Paul was behind a stone wall about a hundred yards away. We both had good views over the area where Paul had recently seen the owls hunting.It was a dry pleasant evening but was cool up on the moors.

Nothing much happened until around seven o'clock when Paul whistled to tell me he had spotted something.I couldn't see anything but then suddenly this barn owl appeared and was flying right towards me.I had difficulty locking onto the owl but eventually managed a couple of shots as it flew over my head.Unfortunately having seen me it backtracked and Paul wasn't able to get any shots.

Better was to come however when around 7.30pm an owl flew onto a fence post about seventy yards below me. It didn't see me and I fired off plenty of shots as it perched actively looking for prey.Once more Paul unfortunately didn't see the bird as it was below his line of sight and hidden from view.As we were packing up another long eared owl appeared on a fence post on a level with me and I very quickly managed a few shots.Paul was on his way back to me and couldn't focus quickly enough to get a shot. I understand he has since returned and got some images.Having shown the images to an expert he says these are two different birds,the paler one is a young bird probably from last year and the browner looking bird is an adult owl.I had been lucky to be in the right spot at the right time.Stay tuned for more wildlife from my camera and thanks for looking in.

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Back In Action

I am pleased to report that I am now mobile and back in action following recent surgery.I was looking forward to return to some of my favourite locations to catch up on the comings and goings.For my first visit I chose to go to Mere Sands Nature Reserve to hopefully see the kingfishers which I understand have had a good breeding season.

As expected the water levels were low after the long hot summer and the vegetation was very high and was almost obscuring the kingfisher posts at the Rufford Hide.Apart from a little egret and some young herons it was quiet.However the little egret was very actively hunting and gave some nice opportunities for action shots.

Around mid afternoon the kingfisher turned up and stayed in the vicinity for around an hour and despite the rank vegetation gave some nice opportunities for the camera.My better efforts are shown below but no doubt I will return to Mere Sands for more encounters.

I also managed a trip out to the waders at Ainsdale.The tide wasn't very high and I had to walk out to the birds.They were mostly sanderling scurrying along the tide line frantically feeding as only sanderlings do.It was very pleasant to be back at one of my favourite locations in the afternoon sun. A peregrine put in an appearance but was just passing through.A couple of little egrets were nice amongst the roosting oystercatchers and there was a small passage of sandwich terns.All in all it had been an excellent return to my wildlife photography and I hope that I now go from strength to strength.Thanks for looking in and I am sure I will have more to report soon.