Swan Lake

The title of a very well known ballet but this last week or so I have had my own versions of Swan Lake.Following the recent persistent daily and heavy rain the fields have been like inland lakes.Particularly around the Pilling and Nateby areas.These flooded fields have attracted many whooper swans from Iceland.The whoopers can be seen most winters in this area where they feed on the left over potatoes.So far this Autumn however there has been too much water in the fields.They have obviously found vegetation to feed on and a few hundred swans could be seen swimming and grazing on the favoured fields.

Following the rain there were some nice sunny afternoons and I enjoyed driving round the quiet country lanes photographing these lovely visitors from Iceland.Also present were a few Mute Swans and three black swans enjoying the company of their relatives from far away.I have shown some images below of the action.Hope you enjoy these images from Swan Lake.There is now a spell of settled weather forecast and I think some of the many swans will depart for Martin Mere where they will enjoy daily feeds and the company of many other whoopers here for the Winter months.Thanks for looking in and I will be back soon with more wildlife.

Leighton Moss...Waders

Around this time of the year I like to visit Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.I have found that it can be good to observe passage waders which are on their way south and call in to refuel for the long journeys ahead.One wader I particularly like to see is the greenshank.This beautifully elegant wader is usually present and so it proved on my recent visit.It was a lovely sunny and warm day and there was plenty of mud at the Morecambe and Allen hides to attract the waders.

It was indeed a super afternoon and the camera was kept busy photographing the birds present.I have shown below a selection from the day and as well as greenshank which heads the post are images of curlew sandpiper,redshank and lapwing.Also shown are little egret with a small fish and a number of images of snipe which were having a wonderful time as they probed the rich mud for food.Since this visit the weather has been very disturbed with plenty of rain.I have however managed an outing to Southport and I managed some nice images of the wader roost on another rare sunny day.This will probably be my next posting. So thanks for looking in and stay tuned for more later this month.