Repeat Performance

After Tuesday's successful visit to Leighton Moss I decided on another visit yesterday. The weather was still good and I was hoping for another sighting of the magnificent stag seen on Tuesday.I arrived around 2pm and spent the next four hours at the Griezdale hide.It was busy at times in the hide but fairly quiet on the water with only a few teal and gadwall showing well in the afternoon sunshine.From time to time we did have visits from a couple of marsh harriers still present on the reserve.By late afternoon most of the visitors had left and there were only four of us present when once again around 6pm the red deer stag put in an appearance.This time it came from the right hand reed beds and waded across in front of the hide. Three minutes later it had gone but in that short time kept me busy with the camera firing off a salvo of shots. Shown below some of my better efforts and a couple of the harrier and gadwall. Also a general view from the Griezdale hide.Hope you enjoy these further images from Leighton Moss and thanks for looking in.

The Golden Hour

I visited Leighton Moss again this week to hopefully see the red deer stags that had been roaring on previous visits but had remained hidden deep in the reed beds.It was to be an interesting session and began at Lillian's Hide. Here eight whooper swans had arrived.Whoopers are not often seen at Leighton and they were not welcomed by the resident mute swans which eventually saw them off. They provided nice photo opportunities and will be the subject of a future post.I spent the last three hours of the afternoon at the Griezdale Hide waiting for the red deer to show.It was a frustrating wait as stags could be heard roaring from the reed beds just in front of the hide.Eventually after a long wait a magnificent stag came out into the open and slowly crossed the open water to vanish into the reeds again.There was frantic clicking of shutters from the assembled photographers as the stag posed and roared for us in his all too brief three minutes on view.It had been a magic last hour with that lovely golden light and eventually the wonderful sight of a magnificent red deer stag.One of the memorable sights and sounds of Autumn and one I hope to witness again soon. Hope you enjoy the images below and thanks for looking in.

Otter Watching

Yesterday I visited Leighton Moss to see what was about following the floods earlier in the week. You definitely needed wellies to get around the reserve as most of the paths were flooded.A quick look at the marsh pools and new hides yielded a nice shot of a passing little egret. I moved on to the main part of the reserve hoping to see some red deer stags later on. I firstly paddled through the floods to the public hide where I was to spend a couple of hours or so watching feeding otters. The otters were always very distant but were very active and eventually one did come just within range of the big lens and a couple of record shots were obtained.A couple of young grebes were present but otherwise it was very quiet.I finished my day down at the Griezdale hide hoping for a sighting of red deer. Roaring stags could be heard but nothing showed whilst I was there. Many coots were present and I enjoyed trying to capture the action as they panicked trying to evade some sort of threat.I have posted a few shots from the afternoon.Record shots of the otter, the grebe showing his paddle foot and an action shot and portrait of the coots. Thanks for looking in and enjoy the weekend.

High Tide...Rossall Point

Yesterday I visited Rossall Point at Fleetwood with Martin and Geoff joined us later to watch the waders at their high tide roost.It was a bracing day with strong and cool winds from the west but we managed to avoid most of the showers.It was a biggish tide which pushed the waders close to the promenade at Rossall. The sanderling,turnstones and ringed plover here are very approachabe and it is very enjoyable catching the action with the big lenses.Shown below are some action shots from the day which show mostly the sanderling in flight along the beach.Also shown one of the many dogs which can upset the roosting birds as they enjoy themselves running along the tide line.The close up image of a sanderling was of a bird which was on the promenade just a few metres away.The birds are very confiding and an interesting shot is shown of a group narrowly avoiding collision with an invalid scooter!! I have also shown the Isle Of Man Ferry on it's daily run from Heysham.Hope you enjoy the images and thanks for looking in.

Special Moments

As a wildlife photographer I experience many special moments but some are more memorable than others.Last week I visited Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve to have a look at the newly constructed Morecambe and Allen hides.On the way there I had noticed three young swallows being fed by the parent birds.I was able to park the car close to the action and take many images of the comings and goings.The young birds had fledged but were still dependent on the adults for a sufficient supply of insects.It was a sobering thought to think that very soon these young birds would embark unaided on a marathon journey to South Africa where they would spend our winter months.The odds on them achieving this are very slim and even less on them making the return journey.I enjoyed my short time with them and wished them well on their long journey.Hope you enjoy a few of my images from this memorable encounter shown below and many thanks for looking in.

Godwits Galore

This week I visited Marshside RSPB at Southport on one of the better days for photography with good light and no rain.It was fairly quiet down at the main Sandgrounders area apart from a couple of wheatears in the compound.Up at Nel's hide however most of the large flock of black tailed godwits were present and many hundreds were right in front of the hide.The majority of the birds were in winter plumage but one or two individuals still had their rich breeding colours and made excellent subjects for the camera.One or two other visitors also showed well and I have included images of a young lapwing,a woodpigeon,a waterhen and a redshank which all showed off their plumage in the afternoon sun.Hope you enjoy this selection of images and thanks for looking in and enjoy your weekend.