Demoiselles and Ospreys

Continuing my quest for some decent osprey images this week found me once again in Cumbria.The weather had suddenly become very hot with record temperatures for July.It was perfect dragonfly weather so I combined a visit to the ospreys with a visit to a nearby beck which held a good population of the beautiful demoiselle. This stunning damselfly has a very restricted distribution in the North of England and is well worth seeking out at this time of the year.

It was good to see the beck was still occupied by these super looking insects.Despite the attention of horseflies I managed some reasonable images which are shown above.The stunning males look almost tropical as they flit about the bankside vegetation looking for the more sombre brown females.They do at times pose beautifully for the camera and I enjoyed the action at this lovely spot.

It was then on to the location where the ospreys are and I settled down by the lakeside awaiting some action.It was late afternoon before an osprey appeared and it was circling above the lake on the lookout for fish.It didn't catch anything from nearby and soon vanished from sight in it's quest for food.However in the brief time it appeared overhead I did manage some reasonable shots helped by good light from the very warm afternoon sun.I have shown above my best efforts on the day and they are an improvement on previous images.Well pleased I returned on the long journey home but I will be back for more encounters with these very special birds. Thanks for looking in and enjoy the current very summery weather at last.

Waiting For An Osprey

This last couple of weeks or so has seen me driving into the Lake District away from my usual haunts in Lancashire.It has long been a photographic ambition to obtain some decent images of ospreys.Previously I have only photographed very poorly, one that briefly visited Leighton Moss when I was there. Ospreys are currently doing very well in the Lake District with five and maybe more sites now occupied.After the nesting successes in Scotland the birds have moved south and are now resident at a few sites in England and Wales.

One of the well known sites in southern Lakeland is at Foulshaw Moss.Here the ospreys have raised three chicks this year.Cumbria Wildlife Trust have provided an excellent nest cam which gives wonderful images of the comings and goings at the nest site.I have shown above a screen grab of the two parents and chicks and recommend tuning in to have daily views of the family life of the ospreys.I visited Foulshaw Moss but the nest site is a long way from the viewing platform and even a telescope gives limited viewing.I have shown above a couple of my images from Foulshaw of the viewing platform and the very distant nesting tree.

My main destination was another site situated in a beautiful part of the Lake District.At this location there are two pairs of ospreys present and the chances of seeing one or two are quite good.I have made four visits and have seen birds on each occasion.The views were however not very good.The birds were distant and I only managed a few record shots.There was however other bird life to keep the camera busy and whilst there I received much information from a local wildlife photographer.Again shown above are some rather poor record shots of the ospreys and better images of the other bird life present at the location.

I was there again yesterday on a lovely very warm last day of June.This time one of the ospreys came to fly over the lake giving me some better opportunities for images in lovely evening light.I was pleased with the results and will publish some of the better shots next time.I will be returning again in a few weeks when there should be much more action as the chicks develop.Thanks for looking in and keep tuned.     

Action at the Docks

It is that time of the year when common terns return to breed at the former Preston Docks.I always look forward to the arrival of the terns as there is always plenty of action to see and photograph.This year a lot of new boxes have been made to accomodate the growing tern colony.I think there are now around one hundred pairs of terns using the pontoons at the docks to rear their families.The project is a joint effort with Preston City Council,Fylde Bird Club and the RSPB.It is a scheme that is also being used elsewhere in the region at Conder Green,Yarrow Valley Country Park and Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve.

Despite the attraction of the former docks to other users e.g.boating,retail development and housing the tern colony is thriving.One fly in the ointment however this year has been the predation of the tern eggs by a resident coot.On a couple of my visits I have seen the coot taking and eating the eggs whenever the nests have been left unattended.The terns have attacked the coot but it has still managed to steal a number of eggs.The terns can be very aggressive and think nothing of seeing off the resident family of mute swans if they venture too near.

However despite these difficulties this last week has seen some of the eggs hatching and the parents have been kept busy bringing in food from the nearby River Ribble.Hopefully the coot will lose interest as more of the eggs hatch but then the parents will have to defend the chicks from attacks by marauding gulls which are always present nearby.It is fascinating to visit and observe and photograph all of the action and hopefully my images shown above will convey some of the excitement in seeing this busy tern colony.Thanks for looking in and enjoy, despite the weather, the weekend.More from the Preston terns in due course.

Rossall Roost

I hadn't visited Rossall Point at Fleetwood for many months so decided to have a look at the wader roost on  recent high tides.Many of the waders usually present had departed for the breeding grounds far to the north. There were however still a few stragglers left for me to amuse myself with the camera.It was the usual waders that use Rossall roost that were present being sanderling,dunlin,turnstone and ringed plover.

Mike accompanied me on my first visit.The weather had at last become more summery and we enjoyed the various comings and goings over the period of the high tide.Mike picked out a few gannets way out at sea and he was fairly sure he had also spotted a storm petrel.These were well beyond camera range  so I concentrated on the nearby waders.The pick of these being the summer plumaged sanderlings and turnstones.I visited again on my own two days later to find very few waders about.I think they would have taken advantage of the window of fine weather to begin their long journeys to the arctic breeding grounds.I did however get much closer to the birds present and grabbed a few close up shots.Again the sanderlings looked stunning in their breeding finery.

Hope you enjoy the images posted above of the waders present at Rossall Point.It will not be long before many of them return in August following what will hopefully be a good breeding season in the far north.Thanks for looking in and I will be back soon with more of Lancashire's wonderful wildlife.

The Young Ones

I haven't reported on the progress of the grebes at a local nature reserve for some time.I can now say that the pair of great crested grebes I have been watching have been successful in raising three youngsters.I last visited a few weeks ago and was very pleased to see three very young grebe chicks riding on the back of one of the parent birds.They were not easy to pick out as they were snuggled down under the feathers on the back. However when the other parent bird appeared with food they made themselves visible as they tried to be first to get the very small fish that were being brought to them.The parents would change duties and the chicks were tipped off the back into the water.They then scrambled onto the back of the new transport to take them round the lake to meet the incoming food.

It was wonderful to watch the parents carrying out their duties and hopefully all three chicks will grow quickly and healthily to maturity. Also on show as usual at this lake was a little grebe which looked splendid as it patrolled the lake edge close to the camera allowing some more nice portrait shots It would be nice to see some young little grebes but no sign yet.Hope you like some of my efforts with the camera and I will return in due course to check on the progress of these delightful great crested grebes.Thanks for looking in and you can be sure of more reports soon from Lancashire's wildlife.