Lee Harrison's Nature Photography.: May 2009

Don't Make Me Laugh...

Hello again, I've bin busy over the last week so I've not had any time to update.... so here we go:-

Had a day out a Moore Nature Reserve yesterday, in hope of seeing what would have only been our second ever Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Britain but unfortunately we didn't have any look there although we saw many other birds to keep us amused which included 4 Black Necked Grebes and a possible laughing gull.

Here's a few pics that I took on my way around:-

Whitethroat

Blackcap

For me, the highlight of the day, was seen these four beautiful Black Necked Grebes which was only the second time that we'd every seen them :-

Black Necked Grebe

Also on our way around, we came across this very conspicuous looking gull, after watching and clocking all its distinguishing features, I came to the conclusion that it was a laughing gull, so I went home and cross referenced my pics with others and checked all the details (dusty grey head that extended down the neck...dark wing feathers that stretched almost half way down its back... long slightly curved beak and dark features all along the back of the wings slightly bigger that a close by blacked gull) and I was sure woo hoo first rarity of the year.

Unidentified?

As you can see from these the pics don't really do justice to the description but I'll let you make your own mind up, others had mixed opinions but I guess I'll never know 100% although I was pretty sure...

On the way around, I decided to take a few snaps of butterflies n bus that I see as I'm trying to get more into them but I'm have some trouble identifying... but here they are:-

I like to call this one Very Ugly Fly

Common Blue

Painted Lady

Brimstone

Small Skipper

Small Copper

Any I hope that you like this blog and that you will visit again, if you have any opinions please let me know.

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

An Anglesark Evening...

I didn't have much time after work yesterday, so I decided to have a quick walk around my local Reservoir with a couple of nice results, as we started the walk all was quiet, a Heron fishing in the shallow,Swifts and hirundines dancing over head a Sparrowhalk gave us a close call as it landed within a metre of us an a wall, but soon departed without chance for a photo but seen such a beautiful bird this close was enough. As we reached the opposite side of the reservoir, thing started to pick up, first we stumbled across a Woodpecker nest where we could hear the young been fed and no more than 100ft down the path, we spotted a pair of Spotted Flycatchers that appeared to be feeding there young, which would be great unfortunatly the light had started to faid now the I still managed to get a couple of record pics.:-

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Spotted Flycatcher

Bluebells

Anyway I hope that you like my blog and that you'll visit again, please feel free to leave any comments,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

Happy Birthday To you....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE

Thursday morning and it was my other half's birthday, so I got up at 5 o'clock and headed over to Leighton Moss, don't worry she was in college so I was allowed out for a bit...

Anyway... To the serious stuff, I got down into Lilian's hide for 6 o'clock and everything kicked off, as I arrived I started checking through the large number off gulls that were around when a summer plumage Mediterranean Gull dropped in at the back of the pool, weighted around for about 5 minuets and then moved on, within 5 min as I was scanning across the top of the reed bed for anything unusual a Bitten decided to drop in out of site but a millisecond glimpse is better that none at all.

After this not much happened so I decided to head over to the grit trays to see if any of the Bearded Tits where around, I did manage to get a quick view of a gorgeous male at the top of a reed before flying off and never been seen again, although two slightly more co-operative Sedge Warblers provided ample opportunity for a few photographs:-

Sedge Warbler

After this very pleasant encounter, as I managed to get within about 2 metres of the special little birds, I decide to head over to the main reserve to see what was around. I decided to put in a good stint in Grisdale Hide and see what turns up, I weighted for almost an hour before anything turned up, with a large herd of 13 Red Deer came walking across in front of the hide:-

Red Deer

As I was watching this, a Male Marsh Harrier decided to give us a very close up view of its self as it tried to snatch a chick from a Moorhen nest but the Mum and Dad where having nothing to do with it...

Marsh Harrier

As the Marsh Harrier drifted off so majestically into the distance, I decided that it was time to see if anything interesting was showing its self over at Eric Morecambe's hide, as I settled down, I was shown a Spoonbill roosting far off to the left, not showing its bill at all and been very in-conspicuous so I decided to have3 a check through the massive number of gulls that were present. It just so happened that I was very lucky this time and literally the first 2 gulls that I checked were 2 of the 3 little gulls that were present in the end, I saw so happy to see this fabulous little bird, I didn't take that many pictures, but I was so happy to see them for the first time, I don't even care, but here are a few record pics anyway:-

Anyway I hope that you like me blog, sorry about the late delivery but here it is,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

Mere Sands Magic...

I've spent a few hour down at Mere Sands Wood over the last few days in hope of catching up with one of 4 birds, either a blackcap which I was yet to see this year, a Reed Warbler which I have never been able to photograph, a Tawny Owl which are always lovely to see or a Kingfisher which is a rare and amazing treat if you get to photograph them... But for me I think that someone must of been looking over me as I managed get all three in two day, the Reed Warbler, Kingfisher and Tawney Owl on Saturday and the Blackcap and the Tawney owl again, here are some of the photos I managed to get on the way around:-

Blackcap

Reed Warbler

Tawney Owl

And last but defiantly not least, this beautiful kingfisher that turned up after only 10 minuets of waiting, although I did wait for another 3 hours and it never returned:-

Kingfisher