Martin Mere feels the "Cold Snap"...

Well it's back to Uni and back to the insular life that are assignments... but still I'm not one to complain, I managed to get out a few Fridays back to Martin Mere, where most off the water was still frozen... I hope that you like them...

"Evening Mere"

"Ruff"

Possibly my favourite sight of the day was seen Whooper Swans running across the ice to challenge a nearby family but when it came to stopping, everything when wrong and the male they where after just stepped to the side and watched as they slid across the ice on there bellies.

"Whooper Swans"

On leaving the reserve, I came across this Heron, trying to feed in the flamingo enclosure, the light was fading but I took the opportunity to take a few shots...

Well I hope that you like the blog, sorry that it's been a while but Uni calls...

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

Feeling A Bit Ruff...

Well it was the morning after the night before and my head felt like there was still a party going on up there but I was determined to get out, so I went for the easy option and headed over to Martin Mere With a large bottle of water and a few paracetamol; on arrival things seemed quite, a few hundred shelducks skating around the frozen lakes and the usual couple thousand whoopers waddling around on the ice, there was a very nice turn out as far as the geese were concerned thousands of pinkfeet, at least half a dozen barnacle and a single Red Breasted Goose, which is a very easy tick as far as most birders are concerned but it made me happy; during the day, not many photo opportunities arose but as I was waiting for the swans to be fed, a group of three ruff decided make a good appearance but only two stayed around long enough to be photographed unfortunately the light was quite poor so I had to shoot on a higher ISO than I would of liked to but still I hope that you like them...

One of the thing that I love most about Ruff and the reason that they are one of my favourite waders is that no matter how many you see, you will never two with the same marking, this is why I separated these two out with this sentence, even though they are subtle differences they make all the difference especially when it comes to summer, they can vary from almost entirely black to pure white, a truly amazing bird...

After this very pleasant sighting, I stuck around to see the swans get fed to take a few snaps, by this time the light was awful for photographs but I hope that you like them...

Well that you for viewing my blog, please feel free to leave any comments,

thanks always Lee Harrison.

A Ruff Bit Of Weather...

Well I woke up this morning a 9:45 so I decided to get up and head out to see what I could see out and about; sat down stairs eating my toast, I glanced up at the clock 8:45.....? "confused" before my mum shouted from the other room, "so did you remember to turn your clocks back last night".....DAMN... an extra hour in bed and I forgot... But still I headed out in hope of photographing a few geese over at Martin Mere WWT. On arrival, there were lots of geese present but all very distant causing problems for a photographer like me that only uses a 300mm lens; not to be disappointed I carried on walking round soon to be rewarded with the opportunity to photograph 2 of my favourite winter birds, the first of these was a fine male Pintail that came cruising by very close to the hide; I really do think that these or one of the most beautiful birds that you will see over this season; I hope that you like the pics...

whilst I was there I also snapped up this very sorry looking female, obviously had a hard breeding season...

the second little critters that I got to photograph were a couple of Ruff my favourite winter wader, they come in so many different colours from all white to almost black a superb little bird; I hope that you like the pics, this is the first time I've been able to see these birds up close:-

Well I hope that you like the blog, feel free to leave any comments,

thanks always Lee Harrison.

Eventually Wednesday Arrives...

I had a fantastic day out on Wednesday, with 3 brand new ticks, I've been that busy going though the 400+ pics that I took on my day out and college work I have had no time to write this blog... But here it is eventually...

I started off at 9am parking up at Crossens and walking down to Sandgrounders in hope of getting a few pics. of the Sedge Warblers and Whitethroat, even though I waited for nearly 2 hours at different bramble patches the Sedgy proved elusive to photograph, although a flock of 7 Swift came swirling over head and a slightly more co-operative Whitethroat came and landed close by singing in a tree...

Swift

Whitethroat

Eventually reaching the hides almost 2 hours after I had set off, I had a brief look in Sandgrounders where nothing much was going on before heading off to Nells to see of the Little Stint and Curlew sandpiper where around, I got settled and started scanning around with instant results as Peregrine came soring over, sending the Blackwits in to histerics before stooping through the centre of the flock creating panic.

Peregrine Falcon

Black Tailed Godwits (Panicking)

As I sat there, my belly started to rumble "umm dinner time" I thought and I think the birds must of had the same idea, Peregrines chasing the Blackwits soon after a large female Spawk came cruising over taking specific interest in the house martins darting around and then unusually a large and what I can only presume was a very hungry GBB gull came soaring in and continued to chase a poor little Oyster Catcher in circles around the marsh

Sparrowhalk

GBB chasing Oyster Catcher

After this exciting start, thing started to settle down, all the raptors disappeared leaving me to try and scope out these little waders, I scoped, I scoped and I Scoped but nothing, no Ringed Plover, no Dunlin, not even a Redshank.... I sat there for an hour before I saw anything and then it all happened, "Zoom" 2 common sand came flying onto a nearby island with a single Ruff then a beautiful White Wag. came to join them...

Common Sandpiper

Ruff (sorry About the Pics)

White Wagtail (again Sorry about the pics)

Shortly after "flit" a Redshank appeared and then I noticed a small wader fly into the back of the marsh and there it was, the bird I'd been waiting for, a beautiful Curlew Sandpiper "Woo Hoo a First" showing fantastically between a small group of Backwits and a single Redshank:-

Curlew Sandpiper

As you can see in the 2nd and 3rd Pics you can see both Redshank and more importantly the fantastic Curlew Sandpiper.

As I wondered back, not much around so I decided to have a wonder around the sand plant were I picked up this beautiful male Wheatear who quite happily posed for about 30 second whilst I took a few snaps...

Wheatear

And Last but not least on the way home I stoped off at Martin Mere where I didn't see much, 3 Ring Plover, a Single Redshank and the usual wildfowl that you might expect, so at a last minuet decision I chose to have a walk down Curlew lane to see if the yellow Wags. had settled in yet. This is a bird that I can never remember seen although my Mum and Dad tell me that I saw 1 as a child so I class this next entry as a first,

Yes as you guessed I found them... Well after waiting 30min., I found a single Yellow Wag. on its own, the pic isn't anything to be desire but here my first every sighting and record shot of a Yellow Wagtail...

Yellow Wagtail

Yep... This is all I got of it but it but a massive smile on my face because I also caught up with a flock of Corn Bunting Whilst I was down there which accounted to another 2 new ticks for my life... Woooooooooooo hooooooooooo...

Anyway I hop that you like my blog and I hope that you will visit again;

Thanks always Lee Harrison.