Lackford Lakes

so far this year, there has not been much in the way of clear skies and sunshine. Certainly not on a weekend. So when there was a brief window of good weather on a Saturday, I used it for a trip to Lackford lakes. I was keen to see a starling murmuration, and I had read that Lackford was a good location. I arrived around lunchtime. The reserve was busy and I was lucky to find somewhere to park. I passed the afternoon photographing small birds around a few feeding stations. 

People stated gather for the murmuration from about 3.30pm. The starlings started to gather from around 4.30pm. Much of the time the birds were overhead. On the plus side this, the sound of all those wings beating was very clear. On the minus side it was tricky to get it all in frame. I regretted not bringing my wide-angle lens. There were no raptors around, so the starlings only began to tightly bunch in the final few minutes. Pretty much on the stoke of 5pm, the birds dove down into the reed beds and the show was over.

Welney Again

Because my previous trip to Welney WWT was during a flooding period, I had a free return ticket, which I opted to use last weekend.  The water had receded enough that some of the outer hides were open.  Sadly, the water was still too high to attract in many swans, most of which stayed out on the fields past sunset.

Paxton Pits Catch-up

 Catching up on the blog.  Here is a mixed bag from Paxton Pits.

Gulls at Paxton Pits

Last Sunday morning I visited Paxton Pits for the first time in months.  It was a fairly bright, but very cold.  The water in the lakes was the lowest I can remember seeing it in years.  I wanted to practice capturing birds in flight.  Luckily there were plenty of black-headed gulls skimming the water.

 

 

Red Kites

One of the great wildlife success stories of recent decades has been the Red Kite.  Persecution in the 19th and early 20th centuries decimated the UK population.  Once, you had to travel to west Wales to stand a chance of seeing the few remaining birds.  Then in the early '90's a reintroduction program began in the Chilterns.  There are now so many Red Kites in the Chilterns that their numbers cannot be reliably counted.  The birds have spread and other reintroduction programs followed, elsewhere in the country.  Kites are now an increasingly common site in Huntingdonshire.  There a few spots to reliably see them, but one of the best is near a scrapyard on the old A1 at Stilton.  The scrapyard owners must feed them, because Kites can appear there in large numbers. 

I visited one afternoon with blue skies and low sun, hoping for a number of beautifully lit birds.  Sadly, feeding time must have been over.  There were 6 or so Kites when I first arrived, but this soon thinned down to a couple.  I could see more a  couple of fields over, but didn't have the time to chase them.  Instead I enjoyed the view I had and will go back again to hopefully get the numbers I hoped for.

 

Lackford Lakes

On Saturday, I visited Lackford Lakes in Suffolk, with my friend Vic, who was up from Devon for a few days.  We went with the intention of trying to photograph kingfishers.  Lackford has an artificial bank where they nest, and there was still young in at least one hole.  We watched a male bring in a fish, stopping first, on a well located post, to orientate it for delivery.  Sadly it was all too distant for usable photos.  We tried a couple of hides, eventually settling in one with 6 or so other photographers.  We waited an hour or so, passing the time by trying to shoot dragonflies in flight.  Eventually, we were rewarded by a couple of visits from a (the same?) male.

Lackford Lakes

I am catching up with some image editing, ahead of a series of posts on my recent holiday to the Orkney Isles.  These shots were taken a few weeks ago, when I spent a very pleasant day at Lackford Lakes, near Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk.

 

 

 

A Morning At Paxton Pits

Some images from a recent morning spent at Paxton Pits.  I visit fairly often during the spring/summer (well it is about a 5 minute drive).  But I never seem to have much luck there.  Usually whichever hide I am using, the birds are somewhere else.  However, by my standards it wasn't a bad morning; with a greylag goose in a meadow, some cute ducklings, a banded demoiselle, an orange tip butterfly and even a black headed gull in flight.