Sunday, 30 October 2011

Long time no see…

Haven’t shared any photos for a while but that’s not cos I didn’t have any – just because I didn’t have the time.

Managed to get out for a couple of hours on Friday and saw some great sights at Pennington Flash. There was a huge flock of lapwings, providing a spectacular display for us, both on the ground and in the air.

CORMORANTS PEEWITS GEESE

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Sadly, the sun was almost setting, so the light wasn’t good, despite the sunshine, because it was shining on the front of the birds, which masked the gorgeous colours.  I would so love my camera lens to have the same clarity as my bins, but sadly, it doesn’t!

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cormorants

In one hide, we were treated to a really close view of a gorgeous kingfisher on his perch but only for a few seconds, unfortunately.  John spotted him in a tree to the side and got some good photos but I was sitting at the wrong angle and couldn’t even see it – drat!

On the way to the Bunting Hide, I did find these and fell in love with them.

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Forgot to mention that I did manage to snap a couple of ok shots of a long tailed tit, which I’m chuffed with because they’re rarely still long enough to get a reasonable photo.

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I was also fascinated by these gorgeous leaves and desperately hoping a lovely bird would land on them because they would have made such a fab frame.

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At the Bunting Hide, we saw all the usual suspects.

Bullfinches

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and a lovely little greenfinch.  We often used to have greenfinches in the garden, especially last thing, feeding off all the seeds dropped by the other birds.  They were usually pretty friendly, too, but since the finch disease reduced their numbers so drastically, we rarely see any now. This was a real treat.

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LOVE the fact that I can see his lovely beak and the half crushed sunflower seed. Amazing, given the failing light at this time.

I’d like to go again today but I suspect I’m going to be a bike widow again in a short while – still, time to stamp :-)

Before I go, I spotted this in the wind the other day, as I was hanging out some washing (bit too hopeful, I think – had to bring it in damp!). I thought it was a falling leaf because it was blowing all over the place but no, it was a gorgeous little flutterby – such a delight on a cold, late October day. I quickly ran in for my camera and this is what I managed to snap.

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You can even see the damage on his wings, if you look closely.

Till next time – just hope it isn’t quite as long!