Winter Visitors and Early Nest Building at Paxton Pits

Great to see winter visitors, Goosander and Golden Eye pairs, plus resident species Great Crested Grebe, Egyptian Goose, Kingfisher, Gadwell, Shoveller, Wigeon,Kestrel, Black-headed Gull, Grey Heron and Cormorant - the latter busy building the nests.

Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre

We were promised sunshine for our Nature Group outing to Slimbridge yesterday but most of the day it was cloudy with a bit of rain. Here some of the birds around the central area of the reserve. The Jackdaws and Rooks were busy building nests. The views of the Estuary and its birds were great with a dark stormy sky behind while it was good to get images of Chiffchaff, Snipe and four different Kingfishers

Fun with the Kingfishers

This young kingfisher (white tip to beak) was one of a party of 4 kingfishers flying around and fishing at Paxton yesterday. It made several dives but wasn't successful! I used the fast drive to record consecutive flight shots as it dived and then aligned them to make a composite (image 2). The dive down shows how the speed increases as it dives down (greater spacing of consecutive images). Unfortunately the return to perch was not so successful composite as the bird flew forward of the focus zone (my camera is not good enough autofocus to track this). The last two are of the adult male (longer completely black beak, unspeckled breast etc) in the distance.

 

Kingfishers Perform Well at Slimbridge

We visited Slimbridge on Friday on the way to Somerset and spent a long while watching their pair of Kingfishers. The male brought the female a fish at regular intervals and after consuming it they both bathed and preened. Unfortunately for photographers they are at a distance, the light was abysmal and the windows of the hide have been locked to prevent disturbance - a sensible measure! Also enjoyed the Bewick Swan, flamingos and various duck species.

Paxton Miscellany from Egrets to Hornets

We visited Paxton Pits today on a beautiful warm Autumnal day partly because I wanted to see if there were more dragonflies and damselflies around than on our survey morning on Saturday when it was cold and wet or whether the season was over early. There were Migrant Hawkers, Ruddy Darters, Common Blue Damsels. I had my 140mm insect snapping lens so birds were a bit distant but good to record Little Egret, Great Egret, Kingfisher, Cormorant with Pike plus Ferruginous ducks and Black-headed Gulls pirating the Cormorant. On the macro side - Eyed Hawmoth Caterpillar, a pair of mating moths and Shieldbug. Spent a bit of time at the Hornets nest but need longer lens and flash system.