I was hoping to get out n about much sooner than this but a horrendous bad back that appeared out of nowhere put paid to that.
At the end of last week I drove CR to Leightom Moss RSPB reserve where I managed a slow and delicate trundle round with the gang. Waiting in Lillian's Hide for the other half of the gang to arrive all was quiet and the light was simply awful. Best on offer was this Shoveler not too far from the window.
A
Great White Egret flew past which didn't give us time to change the camera settings so it's horribly over-exposed.
With the others phoning to say they were going to be a bit late we set off to have a look for the
Bearded Tits down at the grit trays along the path to the Grisedale Hide. The
Bearded Tits had been seen earlier but not for some time so we stood and waited, behind us on the opposite side of the track to the grit trays
Bearded Tits could be heard 'pinging' but they weren't for showing themselves. AK and AB duly arrived and still the
Beardies refused to come out onto the front esdge of the reeds, all we got were juddering reed-tops and half a glimpse of a brief flit about a metre or so back from the reed edge. Small numbers of
Snipe flying around overhead kept us occupied while we waited fort he main event. While three very noisy
Cetti's Warblers shouted at each other through the reedbed and a couple of close
Water Rails squealed loudly from not far behind the edge of the reeds but remained unseen.
After a while it all went quiet and that was our cue to have a welcome sit down and a shuffy from the hide. Here the light was once again horrid and there wasn't much out on the pool apart from a raft of about 30 Coots which maybe we should have tried to get a pic of. Eventually another birder saw a Little Grebe come out from hiding and paddle towards us.
It provided some entertainment for some time as it dived for its dinner in front of us, yet we never saw it bring anything to the surface.
Distant views of a
Marsh Harrier were had but it refused to come close. I missed another
Great White Egret too. Lunchtime approached so we headed back to Lillian's Hide to eat our butties while the otehrs hit the cafe. Still not much doing from the hide, the
Marsh Harrier popped into view several times but always kept its distance.
Once butties had been munched we had a look at the feeders where there was a proponderance of Coal Tits, a female Bullfinch that prefered to pick spilt seed from the ground below the feeders, a Nuthatch to-d and fro-d, there was a fleeting visit from a Marsh Tit and a Treecreeper crept around the back of the huge Ash tree in the corner of the feeding area.
Moving on we passed a couple of 'conservation grazing' Redpoll Cattle doing their thing in the wildflower field on the way to the Causeway Hide.
Along the boardwalk the sun had brought out a few
Common Darters which like to bask on the warm wood.
Several pairs were flying in tandem, one landing on the boardwalk just in front of me.
The water level at the Causeway Hide was high, not quite full to busting but not far off, the little island was almost covered. High water levels here often make for fewer birds and this was indeed the case today with not a lot about.
Gadwalls were the most numerous duck with a few
Shoveler thrown in for good measure.
Cormorants loafed on the island and posts while a couple dived for fish.
Much more exciting were several
Migrant Hawkers taking advantage of the warm sunshine. Dragonflies are always a challenging photographic subject when they're in flight, more so when they are constantly whizzing about interacting with one another. Out of hundreds of deleted shots I got a few keepers.
Perhaps I should have upped (or should that be downed?) the shutter speed a notch.
Meanwhile IH had spotted a Marsh Harrier that looked like it might come closer than usual for a refreshing change.
It was doing so well then turned away just as it was getting close enough for pretty good pics. Soooo annoying!
And with that she was gone!
Nothing for it now but to take the walk down to the new Lower Hide. Some extensive habitat work had been recently done on the reedbed down the causeway giving extensive views down a wide channel.
The walk beyond the gate through the woods was quiet but then early afternoon often is in the world of birds. Fungi caught the eye of AB who pointed out some fine and not so fine specimens to us. This whopper was about20 cm across and the largest in the cluster, provisionally IDd by AB as Lactarius controversus.
And this one might be
Spindleshank or a close relative
.At the hide high water levels again meant not much was showing, the normally wet bit of marsh below the hide was covered in several centimetres of water so the chance of seeing any
Snipe secreted in there was beyond slim to remote. A few
Gadwall weren't particularly showy, a
Marsh Harrier was typically very distant on the far side of the large pool and no
Otters put in an appearance. The only thing we could find to raise the camera for was this
Shoveler that sailed past before disappearing into the watery reeds.
The cloud rolled in, the dragonflies stopped flying and any chance of an afternoon
Hobby rolled out so we retraced our steps slowly back towards the car park. On the way through the woods we stopped to have a look at more fungi including a tiny little
Porcelain Fungus that I thought too damaged by slugs or snails to photograph - maybe I shouldn't be so picky! Passing the habitat modification along the causeway we heard the pinging of an unknown number of
Bearded Tits so hung around for a good while until we eventually got almost good glimpses of them flitting through the inner edge of the reedbed until one showed itself briefly stopping low down on the pathside before flying across to the other side...and then their calling stopped so we moved on.
Along the boardwalk the lack of sunshine had definitely put an end to the dragonfly activity. AK then saw a bird come towards us over the treetops that had the floppy wingbeats look of an Osprey, unfortunately once our bins were raised it turn into 'just' a Grey Heron - not that IH minded as in the herons v egrets totaliser herons were trailing way behind and IH is the only one of us rooting for Team Heron.
Once past the Redpoll Cattle the path winds back into a bit of woodland where we stood for a few minutes scanning the tops of the tall Alder trees by the childrens' dipping pond where, sometimes, there are Siskins to be found. Today was no exception, there was just the one that I could see flitting around among the cones at a neck straining angle above us with a small number of Goldfinches. I/m not sure if anyone else picked out any more but there was no way I was going to risk my back lifting the camera and bending over backwards at a jaunty angle to get a shot. No need any way as CR out us onto a nearby Goldcrest that was working its way through a berry-laden Hawthorn bush just above eye-level. A much safer target for the camera, even if it was now so gloomy under the tree canopy the ISO on the camera was showing a reading of somewhere between 'You've got to be kidding' and 'You're having a laugh mate'.
I lost it briefly as it flut through the twiggery but then refound it higher up on the other side of the shrub's main trunk.
It then went even deeper in and after a few moments was lost to view.
And so ended an entertaining day out with the gang; banter, birds n butties - what more could you ask for?
Coming up is the annual safari to the east coast with AK, IH and LCV and yet again we seem to have chosen the worst possible week of the autumn with Storm Amy bearing down on us. We need LCV to retire so he doesn't have to book his time off months in advance! It's now seven years - gulp - since he and I found this Rosy Starling at Spurn, our best self-found bird there, so it must be time for us to find something else the rest of the birfers there want to look at.
There's twice as many eyes this time but with the weather against us I don't hold out much hope - - but then you know wildlife - never say never!!! And if you don't get out you won't see nowt! So out we are going.
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