Moor Green Lakes

Moor Green Lakes ~ 10th March 2012 ~

Today I went to Moor Green Lakes. I got there just after 8:30 and got home at around 14:00. It was a long but enjoyable morning with quite a few species of bird being seen, including Green Sandpiper, Red Kite, fem Pintail and Snipe.

I walked to the feeders first to see what was about; there was not much. I then walked to the first hide to scan Colebrook Lake North as a female Pintail was reported on Thursday. I got into the hide and opened a window to find a Green Sandpiper on the scrape along with a Snipe and a male Shoveler. I managed to get some decent shots of all three.

After spending quite a while in the hide, I headed round to the New Workings as 2 Shelduck had been reported in the first hide and would be the first ones I had seen this year. I did manage distant views of them and after about 10 minutes they did an overhead circuit but my photos are not very good.

I then decided to walk to the second hide to see if any Water Rail were on show. Unfortunately none were. I did however, get good views of a male Reed Bunting, a few Goosander (drakes and females) and also a white-headed sub-species of Cormorant.

Back at the first hide, nothing much had changed apart from the arrival of approx 50 pairs of Wigeon so I went to the feeders to try and get some photos. There was lots around, including: Blue Tit. Great Tit, Long-Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Nuthatch, Blackbird and Wren. I managed to get some in-flight shots of Blue Tit, Greenfinch and Nuthatch.

The feeders at the car park showed up most of the above as well as a Coal Tit and a possible Brambling.

My best shot of a Green Sandpiper

The closest male Shoveler I have ever had.

My record shot of a Snipe

My first sharp in-flight shot of a Blue Tit.

I was lucky to get this shot.

 Shame he was facing away from me!!

Blackbushe Airfield

Blackbushe Airfield ~ 6th March 2012 ~

After school this afternoon I went up onto the airfield to watch some of the filming they are doing up there. It was great fun watching and I got a few good shots of the F1 cars racing. No Dartford Warblers though. In fact, there were no birds at all apart from 4 Meadow Pipits, a few Blue Tits and 3 Blackbirds.

Here are a few photos from today:

Two of the four F1 cars being used in filming for "Rush" 

Not sure this will do the Dartfords any good!

Blackbird against sunset background.

Dinton Pastures

Dinton Pastures ~ 3rd March 2012~

Well, here goes. My first blog post ever!

Today I went to Dinton Pastures, our aim to see the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker hanging around the Teal Hide, and a Bittern at Lea Farm. I didn't see either bird.

We covered the whole of Dinton in just under 3 hours. It started out raining but the sun made an apperance later on. I managed some fleeting views of Kingfisher, but still no pictures.

At the Tern Hide, there were at least 10 Snipe feeding on the scrape to the left of the 'No Fishing' sign, there were also Shoveler, Teal, Cormorants, a Little Egret and a Pochard. On and around the feeders were 5 female Phesants, Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Long - Tailed Tits, Blue + Great Tits and last but not least, a Moorhen underneath the feeders.

Unfortunately, none of the other hides had anything worth mentioning here. However, it was a great morning and I met lots of nice people, some of whom I already knew, saw lots of birds and hope to go back soon.