I know you've all been on tenterhooks (?) awaiting the
answers for the series of picture teasers I posted just after Christmas! To those that tried and to those that failed miserably
(sorry!) thanks for taking part, I hope
you enjoyed the challenge?
But first a picture of a Male Kestrel that posed for me in the sunshine a few days ago close to Marsworth Reservoir in Hertfordshire.
As the weather men are predicting for it to be reasonably
mild over the Christmas period I thought I would present you with a little bit
of snow!
Yesterday I went to Startop's End Reservoir near Tring in Hertfordshire were
sightings of a Jack Snipe had been reported during the last two days, needless
to say it was spectacular in its absence!!
So I decided to have another look at the Snow Bunting that
has taken up residence and has been showing well for over a week now.
Over the last few
days there have been reported sightings of three species of birds in my local area that were all potential
lifers for me. So today I decided to
make the effort and brave the elements to see what I could find.
I arrived at Startop's End Reservoir on the Buckinghamshire/Hertfordshire border
to find a small group of birders, braving a bitterly cold South Westerly wind,
watching a stunning first winter male
Snow Bunting.
Next it was a short drive to Wilstone reservoir in
Hertfordshire, where the wind seemed to be getting even colder, and a quick
word with another birder who was just
leaving and I was directed to my second lifer of the day a juvenile
Dark-Bellied Brent Goose grazing in an adjacent field with some Greylag Geese.
The third lifer of the day I have seen before in captivity
but never in the wild consisted of a
family group of four Bewick's Swans who were unfortunately too distant for a decent photograph!
So, that's three firsts for the day... and now the next first
is... the very first time that I have posted a video on my blog! Yes - after much deliberation I've purchased
a video camera and have been trying to get to grips with it for the last few
weeks!!
So here are my two very shaky (well it was windy!!) first videos...hopefully
the quality will improve for future posts!!
So I had a very
successful, if very cold, day of firsts,
and the final first is that for the first time I've managed to post photographs
(and videos!) on the same day as I took them...that's a lot of firsts for one
day...phew!!
It's that time of year when the days are getting shorter,
the weather is getting worse! the wild
flowers are starting to fade, the butterflies have all but disappeared and the
birds are flying away (we still have passage migrants to look out for, of
course). Now is the time for us photographers to once again
get our knees and elbows wet and muddy down amongst the leaf litter. Yes, it's
FUNGI TIME.
Yesterday was my first fungi photo foray (that's a lot of
f's) of the year. I went to a good fungi spotting location, the large mixed woodland of the Ashridge Estate,
which straddles the Herts/Bucks border.
I spent about four hours wandering the woods and found
reasonable amounts of 'specimens' to photograph. One area however was pretty
much devoid of any decent photo opportunities and I soon realised why, two
women busily picking every edible fungi in sight! after a nod of introduction
we got chatting and they turned out to be an Italian mother and daughter
"up from London" (about 20 miles away at its nearest) for the
day specifically to collect "mushrooms",
which they do two or three times a year, and judging by their basket which was
overflowing with Boletes and Puffballs they were having a very successful day!
With hindsight I should have taken a photograph of their
basket, doh!
Here are a few(!) images from 'my basket'.
Lilac Bonnet (mycena pura)
Yellow Swamp Brittlegill (russula claroflava)
Bitter Beech Bolete (boletus calopus)
Common Funnel (clitocybe gibba)
Sepia Bolete (boletus porosporus)
Bicoloured Deceiver (laccaria bicolor)
Purple Jellydisc (ascocoryne sarcoides)
Common Puffball (lycoperdon perlatum)
Orange Milkcap (lactarious aurantiacus)
Clustered toughshank (collybia confluens)
Cep or Penny Bun (boletus edulis)
I've given some I D's but they're by no means 100%
certain. please feel free to correct me
where needed.
Last Monday morning dawned grey and wet (it had rained all night) as me andKeith made an early start to visit the RSPB Rye Meadsreserve in Hertfordshire. We arrived just after 8am and in good time for the reserve opening. After having breakfast of coffee with cheese and ham rolls (which Keith had kindly prepared for us) we wandered down the road to have a look around Rye Gatehousewhich was built in 1443 as the gatehouse for the Ogard Estate and was one of the first brick built buildings in the country. As you would expect it is now Grade1 listed.
Back to the reserve and in the reception area everyone was excited by the reports that a pair of Black-Necked Grebes had just been spotted on one of the lakes. So off we set in the rain (it did ease up and eventually stop around lunch time) and the common theme, as you would expect at this time of year, was young birds with frantic feeding activity from the parents.
Some Pictures
Canada Goose family (only the one gosling)
Cormorant
A pair of Gadwall
Whitethroat
Sedge Warbler
Tufted Duck (female)
And the highlight of my day was seeing at close range a stationary, for all of 30 seconds, Kingfisher. Until now my only experience of this beautiful bird was seeing a rocket like blue flash as they flew by!Unfortunately, due to the dull weather, I had been experimenting with high ISO settings on the camera and it was still set to ISO 1600 hence, grainy pictures! Hopefully I’ll be better prepared next time.
Ponies grazing in one of the marsh meadows
And finally back at the visitor centre this pair of Pheasants were busily scavaging for seed from under the feeding station feeders.
So, after five plus hours of great birding with over forty species listed (and yes we did see the Black-Necked Grebes, albeit distant even with the bino’s) it was time to leave this excellent reserve with a pledge to "be back soon”
