Paxton Pits October

Ellie requested seeing a Kingfisher on her visit to Paxton Pits today - request fulfilled plus the bonus of two sitting together for a time (too far into the leaves and branches to capture on the camera) and one of them capturing a large fish which it banged on a branch (unfortunately behind a lot of foliage) before swallowing. We also managed several duck species and a Great Crested Grebe teaching its humbug youngster what to do with a fish after capturing it - not a very successful lesson so the adult ate the fish. Very cute Blue tit and flying Swan and Grey Heron completed the sightings.

Paxton's New Generation of Grebes, Herons and Cormorants

 Beautiful autumn day for a visit to Paxton though the strong morning sunlight proved a challenge for photographing across the reflective water. It is good to record the activity of our new generation of Grebes, Cormorants and Grey Herons and that there is plenty of fish to support them at the moment. 

Saturday Walk Paxton

The theme for yesterday's monthly public walk at Paxton Pits was 'Conservation at the Reserve'. Mike and Carina took the party into one of the restricted conservation area and explained very clearly the work that needs to be done constantly to maintain the breeding areas for small birds, including the Nightingale, and to create new habitats for birds and insects etc. While walking round, I photographed any insect activity, which was restricted to a resting Red Admiral butterfly, hoverflies, Honey bees, a few small solitary bees and still a large number of Common Darters with smaller numbers of Migrant Hawkers and Willow Emerald Damsels. I called in at the hide on the way back and was rewarded with a late-migrating Hobby (in the distance!!) and a delightful trio of Great Crested Grebes (plus young Coot).

What are the Kingfisher and Grebe Eating?

So delighted that Kingfishers are busy at Paxton diving right in front of one of the hides - we think they are young birds and certainly this bird didn't seem to know quite what to do with the ?water beetle it had caught. The adult Great Crested Grebe caught a very large Tench and took a long while to swallow it and did not look very comfortable with the fish in its crop. 

Paxton Pits - Rain At Last

In other years, the camera would have stayed in the camera bag with light levels as bad as they were yesterday morning, but the first rain into Heronry Lake at Paxton for many weeks had to be recorded!! The two Great Crested Grebe chicks are now as big as their parents but still being fed by them. They spend a lot of time in the shallow water - a good tactic to avoid the Cormorants. All the usual 'players' visited - Gulls, Gadwall, Coot, Heron, Egrets etc.