Fungi Paxton October 23d

The threatened rain and wind held off until mid afternoon and allowed our Paxton Photography Group to spend time finding, lighting and photographing the fungi in Rory's Wood from the very small Cyathicula coronata (growing on a plant stem so you can see they are very small) to the impressive Abortiporus biennis Blushing Rosette

 

Paxton Best of the Rest

The shallow water at some of the edges of Heronry Lake make wonderful drinking and washing areas for birds and reflection pools for photographers. Here a Grey Wagtail and Pigeon beautifully reflected. Another photographers favourite, the Otter, made a brief subject to aim the cameras as it traversed the water ahead of us. Cormorant, Llttle Egret, Grey Heron, Great Crested Grebe and pair of Teal complete the swim/flypast.

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. 

Kingfisher

 Although the light wasn't great, I was pleased to have captured most of the sequence of this kingfisher catching and consuming a fish at Paxton yesterday.

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.