Beewolf Wasps

We made a brief visit to the Beewolf Wasp colony near Sandy to assess the activity and found them very active as two trail bikes had just driven through and obscured their burrow entrances. Always fascinating to watch them come in carrying their Honeybee prey and try and locate their burrow entrance without upsetting the neighbours! It was windy and overcast so not the best for getting shots.

Rutland Water Walk 1. Grebes and Egrets

Plenty to see and photograph on our RPS Nature Group outing to Rutland Water though most of it was fairly distant. Here images of Great Crested Grebes at various stages with some pairs on nests, others showing courtship behaviour or arguing over territory. Lots of Little Egrets and one Great White Egret entertained us. 

St Albans Nest Building Underway

I called in at the park in St Albans on my way back from talking in Tring the night before. Great to talk to a 'live' audience. The sun had just come above the trees giving beautiful but harsh light on the incoming Grey Heron as it went back and forth bringing twigs to the nest site. Only this one Heron was evident - hopefully there are others. The clouds then came up so the light was poor for the Magpie collecting nest material and the Coot guarding its nest site from a passing Moorhen.

Starling Disputes

We still have at least two families of starlings disputing best position on our bird feeders. They can get very aggressive though so far no damage done to each other. Now trying to think how to disguise the back fence in the photos when zoomed out far enough to get all the action

Coot Aggression

 The coots continually scrapped during our time at St Albans Veralim Park today. The light was very poor but managed a few interesting shots. It often appeared to be the eternal triangle situation. I wonder if they actually drown their opponent ever.