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.

Marsh Harrier Display at RSPB Fowlmere

We spent around an hour watching a pair of Marsh Harriers displaying at Fowlmere. A Fallow Deer also came out to drink while a Mallard dropped in to have a wash.

Birds at Kew Gardens

I took advantage of a sunny afternoon when I arrived in Richmond to give a  talk toRichmond and Twickenham club in the evening and visited Kew Gardens. First some birds around the Lake. Coots as always were the dominant bird chasing off all other species including the Canada Geese. The reflection of the sky and trees on the water added to the fun for the afternoon. Flowers and general scenes to follow.

Wicken Birds in the Rain

 Beautiful and sunny when we left Cambridge and then very heavy showers arrived. The Moorhens did not seem to be too worried but the Kkingfisher and Jay stayed in the cover of the bushes.

Landing techniques in birds

I spent a bit of time at Clumber Park on the way to Spalding and attempted pictures of the birds in flight and landing on the lake. The various techniques used by the birds depends very much on the shape of the feet. The Canada Geese used their large webbed feet like water skies and were very elegant as they came into land. The Moorhen's long toes without webs cut into the water so they generally use the technique of running very fast across the surface.
The light was far from perfect so I intend to revisit the topic on another occasion.

The composite of the swan landing is for Phil just to show it is not just airplanes that sometimes do a double bounce landing (click on the image and it is large enough to make out the impressive belly flop).