Summer Leys - Great Crested Grbes

One of the targets for our RPS trip to the Nene valley reserves was to photograph Great Crested Grebes, hopefully displaying but also to admire their wonderful breeding plumage. These are from Summer Leys reserve and from another site along the River Nene where a pair were already busy nest building.

 

Birds From Summer Leys

The weather was not great yesterday for our visit to Summer Leys but we did manage to pick out and photograph a few of the many species that live there: Widgeon, Shoveller, Redshank, Lapwing, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Brambling, Reed Bunting and Long-Tailed Tit with very large feather.

 

Lakenheath Landscapes, Robin and Rats

A final few from our visit to Lakenheath RSPB reserve last week. I always enjoy the wide open vistas - hard to believe it was Poplar woodland (Bryant and May matches) and carrot fields when we first visited in the 1970s. The young rats in final image were intriguing in the way they wrapped themselves around the bird feeder.

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.

Lakenheath 2: Reed Buntings

With the recent rains, the water levels at Lakenheath are high enough to flood the feeding station giving great opportunity for reflection images. I also tried to capture some of the Reed Buntings in flight.