SOME OF MY FAVOURITES.

May I first take to opportunity to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR.

This post is a bit of a mixture of self indulgence and also the case of not having any decent images to post, the weather last Thursday was so poor, Richard and myself managed very little of use to put on a post, we found we were shooting at high ISO and still only attaining very slow speeds. The only good thing to come out of our afternoon out was revisiting a site I had found previously and finding fifteen Red Kites all flying and circling together, it was worth the afternoon out just to see them.

We managed to see some Little Owls at Sites 4, 8 & 9, looking back through my records, this is the first sighting at Site 4 since 11th August 2015.

I hope we get some decent weather this Thursday so I have some images for a post.

Short Eared Owl. 21st March 2016. Cossington Meadows.

Last Winter was enhanced for me with the visit by three Shorties. They were reasonably accessible all through the Winter. So far this Winter we have the occasional sighting of a single bird. 

Robin 18th February 2016. Cossington Meadows.

This little beauty visited me most of the Winter, in fact I would say I was feeding it with biscuits most visits. Eventually it decided to feed out of my hand and another gent took my camera and got the image for me. 

Male Osprey 51/11. Lagoon 4, Dunlin Hide.

This bird and a female took up the nest platform on Lagoon 4 and eventually laid a single egg, only to have the egg destroyed by Egyptian Geese the following day. The Male moved onto another site within the Reservoir and the female moved to Dyfi in Wales. I have already had next years duties mailed to me so it will not be that long before these wonderful birds return. 

Large Red Damselfly, Female, Pond Outside the Lyndon Centre
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A very small pond was constructed some years ago outside the centre and for the last two years we have seen these Damselflies.

Pair of Juvenile Kestrels, Our Garden after adults Ousted Our Barn Owls.

Wonderful to watch and take images but we would still have loved for the Barn Owls to return and be in residence.

Common Blue Butterfly, Barnack Hills and Holes.

Such a beautiful butterfly, which we had gone to see and as it happened were lucky. 

Emperor Dragonfly, Lake to Rear of Garden.

This was not a five minute job to get the image, luckily it was a little windy so caught on the upwind pass which slowed it down. 

Brown Hawker Dragonfly, Female Oviposting, Alvecote Woods. 

I only managed the one visit to this site, site found by Richard, but plan some more visits next year.  

Marbled White Butterfly, Ketton Quarry.

Another stunning Butterfly that we saw in reasonable numbers on this visit. We will be visiting this site again as well next Year, 

Great White Egret, Shoveler Hide, Lagoon 3.

We appear to have a resident three birds at the Reservoir at the moment. Have seen them several times, in fact during most visits. 

 Hare, Near Eyebrook Reservoir.

This taken on a Saturday evening after going for a picnic tea to get some images of the Ospreys. Saw this Hare on my way home.

Glossy Ibis, Cossington Meadows.

It took a few visits to get this bird with the Glossy feathers showing, its a case of getting the bird in the correct position in relation to the sun, a really stunning bird .

VISIT OUT.

15th December.

Little Owl Site No. 8.



The only reasonable image got in the whole afternoon, we were both amazed that we even managed to get this.




Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed my selection of images.