Local report-Raleigh

Lots of stuff to shoot at this time of year, The lakes have young chicks on them-notably Lake Lynn has mallard and Canade Goose chicks that are easy to shoot, Falls lake has Osprey with chicks on the nest as well as Herons with very large chicks, Reports there of water Moccasin (Cotton mouth) so be careful when near the waters edge,I have been to Falls lake for the last couple of days taking a look around, There are lots of Cliff Swallows nesting under the bridges so yesterday i spent a couple of hours there trying to get them as they flew to the nest-no luck or at least not what i had hoped for, The light was low under the bridge so ISO's between 800 and 3200 were in order along with flash, They are soo fast that even a shutter speed of 1/1000 didnt freeze them, I did get a couple of shots as you can see and as i only spend 2 hours there i guess they are ok, Ticks seem to be a problem this year-at least for me, Last Saturday i noticed one when i was having a shower buried where you really dont want one and last night i had 2 more on me but loose not buried, So keep an eye out after you have been in woodland or long grass, These can be dangerous as they can transmit limes disease which if left can be deadly,I put a bird box up in my garden a couple of months ago and last week we had a pair of Bluebirds investigating the box but they were constantly chased off by another pair and since then its been quiet, I have now put the hummingbird feeder up in hopes of getting a shot or two this year, Last year was very quiet by all accounts and we only had 2 coming to the feeder, The butterflies have started to arrive with quite a few Swallowtails hanging around my garden, Wish the Buddlia would hurry up and bloom, Last night i watched a Grey Fox in the garden and the night before a Raccoon so lots to shoot in the way of wildlife, I did notice some nice wild flowers along the road at Falls lake as well

Dave

One Swallow doesn't make a summer......

.....but we were fortunate enough to see half a dozen or so in two different locations on Sunday.

Having lost an hour of sleep due to the change to BST, I tentatively woke Jac before our good friend and fellow wildlife photographer Robbie came by.  For regular readers, you may remember Robbies great blogpost a few weeks back.  If you didnt see it first time round, then it is not to be missed and here is the link for you. 

We set off across to Worcestershire to see a Slavonian Grebe that has been around for a while, but sadly for us, it appears to have moved on.  I shouldnt be too disappointed really as i did get some great images a couple of years back while on Mull.

But while there was no Slav, we did see dozens of Sand Martins darting across the surface of the ponds.  What a great view this was of my first Martins of the year.

We moved on to another location and saw a good mix of water birds including Wigeon, Shoveller, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe and Great Crested Grebe among many others.  We also heard our first singing Chiff Chaffs of Spring, which was joined by Blackcap.

We then moved on to Upton Warren Moors Pool near Bromsgrove, managed by the Worcester Wildlife Trust.  Here we saw our first Willow Warbler and Swallows of the summer.  About a dozen Great Crested Grebes were busy showing on the far side of the pools, but closer to hand there were a couple of Little Egrets and some noisy displaying Oystercatcher.  It was good to see these so far in land.  There were also plenty of Shoveller, Teal and Snipe hidden down in the grass.

 Single Oystercatcher

Pair  mirroring as part of mating behaviour

Pair calling as next phase of mating behaviour

Caught in the act just before he fell off her

Little Egret

We heard  Kingfisher and Cettis Warbler but didn't see either.

Next stop was Brandon Marsh near Coventry, this one managed by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.  This is a great reserve with a good mix of habitat, and it delighted us with our sightings.

Swallows and Sand Martins were much in evidence as were many of the water birds that we had already seen, but we did some some lovely close up Snipe in the open just in front of the hide.

Snipe in open habitat

Another one of the Snipe

 As you can see from the light on all the images, it was a generally overcast day.

The blue flash of a Kingfisher was one of a couple sightings for us as it sped across the lake.  I heard the call before I saw it.

Walking back through the woods we were delighted also to see Male Bullfinch.  Robbie's finely tuned ears heard it before we saw it but it did look fabulous.  Too far to photograph really so we just enjoyed watching it.

Other highlights included some great views of Treecreeper, and we also heard three separate Water Rail, with a fleeting glimpse of one of them.

As an aside, I think Bullfinches must be like buses.  You don't see them for ages, and then three turn up, as I was lucky enough to see a pair in my garden yesterday when I got home.

So all in all a great day - loads of species, good weather, great company and a few images to share on the blog

Martin