14th-21st February 2019
That damn beardie again!
Before that, a few other bits.
In the garden on February 14th I spotted an early butterfly in excellent condition...
At the same time I took a photo of the mimosa which has done well this spring and avoided too much frost damage to its flowers.
February 16th Sheila and I spent a few hours at the Wykeham Forest raptor watchpoint. No sign of any goshawks just buzzards. However we did see some crossbills and photographed this female.
And so on to February 19th - when we went to Blacktoft for the afternoon. The most noteworthy thing was that Sheila got talking to a couple who had come to see the Farewell to the Tornados flypast. They knew somehow that the planes would come over the reserve. And boy did they! Everything scattered but soon returned. The noise of the three aircraft was horrendous as they screamed over Singleton hide. No pictures - they were so fast and almost straight overhead of us.
A few more prosaic photos...greylags not tornados if you're confused!!
Marsh harrier
Little egret
St. Aidan's, February 21st. I went because I was keen to see the black-necked grebes on the eastern reedbed. They were soon found although not particularly close in.
A pair of mute swans were flying noisily towards me. I assumed they were a pair but one landed close by and the other flew off way over the trees and out of sight.
I gathered the bearded tit was still about. Two people with tiny point and shoot cameras were bending over the reeds along Bowers Lake shore some 400 metres from where I last saw the bird. I went to have a look. The bird was crawling, hopping about at the base of the reeds checking the dead stems for food. I can't say it was confiding as I don't think it was aware of the people so close to it. He [it's a male] just plodded on pottering in the reeds undisturbed by the proximity of the spectators. I stepped well back [I had to to get a focus] and tried to catch some images. He's a quick mover!
About half of these shots are uncropped.
Spring coltsfoot.
