A walk through my local park in the rain showers this afternoon was rewarded with a view of a tawny owl in an owl box on the island in the middle of the lake.
Blog
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24th March 2023 – Eastville Park, Bristol
Tawny owl A dynamic grey wagtail in the gloom of the brook Grey heron catching the brief rays of sunshine Great cormorant overlooking the lake Did these pike feel safe from the cormorants? There were plenty of them in the lake. The light was failing on the way home but a robin provided a ray of brightness -
14th March 2023 – Somerset Levels
The weather was kinder today and, although there was a fresh breeze throughout, it was sunny for most of the day. I visited 3 nature reserves on the Somerset Levels, about an hour and a half south from my home in Bristol.
At RSPB Catcott Lows a couple of wardens had just disturbed most of the birds as they made their way out to a pumping station to lower the water levels. I didn’t hang around but made may way to RSPB Greylake instead, only a further 6 miles on.
There was lots to see but most of the huge numbers of ducks were fairly inactive and not too bothered even by a couple of marsh harriers and a kestrel.
RSPB Greylake 
A teal not taking a nap The most interesting activity was a close-up little grebe and a small flock of curlew flying over.
Little grebe 
Curlew I moved on to RSPB Ham Wall, about half a dozen miles back towards home.
It was relatively quiet here too. But its always a joy to be at Ham Wall (with booming bitterns and frequent sightings of marsh harriers) and eventually a couple of great crested grebe made my day as they became better acquainted.
View from the hide with Glastonbury Tor in the background 
The squalls of wind were evident on the water 
Grey heron breaks cover from the reed beds 
Tufted duck 
Shoveler 
Nice to see a great tit other than on the garden feeders Slideshow of today’s photos:
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8th March 2023 – Pink in Nature
Denzil Nature tells us that the weather is bleak in Belgium and so for this week he has set a new photo challenge of showing pink in nature (to cheer us up).
(https://denzilnature.com/2023/03/08/nature-photo-challenge-3-pink/)
It’s equally bleak for us in Bristol in the south west of England and its even snowing here this morning.
Amazingly we have a fair amount of pink in the garden already.
Cherry blossom in the snow 
Primulas with a dusting of snow 
Primulas almost hidden by the snow 
Hellebores standing high above the snow As I looked back through the year I realised that pink is often the dominant colour in my garden and how often insects are attracted to these plants:
In and around the country pink is well represented too at all times of the year:
Pink Rhododendrons in Cornwall in May 
Cottage garden in Cornwall in May 
Pinks at the seaside in Cornwall 
Wildflower meadows in Northumberland in June 
Coastal walk in Wales in June 
RHS Garden Show at Hampton Court Palace in July 
Pinks everywhere at the RHS Garden Show at Hampton Court in July 
Pink from the sunset on the Somerset Levels in December I haven’t seen any pink panthers or pink elephants but I have seen my fair share of pink flamingos in South Africa and Spain and even closer to home at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.
Greater Flamingo (Strandfontein Birding Area, False Bay Coastal Park – January 2020) 
Greater Flamingo in Doñana National Park 
Greater Flamingos in Doñana National Park 
Brighter pink flamingos at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire with a special diet -
5th March 2023 – Galleries
I have created a new “Galleries” section on my blog to highlight some of my bird photos.
GALLERIES I have purposely not labelled the birds in the mixed galleries as I thought it might be fun (for me too) to try our luck at identifying them. They are labelled elsewhere on the site.
So far I have added the following galleries:
Miscellaneous
Waders
Birds in Flight
Large Waterbirds
Kingfishers
Red Kites
Thornybush Private Game Reserve, Greater Kruger South Africa:
I hope to add further galleries as time permits.
These galleries can also be found under the “Additional Blogs” tab.
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Nature Photo Challenge: Eyes
I enjoyed Denzil Nature’s Photo Challenge on “Pattern” last week and particularly enjoyed seeing some of other bloggers’ contributions. See Denzil’s post.
His challenge this week is “Eyes”. So here goes:
The eyes have it!
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28th February 2023 – Somerset Levels
I spent the day on the Somerset Levels – always a favourite of mine; however, the cold and lack of sun did test my resolve. Frustratingly, I could see the sun shining on the Mendip Hills to the north of me.
The Great White Egret was the only thing to stand out in the poor light at Catcott Lows 
A Little Egret flew in to lighten the scene I started at Catcott Lows. The wetlands were teeming with wigeon, but not a lot else until a Great White Egret and a Little Egret appeared. It was just as well as it was too gloomy to photograph anything other than white birds.
The Wren next to the hide was often very vocal but not when I was photographing it I moved on to RSPB Ham Wall. There have been sightings of Glossy Ibis here but they had decided that it was too cold for them and didn’t make an appearance.
A Robin greeted me on my arrival – it was after a share of my sandwiches 
A pair of Shovelers 
Great Crested Grebe 
A Teal up close 
The Great Crested Grebes spent an awful lot of time diving but not coming up with weeds for their famous dances In reality there wasn’t a lot here. Quite a few Shovelers, a few Tufted Ducks and half a dozen Great Crested Grebe and one Little Grebe. Strangely at Catcott Lows and here there were no Lapwings, until a large flock flew over and headed towards Glastonbury Tor. A pretty sight.
Lapwing 
A very distant Marsh Harrier 
The sun made a very brief appearance on this Shoveler 
The Little Grebe wouldn’t come close to me 
The Tufted Duck was less shy Before heading home I had a very brief visit to Westhay Moor. A pair of Greylag geese and a pair of Great Crested Grebe that nearly took to the air were the best on offer.
A Grey Heron on my way to Westhay Moor 
Greylag Geese 
Great Crested Grebe doing its best to take off It felt like the Highlands of Scotland there today and so, with that in mind, I had a dram of whisky back at home. The day seemed much more successful after that.
Slideshow of some of my photos from today.
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Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns
I would like to accept Denzil Nature’s Photo Challenge for this week.
It particularly appeals to me as I am regularly amazed at the wonderful patterns that are seen in nature.
I look forward to seeing other blogs in the challenge
A few patterns that come to mind:
Animals
Birds
Butterflies
Flowers
Countryside
Insects
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19th February 2023 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
We are regular visitors to Slimbridge but we generally avoid going there during school holidays. However, with a rarity, a White-rumped Sandpiper (an annual visitor to the UK from North America in small numbers), reported there the temptation was too great.
On arriving at the Rushy Pen hide (where it has been reported in recent days) we were quite disappointed that it was nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, it was a lovely morning and we still enjoyed visiting all the hides on the north side of the reserve. There was plenty to see and a Black-tailed Godwit, a Common Redshank, Northern Pintails and Wigeon all came close. There were also plenty of geese and swans (both Mute and Bewick) flying around to keep me happy snapping away.
Northern Pintail 
Black-tailed Godwit 
Common Redshank 
Eurasian Teal 
Eurasian Wigeon 
Canada Goose 
Greylag Goose 
Bewick Swan 
Mute Swan 
Little Egret A Water Rail was just a bit too secretive for me to get a good shot.
Water Rail However, there were a couple of Oystercatcher very close up.
Oystercatcher 
Oystercatcher with worm From the Tower hide, as well as lots of waterfowl, geese and swans, we could see Common Cranes. There was also a Sparrowhawk perched in the hedge in front of the hide and Blue Tits and Great Tits were very pluckily trying to mob it.
Sparrowhawk There was a Snow Goose amongst the Barnacle Geese and I presume what I thought was a Ross’s Goose on our last visit probably was the same Snow Goose.
There was another white goose in the distance with some White fronted Geese but I couldn’t see it clearly.
Snow Goose amongst Barnacle Geese 
Wigeon (with Snow Goose top right) As we were making our way back to the car park we had to pass the Rushy Pen hide and from all the commotion it was clear that there was something special there. I could hardly get into the hide but from about the third row back I could still see the White-rumped Sandpiper, in all its glory right in front of the hide.
Gallery of White-rumped Sandpiper:
Stepping in fox poo on my way out this morning was clearly a lucky omen!
Slideshow of photos from this morning:
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14th February 2023 – Chew Valley Lake, Somerset
A beautiful day to visit Chew Valley Lake just south of Bristol. The water level was very high and it didn’t look very inspiring when we looked out from the Stratford hide.
Until, that is, a group of 8 Goldeneye came into view.
Male Goldeneye 
Female Goldeneye One of the males was displaying regularly by raising its head to the sky. It looked pretty good to me without even doing that.
Just one Great Crested Grebe was to be seen. It spent more time diving than being on the surface but it did get its reward.
Great Crested Grebe 
The Great Crested Grebe with French cuisine The other highlight of our visit was the spectacular fly past by a Great White Egret. There was also a Marsh Harrier surveying the reed beds.
Marsh Harrier The Tufted Ducks looked splendid too in the glorious sunshine.
Male Tufted Duck Slideshow of photos from today:
Female Tufted Duck It all looked pretty romantic. Just the job for St Valentine’s Day.
Slideshow of today’s photos:
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7th February 2023 – Somerset Levels
A day spent birding on the Somerset Levels is always a special treat. However, by midday I was beginning to think this might be the exception. However, the sun burnt through the mist by about one o’clock and I saw some lovely birds in the afternoon to go with the magically atmospheric scenery that I had seen in the morning.
I was disappointed that Catcott Lows was closed due to tree felling but I probably wouldn’t have seen much as it was still very misty.
On the approach roads I did manage to see very close up (but behind branches) a Common Buzzard and a Kestrel.
The approaches to Catcott Lows at 11 am this morning. 
Common Buzzard 
Silhouette of a Kestrel I headed over to Westhay Moor.
The approach to the new hide at Westhay Moor 
For most of the morning the view from the hide was more misty than this. Photo software is very clever at “dehaze”. The best moment of the morning was when a bittern flew straight in front of me but by this time I had given up hope of taking bird photos.
Definitely a lot of use of “dehaze” to get this photo of a Common Snipe 
Final views from Westhay At this point I decided to move on to RSPB Ham Wall (and its toilets).
The sun had burnt through en route but the fields were still steaming 
A Robin, the first bird to greet me at Ham Wall 
You can’t have a Robin and not a Blackbird 
Great White Egret from the viewing platform 
From here on there were glorious reflections 
Plenty of close ups of smaller birds 
Northern Shoveler 
Gadwall 
Great Crested Grebe 
Great White Egret 
Great Crested Grebe Slideshow of photos from today:
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5th February 2023 – New Passage, Severn Estuary 2023
We had a fleeting visit to New Passage on the Severn Estuary this morning.
The tide was too low to see much and it was too cold to hang around. There was a flock of 30 oystercatchers stretched along the waters edge and a similar number of redshank where the pill met the waters edge. A single curlew filled the air with its beautiful call and drowned the sound of the wigeon on the water.
Redshank 
Oystercatchers and curlew Curlew 
Oystercatcher Further up the estuary we could make out a large flock of dunlin and shelduck.
There wasn’t much on the warth but it wasn’t surprising as a peregrine was quite evident sitting on a log dominating the area (but too far for my lens but with good views in the telescope).
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3rd February 2023 – Stoke Park, Bristol
It’s been rather dull today but there were glimpses of sunshine when I walked through Stoke Park this afternoon.
I was too slow to get a photo of a Snipe so practised getting my eye in in with some Moorhens and Coots (definitely a soft option).
Moorhen 
Coot There were 39 Black-headed Gulls (more than I have seen here for a while – they must be here instead of on the lake at Eastville Park, as there were very few there a couple of days ago).
Black-headed Gull 
Immature Black-headed Gull 
Black-headed Gull chased by another 
You can see why the Black-headed Gull was being chased I saw Mallards mating – fairly precarious for the female.
Mallards mating 4 Cormorants flew in and then, presumably, made their way back to Eastville Park.
Cormorant 
Cormorant 
A solitary Mute Swan Slideshow of this afternoon’s photos:
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 