It was This Big

 It is just over 11 years since I started posting photos on this blog and although I don't post nearly as often as I used to it still generates a fair bit of traffic from all around the world, which is quite reassuring. For example even though I didn't post at all since mid August I had over 41,500 views last month and over 1,000  per day this month too. In the grand scheme of things I don't really know how that compares to others but it is nice to know that what I am posting gets seen somewhere.

Sometimes I can go out with my camera and take hundreds of photos in a very short time and then on days like today when the light was  rather flat and grey I will take much fewer. Today over three hours at Martin Mere WWT reserve in Lancashire I took just 32 photos, the best of which I will share below. Even though I wasn't snapping away I still enjoyed the time there, sitting in the hides enjoying the company of like minded people or walking along the quite pathways and I was really pleased that I had made the effort to get out.

So to the pictures... Rather than split them up over several days I am going to put them all here with a few comments.

Firstly a couple of shots of a Black Tailed Godwit. These are incredibly rare birds in the UK, a Red Listed species with less than 50 breeding pairs being recorded across the UK so to see two here at Martin Mere was a genuine treat.

Next we have this very snooty looking Greylag Goose, these are fairly common and often seem fairly tame. This one, stood on the side of the lake was definitely posturing.

When it comes to superiority this beautiful Whooper Swan really seemed to be bragging about something. These are winter visitors to the UK coming down from Iceland. It is an Amber Listed species and it is illegal to disturb these birds. It is great to watch them swanning around on the lake. Sometimes they are very serene and at other times they get in quite a flap. It was amusing watching them vying for the best spots on the lake and this one, in this series of pictures appears to be trying to convince us that it really was that big, no, Really, That Big!

It is said that when Robins appear loved ones are near and today that definitely felt like it was true, and as I thought about that saying I thought among others about my mother in law who would have been 89 tomorrow.

And finally, perhaps my favourite shots of the day, not birds at all but a series of pictures of a leaf. Yes, that's right, a leaf. Don't switch off yet I promise these are pictures worth your time.  As I was walking along a path beneath the trees on my way out I saw a random leaf apparently hovering in the air. Of course it was not hovering at all, it was suspended by a gossamer thread that from most angels was completely invisible. In the low light and with the backdrop of autumn colours I thought it was fun to capture these final few images. It wasn't until I enlarged the pictures at home that I was able to see the thread by which the leaf was hanging, but not in all the pictures. I love the lighting and the bokeh in these pictures and the way the leaf appears to be floating or in free fall and I thought it was a fun way to end this post. Enjoy...

That's all for today, come back soon, and please feel free to leave a comment or share this post.

Wading Birds

 Today I had my first proper outing of the year. The sun was out, the temperature was in double digits and the top came down on the car as i headed off to Dunham Massey where there is a fabulous garden and deer park, maintained by the National Trust. It is 2 years since my last visit so it was nice to get back. I was able to photograph some spring flowers, some water fowl and of course some of the deer that live wild in the park.

I was really pleased when I got home to upload the pictures and start to work on them when I realised I also had a few pictures from last week when I had been for a walk along the waterfront near my home.

So before I get into the pictures from Dunham Massey here are a few shots of some of the waders that grace our shores.

The first two pictures show a couple of Black Tailed Godwit. I am not very good at recognising some of our waders because from a distance I find it difficult to differentiate, however these I was quite confident in my identification.

Pictures in most  of my guide books show these birds in their breeding plumage which is a bit richer than these two however it can be differentiated from the bar tailed godwit because it is larger in size, has longer legs and has a long, slightly upturned bill which is black at the end.

The bird in the other pictures is a Common Redshank, easily distinguishable by its bright red legs (hence the name) and its straight red bill, although in these images its bill is covered in mud as it has been searching for worms, molluscs and crustaceans. These are quite nervous birds generally so it was nice that this one did not fly away.