Just Great...

I had a really good spell at Mere Sands Woods reserve yesterday during a brief respite in the horrendous weather we've had recently. I watched a lovely Little Grebe fishing and saw a stunning kingfisher fly directly towards me before it looped off around the mere. 

Then at a different spot I heard the tell tale call of another kingfisher and and after a few minutes searching the reeds I spotted it and spent the next 15 - 20 minutes watching it fish. It caught what appeared to be newts, eating one and after killing the second he hung it on a branch possibly to go back for later. 

Although I managed to get a few pictures it was too far away to get a decent clear image. I will have to save hard and maybe have to sell some gear to be able to afford a better lens and get the sort of images a fellow photographer managed to get (but his camera and lens set up would have been around £17K so I would have expected the sort of images he was keen to show off). 

That being said I don't think you have to spend such a huge sum of money to get great images and I think these shots of a fishing Great Crested Grebe are proof of that. 

I think these are such regal looking birds and they are so sleek as they dive in search for food, barely leaving a ripple as they break the surface.

Mutton Chops

I think you would agree with me when I say that the Great Crested Grebe is a stunning bird.

It is regal, sleek and streamlined and has the most beautiful plumage, and it has a fearsome beak which it uses to catch fish while swimming under water. 

It is known for its amazing courtship rituals when the adults perform a balletic dance. I had gone to Mere Sands today in the hope that I would witness this but obviously I had picked the wrong time. This chap stayed a safe distance away so getting the perfect shot was really difficult however I am fairly happy with these two.

I had a really enjoyable time at Mere Sands listening to the birdsong as I walked through the woods and sitting quietly and undisturbed in the various hides around the mere. There weren't that many different species of birds to see but it was so relaxing and a perfect opportunity to de-stress.

Down Low

Tamron 150mm - 600mm f/5 - 6.3

ISO 400   600mm   f/6.3   1/640 sec

When I first spotted this beautiful male Great Crested Grebe from my favourite hide at Mere Sands I thought that it might have been sitting on a nest but actually he is just sitting really low behind the reeds.  He's really beautiful and I hope that he found a mate although he didn't appear to be doing too well on this particular day.

So Serene

I don't think anyone can deny these are truly beautiful birds. They are so elegant in the water, they glide along seemingly without effort and then they power themselves into a dive without a splash before surfacing in a distant spot usually with a minnow or small fish in their powerful dagger like bill.

The diving also forms part of the courtship ritual that can be observed at this time of year but instead of fish they come to the surface with weed in their bills which they offer to each other.

I really enjoyed watching these birds as they serenely cruised past bringing a splash of colour and beauty.

Friend Zoned

Something that I have wanted to photograph for a long time is the courtship ritual of the Great Crested Grebe and so when I spotted this pair of grebes I thought perhaps my luck was in.

The male was certainly interested and did a bit of flirting, swimming around the female for a bit but she clearly wasn't having any of it. Perhaps it was still too early in the season or maybe he just didn't do it for her because she swam off leaving him a little dejected and me disappointed.

I do like these pictures though, they are such beautifully elegant birds and they swim with such poise and grace and I particularly like the pose in the second image.

I also like the way the ripples in these pictures elongate the reflections of the birds.

Striking Birds

I have had a hard time in the past getting half decent shots of these birds because the places where I have seen them they tend to swim too far out or they seldom stay still for long and they will dive for ages and come up in a completely different place.

In the spring they perform beautiful courtship rituals using their elegant ruff to show off and attract a mate, and they dive down and collect nest materials also in an effort to prove that they have good breeding potential. I hope one day to be able to photograph that behaviour because it really is spectacular.

For now here are a couple of shots of a pair that were serenely swimming at Longton Brick Croft in Lancashire. I have been there a few times in the past and while I have always enjoyed my visits there has never been very much to photograph so I was pleased on this occasion to capture these images to share today. They were a fair way off so I have had to crop these pictures a bit but I'm fairly pleased with them.

Good Grebe

By the time I got round to the last hide at Mere Sands to see the grebes the light was really poor and that has affected the quality of these pictures which are not as sharp as I would have liked.  The birds in these shots are a Great Crested Grebe and a Little Grebe. In spite of the atrocious weather they were undeterred as they patrolled the lake in search of a meal. They really have quite impressive fishing skills and they dived for a long time, often resurfacing some distance from the original dive.

I saw both come up with fish but was unable to capture the moment because I had had to close the window to the hide to avoid a soaking as the rain lashed down. I did manage to get a little wet but it didn't spoil my day out.  I hope that when I go back I will get some better shots of these cracking little birds.

At the water's edge...

A mixture of shots today.  The first one is a bit abstract and you may well wonder why I have chosen this. Apart from the fact that I like this picture the wooden post has a particular purpose as it is there as a perch to attract Kingfishers although I have not actually seen it being used.

The second shot is of a Great Crested Grebe chick and the third shows an adult grebe, possibly a parent of this chick.

The final shot shows a view across the mere which was beautifully calm and a really nice place to spend a Saturday morning.  I will definitely be back.

Brick Croft

A couple of years ago a friend introduced me to this place. It's called Brick Croft Nature Reserve, in Longton, Lancashire and as you can see it's a peaceful spot.  I've been back a couple of times and enjoyed myself immensely.

At different times of the year different birds visit this spot and on this occasion there were a few swans and a breeding pair of Great Crested Grebes.  The grebes had a chick in tow but unfortunately it stayed too far away from the banks and so I was unable to get a decent shot. So for today these pictures will have to do.