On The Move

 I think I am spoiling you yet again with this selection.

This great white egret is such a stunning bird and having shared the pictures in my previous post of the bird actually feeding these shots show it in the process of hunting and were all taken moments before it caught a fish.

In flight the egret keeps its long neck tucked back over its body and its legs outstretched but when hunting it keeps its neck stretched forwards as it remains focused on its target.

There is so much that I like about these images, the graceful shape of the bird with wings outstretched, the movement in the feather; as they are affected by the updraft when it lands and the way the ends of the feathers curl upwards as they act as air brakes, I like the blue tint on the feathers in certain light, and the warm glow of the wings as they are backlit by the afternoon sun and then in the final image I like the shadow of the birds curled neck seen through the wing.

It was hard to walk away as this beautiful bird continued to fish close by but I hoe you will agree that the pictures I have shared over the last few days have made it worth the time I spent observing and photographing it. It felt like a real privilege to be there at just the right time.

Gone Fishing

 Have you ever sat for hours on a river bank drowning maggots? (I mean fishing of course!) It can be a nice relaxing experience and it is obviously great when you manage to catch something but there can be long periods when you catch nothing but unless your life depends upon it you can walk away at the end of the day and wish for better luck next time.

For this Egret however his life literally does depend upon a decent catch so finding the right spot , at the right time is essential.

Although part of the heron family the Egret takes a different approach to fishing to the grey heron who will stand patiently in one spot (much like the dedicated fisherfolk on the river banks) waiting for a meal to pass by and then with lightning speed and great precision it will dart forward with its long neck and powerful bill and snatch a fish, or amphibian from the water. I have even seen one catch a rat and swallow it whole. The Egret on the other hand takes a more active approach and will stir up the water a little bit or flap from one spot to another, pause, search and then move on, or it will walk slowly , head facing down looking for something in the shallows.

The egret in the pictures above had certainly picked a good time to be in the spot he chose because while I was watching he caught 4 fish, all a fairly decent size. 

Great White (Egret not Shark)

 I had pretty much given up on my visit to Burton Mere yesterday. I had managed a few shots of geese in flight and I had watched a pair of Marsh Harriers flying off over the reed bed but there was not much else within range to photograph. To cap it all I twisted my ankle and had decided to call it a day.

On the walk back to the car park I stopped briefly at one of the screens where I had seen a Little Grebe and a Great White Egret before. The grebe was on show but with the sun directly in front of me all I could get was a silhouette. Then this egret flew down and started fishing close enough that I could get a few pictures. I watched as it caught several fish and I managed to get several good shots of it with wings extended, fish in its beak or just stood poised regally with one eye watching for its next catch. I actually took over 100 images while I was watching so it was a good end to what had otherwise been a disappointing trip.

The images above are variations on just one shot, the penultimate shot of the day.

Obviously the first one is rotated through 90 degrees and I have converted it to black and white. I have cropped it slightly to centre the image and I have added a slight vignette. I am always on the lookout for heart shapes in nature and when I took the original photo I knew that I would be able to create the above image and I am super happy with the result.

The other pictures are, as I say from the same shot, they have been given slightly different edits but apart from the change to black and white for one and the addition of the vignette there is very little change to the actual raw data.