They say persistence pays off don't they? Well I can vouch for that, over the last couple of days I have persisted in my pursuit of that much coveted Cetti's warbler photo and I got one!! Granted it's not the best photo in the world but I'm quite pleased after they have taunted me for a good few months. And as for patience the birds have followed suit and the photos below show a grey heron in front of Public hide waiting, pouncing, wrestling then enjoying it's eel meal.
Well in what is undoubtedly a quiet spell traditionally in the bird world, sightings have not been too bad. A good count of five Cetti's warblers( three down the causeway, two by Griesdale hide), willow warblers and reed warblers continue to flit around in search of insects. On the other end of the size scale, our marsh harriers have diminished in numbers with many slowly making their way down south and onwards to Africa for the winter months. We still have about three lingering around with one each of juvenile, female, and the young male who over wintered here last year still remains
The long staying spoonbill continues to frequent the main reserve and has taken up temporary residence down at Lower hide, the hobby continues to dance across the sky in pursuit of dragonflies and hirundines.
Sightings of red deer continue mainly from Griesdale hide where we have had over sixteen on our red deer walks on Monday and Friday evenings between 7-9pm throughout August. Some of the calves are nearly at the two month stage where they lose their spots, and we have some impressive stags lurking around too.
Kingfisher sightings have increased recently with one waiting on the salt marsh for our new hides to be built so it can wow visitors! They have also been sighted from Lower hide, Public hide and Lilian's too.
The completion of the hides on the salt marsh will coincide perfectly with the peak time for wader passage, so our current crop of spotted redshanks, greenshanks, black tailed godwits, snipe and redshanks may well be complemented by something rarer, including a notable increase in numbers of waders too as they return from their breeding grounds. (I'm predicting curlew sandpiper and a lesser yellowlegs. I hope!)
Kevin
Brilliant photos, Kevin!
I had to look up what "hirundines" are! So for anyone else who doesn't know: hirundine is a way to describe a bird resembling a swallow. Swallows and martins can be described as hirundines. They belong to the bird family Hirundinidae. So now you know ;-p