It's taken me a while to get around to posting this thread - I came back from this trip with a stinker of a cold, which became a chest infection. Feeling somewhat better now so without further ado let's get down to business:
I can never resist snapping the feeder birds. I thought this great tit was looking very handsome.
Our National Bird makes sure it doesn't get left off!
A busy blackbird pauses in his hunt through the leaves.
The first hide I visited was the Wildlife Lookout. The wind was blowing straight off the sea - brrrrrrr!
A lovely male shelduck complete with feathered tutu.
This gull looked less than comfortable in the conditions.
The shovelers remained firmly out of the wind - I didn't blame them.
The wigeon pair were made of sterner stuff!
These gadwalls were showing plenty of testosterone!
The stunning great white egret was looking good........
.....as was this grey heron on the other side of the pool. Apparently the egret is keeping its distance from the heron despite being the bigger bird.
A busy moorhen from the Bittern Hide.
This beautiful male marsh harrier gave us some great views of him!
I love this time of year, when lots of our birds become distinctly showy.
After having lunch at the Visitor Centre I headed out towards the North Hide to see if the smews were about. I wasn't disappointed:
These tend to lurk on a pool which can be viewed from a rise near the pond.
The view from North Hide towards the sea wall.
West Scrape from the North Hide.
My third heron of the day - a beautiful little egret comes in to land.
I never tire of seeing these.
Off it goes, showing a clean pair of very yellow feet!
After a short while I collected Limpy from the Visitor Centre and we headed to Island Mere.
Juvenile gulls have such lovely markings.
Two of the remaining goosanders were looking chilled despite the numerous gulls.
Nobody does inscrutable like a snipe.
This female marsh harrier treated us all to a flyby!
I don't often see her so close to the hide.
Had to finish with a crow!
Enjoy, as always.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
A Lovely set Clare, thanks for giving us your tour.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Great to see more of wonderful Minsmere but sorry you suffered chest infection following that rather cold grey day you experienced a couple of Sundays ago. It's lovely to see the birds gearing up ready for springtime and hope the weather bucks up a bit as the light here is too gloomy for pics. A lovely set of species and great flight shots of the M. Harriers.
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Regards, Hazel
Hope you're feeling a lot better now Clare - so many people have been struck down with colds/flu/chest infections this year. It does look a bit bleak out there on the photos but you've got a great set there with so many different species. Well done on catching the Marsh Harriers so well in flight and a nice pair of Smews. I think I've only ever seen one Smew once!
See my Flickr photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115745582@N04/
Hope you are feeling much better now Clare. Great set of photos and I especially like the fly past by the Marsh Harrier, great to have such good views.
Lot to learn