Friday October 2nd Linn Dyke

Today was one of those when you thank whichever deity you hold responsible for creating such glorious weather cool air warm sunshine, blue sky, and perfect stillness. Today i decided to check out the lakes behind Linn Dyke lots of whistling wigeon were really noisy and extremely skittish as they all took flight as soon as I came into view, whereas the more sedate grebes, gadwall, coots and moorhens stayed put. Green woodpeckers seemed to be everywhere calling in flight and from the tops of the trees. I must have seen a t least 4 individual birds. As i sat in the sunshine it wasn't long before a big, dark marsh harrier with some flight feathers missing glided over, this did scatter the remaining wildfowl and he swung back and forth quartering the ground unsuccessfully for prey items. Add to this the spectacle of four carrion crows getting perilously close to the talons of the buzzard they were mobbing as he circled above my head in the azure skies. After a while the crows tired of the game and left the buzzard alone and i was astounded to see him stall in flight and eat something from his talons a trick he repeated several times-i can only assume he was catching insects and eating them on the wing in a very Hobby esk manner-fantastic viewing though. A reed warbler made a brief appearance as did jays and jackdaws while three mute swans flew right over me before seeing the power lines and having to take evasive action. Then with a piping cry a whirl of brilliant metallic blue, flashed in front of me and on to what i call the LEO pond, a glorious king fisher at completely the opposite end of the reserve to where i usually site them. It is amazing just what you can see if you are prepared to sit quietly and watch carefully for a while.