So.…. 1st day of 4

That I'm off work, and Mrs PB isn't....with No Chores to do

A colleague at work said about an urban nature reserve, near Bournemouth, further down the Stour toward the coast, so I thought why not!? According to the SatNav it was a 20 mile drive down there (once I knew where it was it was only a 15 mile drive back!) so I trundled down after brekkie

First thing I saw was a perched cormorant that took no notice of me or the dog walkers on the path, no more than 10 yards away

The website had said about otter and kingfisher being present, but I didn't hold my breath (which was just as well, as it turned out!)

 was a pleasant walk along the river, but there was little to see, unfortunately, the highlight being a single goosey-merganser

I did catch glimpse of the kingfisher as it flew away from me. It comes to something when cormorant has the highest count of birds on/by the river (there were 2 pairs and another single flew over!)

A little disappointed I realised that practically on the way home is Longham Lakes, where the newly named American Black Tern was last week, and apparently was still there yesterday, so a minor detour later (still was 5 miles less than SatNav!) I decanted at Longham Lakes. A light mizzle was in the air so I didn't hold out much hope.

Jenny started things off nicely 

followed by a pair of Great Crested Grebes (a bit distant) on North Lake

In my wisdom i decided to go the other way round South Lake from my previous visits... and just so you know, I didn't get at all disorientated in relation to where I thought anything else was!!

Well, the Americam Black Tern is still there, you can tell it's American, it has a big hat, big cigar and a stars and stripes cape on. Or not. It does, however, look much darker than my last visit...and I may have got carried away with my trigger finger, so sorry!

Right Tern Hahahaaaaaa

That Tom Cruise has got nothing on me....

Oooooh....Lunch 

(you may need to zoom in, but the bug is now in his beak!).... obviously, I knew the bug was there when I took the shot and didn't not notice it til I got home!!

Hope there's not too many tern shots, but I thought he was a phenomenal flier and just kept snapping lol