Brandon Marsh 2nd Dec

OK, this was a totally unplanned visit, Mrs PR must have got a little fed up with me around the house, so gave me some dosh to get out of her way....

Actually, the truth was my card has snapped, so I was unable to get out, no card, no cash, but plenty of fuel in the motor.....

It seemed the day wasn't going to happen, someone had decided to block the road by coming down side ways!

Thankfully the only car damaged was his, so once I'd negotiated a 3 point turn on the ice he'd left behind I was able to get to Brandon Marsh, which being only a few miles down the road, had no snow!

The waterfowl, mainly shovelors were still asleep, missing heir elevenses!

A crow having a rather generous portion for elevenses....

Not too sure what it was feasting on, so any ideas gratefully received.

Mr & Mrs Chaffie

A goldie came down for some grub....

As always, a robin....

Happy to take food from me, and as I was getting some more out, decided to take straight from the pot!

But not before I got this piccie....

Plenty of teal on the water

A coot with some weed

I'm pretty sure this is a male tuftie, without a tuft, only because the others it was with, all female, were in the shade.

A coot vs black headed gull boxing match....

Back to your corners please and await the bell to start the next round

A graceful male gadwall

A dinosaurant, or as someone in the hide with me called it, a feathered pterodactyl....

And the prize  of the day, a kingie, in this uncropped photo

and cropped

Another visit is on the cards, I'm determined to get a crisp clear piccie of the kingie....

  • Well done getting there safely Mike and it was certainly worthwhile  with all the lovely pics you got. Thanks for sharing ;-)

  • Linda257 said:

    Well done getting there safely Mike and it was certainly worthwhile  with all the lovely pics you got. Thanks for sharing ;-)

    Thank you, getting out and about is always worthwhile, and you'll have come across Rudyard Kipling's famous saying; "If you can keep your head while all others around you are losing theirs"

  • Another lovely looking day, Mike...I'll have to have a word with Cornelius, he's looking a bit "superior" lol. Gadwall in decent light are always splendidly patterned :o)
    I think I'll have to take some bribery out with me in future, if that's the results you get :o)

    Thanks for sharing
  • Hi Mike,
    Another day of wildlife and incident and lovely to see the confiding Robin and Kingfisher. Our bold Robin still seeks me out in the garden, even coming right into the back of my workshop looking for mealworms which I try to remember to keep near to hand while I'm working.
    Thanks for posting,
    Trevor
  • Good to hear you arrived safely and looks like you had a rewarding visit as who could resist a friendly robin, the striking kingfisher and a boxing match !
  • PimperneBloke said:
    Another lovely looking day, Mike...I'll have to have a word with Cornelius, he's looking a bit "superior" lol. Gadwall in decent light are always splendidly patterned :o)


    I think I'll have to take some bribery out with me in future, if that's the results you get :o)

    Thanks for sharing

    Thank you PB.

    Yes, Cornelius does look majestic.

  • TJS said:
    Hi Mike,


    Another day of wildlife and incident and lovely to see the confiding Robin and Kingfisher. Our bold Robin still seeks me out in the garden, even coming right into the back of my workshop looking for mealworms which I try to remember to keep near to hand while I'm working.
    Thanks for posting,
    Trevor

    I usually keep a small pot of bribery (I have been known to forget to pack one), it often comes in handy, (plus sanitiser a pre covid19 option) if not a bird in the hand, then possibly one just out the bush.....

  • Unknown said:
    Good to hear you arrived safely and looks like you had a rewarding visit as who could resist a friendly robin, the striking kingfisher and a boxing match !

    It was another brilliant visit, the boxing match was quite interesting, the BHG's would go about their business, and as soon as a coot dived, they came racing over and when the coot surfaced, would then set about trying to grab whatever it had.

    I'm sure it will come as no surprise, the coots gave as good as they got.

    Sadly, the contact photos were badly out of focus, and the hide was a bit too busy to set a tripod up for video, but next time, I may do just that and video the  activity.

  • Great pics Mike, loved them, especially feeding the Robin from your hand.
  • gaynorsl said:
    Great pics Mike, loved them, especially feeding the Robin from your hand.

    Thank you Gaynor, I shall be looking for the robin on my next visit, whenever that may be.