Sunday, Lodmore.... Delightful!

Mrs PB working, forecast for a hint of grey but generally sunny... what's a chap to do? Well, I'll tell you... he'll take a meander to somewhere he's not been in a while, and take his girlfriend (Nikki Nikon before anyone mentions her to Mrs PB!) for a day by the seaside!

Via the local deer park

There were three distinct groups, each with a well horny male (see what I did there?? lol) Unfortunately only one was in the sunlight!

Arriving at Lodmore, a heron flew across my eyeline

Whilst a Robin tsk'd at me for being where he thought shouldn't

While a few yards away, another was in full voice

There were a few Crows flying about, being raucous as per usual

Most of the morning a flock of birds I didn't recognise intermittently flew over head, at varying heights

However, having the attention span of a gnat, I didn't study any of the images in camera, distracted by the likes of Shoveler

Or another Crow flying by, giving me the evils

Then landing just across the path from me (uncropped)

The hint of greyness turned into a light shower, but that didn't deter a pair of Stonechats from "chatting"

And as quickly as it started, it stopped!

Constantly wheeling about were a plethora of gulls

And in the bushes Great and Blue Tits were taking advantage of "berry-fest"

For some reason this reminded me of a teacher and pupils... probably just the odd way my brain works!!

There were some little waders, Dunlin

And a few larger ones... Black Tailed Godwit (I think) *Landing Gear in Position*

*Apply Air Brakes*

*Adjust For Final Approach*

*Cleared To Land*

*Full Reverse Thrusters*

*Touchdown*

*Begin Refuelling*

In the next little batch of trees lining the water...SURPRISE!!

Back on the water.... who's seen the bottom of a Teals bill?

Any thoughts on the purpose of the markings? Nature doesn't do owt for owt!

Back to the trees...

Oooh, look.... the flock again!

Distracted.... Dunnock...

Whirrrrrrrr.... Flock!

Ooooh, pretty Teal

More tsk-ing

Many times during the morning skeins of Canada Geese dropped in, in groups of half a dozen to thirty plus

Juts saw the back end of something disappearing into the trees... any thoughts?

In the same trees, Dunnock standing proud

A Cormorant flew by

And back to the same trees, Jenny was stretching

And, relaxxxxxxx

The other side of the pools, a wascally wabbit was nibbling

I kept seeing Dunlins in fours, so I'm guessing it was the one group that just kept moving

Hiding well (sort of) were several Snipe

And looking magnificent, Mrs Gadwall (wait til you see Mr later... talk about intricate detailing!)

Even less well hidden Snipe

As others have said with their Canon kit, I too am mightily impressed with the tracking on these new fangled picture making gadgets

A nice bit of Lapwing iridescence

But don't get distracted from the flock... it's getting bigger

Back to the tracking... I took 27 shots in total of this gull coming towards me, from probably 40 yards to about 10! Amazing technology

And then, right beside me, out popped another Dunnock

Best foot forward

There were a dozen or more Cormorants on the various little islets

Along with all the Canada Geese, was one Brent goose, though he didn't seem perturbed by being the only one

At the far end of the pools, a couple of youngish looking Shelduck were pootling about

A bit late in the year, maybe, but several Red Admiral were on the wing, along with a couple of Speckled Wood

Several more Godwit were feeding incessantly

And one of the three Great White Egrets I saw decided to show everyone his enormous wingspan

Some more Snipe were hunkered down amongst the reeds

And Mr Gadwall finally put in an appearance

Now, I hear you cry... you've been going on about this group of birds all post, what the flock was it...?

Only my second time of seeing Golden Plover 

And that concluded my couple of hours with my girlfriend by the sea :o)

Sorry I should have said it was a bit of a long post!

Hope it didn't bore you too much, and thanks for reading/viewing

Stay Safe All