I wonder if someone could id a few pictures for me, we saw these on a walk on Sunday but I'm really not good with fish, unless it's well seasoned and stuffed with herbs, although not sure I would want to eat this one!
Another shot, it was what I like to call "Masseeef" skimming the surface of the water with a mouth that would put my Dyson to shame!
and another...
Then from one extreme to another, we spotted this bird one of two which were flitting from the trees to open grassland and back again over and over. Sorry the pictures are a bit grainy as it was a far off shot but can't quite make out what the birds were. I did try to enlarge them but this only made the image worse if that can be possible.
One more just as bad
Many thanks
Kerry
Regards
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
Common Carp (of the domestically developed 'leather' variety I think, no visible scales) and Common Whitethroat :)
My blog: http://mazzaswildside.blogspot.co.uk/
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The Fish is a Common Carp and a big fella at that . as for the wee bird I think its a reed warbler but Theres a fair to middlin chance I got that wrong . Im sure someone will help ye out though.
Thanks for posting them Great photos by the way
Cheers
AL
If its no fun Yer no doin it right!
I'll have to go with aiki on the bird Eggy - I love their little tufty heads!!
That is one mean fish!!!!!
Pipit x
Hi Kerry,
I've no idea on either count, but I would hate to meet that fish face to face!!
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Hi all
Thanks for the replies, I really didn't have a clue what either species were.
LOL Sparrow, it was big, I've never seen the like before.
Do Carp have a taste for young chicks/ducklings? as there were a family of little grebes plus a family of moorhens on the water that all made a swift departure when this thing started coming up to the surface not to mention lots of very small fry that were jumping all over the place to get out of its way.
As for the bird, I hope it is a Whitethroat as I've never seen one before so can tick this off my list :-)
That Carp looks as if its well in the 20lbs range if not more . So its a bruser of a fish .
I have never heard of Carp take young birds but I know that Pike and Wells Catfish would happly make a meal of a duckling or 3.
Carp eat mostly snails I think. They feed by sucking rather than seizing their food - all their teeth are big grinders right at the back, nothing in the front of their mouths. So though they do grow very big, they're not really built to tackle baby waterfowl.
The bird is deffo a male Common Whitethroat. Grey head, white throat, pale underparts, bright brown wing-coverts, 'peaked' shape to crown, rather long tail held angled upwards, sitting at the top of a bush...
Kerry,
There are far more knowledgeable people on here than I, but I do think that the bird is a Whitethroat. Have your pen poised for the ticking, when someone competent (like Seymouraves) gives you the news.
Corriepaw
On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it - Jules Renard
Great photos. I need to to get my carp gear out and go catch that beauty!
Been an angler for longer than a birder, the third photo appears to show scales so I personally would say it is a Mirror Carp.
There are 4 main scale patterns displayed by carp:
The Mirror carp display a small number of large, randomly skattered scales on the body.
A Fully scaled carp is known as the Common or Wild carp.
The Linear carp has a single row of scales along the lateral line.
The Leather carp shows very few if not any scales on the body.
Other carp include the fully scaled mirror carp, ghost carp (common carp cross bread with a Koi carp) and crucian carp.
The bird is a Whitethroat.
Hope this helps!
Regards Buzzard
Nature Is Amazing - Let Us Keep It That Way
Get the pen poised as I'd go for Whitethroat too!!
'In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks' John Muir.
Excuse wobbily dyslexic spelling!