RSPB Greylake - 2nd March 2013

I was on call and had a traffic light job in Milborne Port today. Luckily I was finished by dinner time, so I popped into RSPB Greylake on the way home to see some birds and take some pics!
   I took pictures of the Reed Buntings, Chaffinches and other small birds in the car park, all attracted to the feeders that have been put up for them. It wouldn't usually be so easy to get such close views of Reed Buntings! 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers paid a visit too, though they didn't stay for long and were particularly shy when a car pulled in or people walked back from the hide.
  The light was pretty poor for photography, very overcast, so I went for a walk to the hide, overlooking the wetlands with my family, who had all turned up for a walk! There were a few Teal, Wigeon, and Snipe plus some Little Egrets dotted about the reserve. A Little Grebe was catching fish in the water in front of the hide. The highlight though was a Hen Harrier that flew over the Reserve in the distance, then gained height and passed overhead in an Easterly direction. It's a pity it didn't come closer, did it know I had a camera?!
    Walking back to the car park, the Sun finally came out, for the first time in days! This enabled me to get some more shots of the small birds in the Car park as they squabbled, the better light enabling me to 'freeze' the action with faster shutter speeds! I got one shot I was particularly pleased with, a Male Reed Bunting in the air, feet forward and beak to beak with a standing Male Chaffinch!
  A great end to the day, especially spending time with my lovely daughter Emily, a keen amateur photographer of birds herself! :-)

^ABOVE^ - My favourite shot of the day, A Reed Bunting trying to see off a Male Chaffinch!

^ABOVE^ - Male Red bunting and Male Chaffinch squabble.

^ABOVE^ - Male Reed Bunting.... starting to get it's dark breeding head plumage.

^ABOVE^ - Pretty female Reed Bunting

^ABOVE^ - Male Reed Bunting

^ABOVE^ - More bickering Reed Buntings and Chaffinches!

^ABOVE^ - Great Spotted Woodpecker

^ABOVE^ - Dunnock

^ABOVE^ - Robin

^ABOVE^ - Beautiful colourful Blue Tits

^ABOVE^ - An aggressive Reed Bunting and submissive Blue Tit

^ABOVE^ - Male Chaffinch

^ABOVE^ - Female Chaffinch in flight.

^ABOVE^ - Female Chaffinch

^ABOVE^ - A distant shot of a 'Ringtail' Hen Harrier