The last couple of weeks has seen some bright very cold days (Great for photography!) and some wet, dull and cloudy days (Not great for photography!)
None-the-less.... I take pics at every opportunity, despite the conditions, and I've had opportunities at RSPB Greylake, RSPB Swell Wood and Backwell Lake in North Somerset.
The Winter Duck numbers are growing at Greylake and in turn have attracted Peregrine Falcons to the reserve, in the hope for a Teal or Wigeon dinner or 2! On 2 separate occasions I was lucky enough to see the Peregrines hunting in front of the hides and managed some shots of these extremely quick birds of prey! I did witness a kill, the first I'd ever seen, as a Falcon stooped low into the throng of panicing ducks, emerging with an unfortunate Teal in it's talons...unfortunately I didn't manage a photo of this moment. Damn!
At nearby RSPB Swell Wood I took some pics of the small birds visiting the feeders in the small car-park. This is the best local place to see Nuthatches and Marsh Tits!
I visited Backwell Lake in North Somerset to take photo's of Gulls in good light. Gulls are not very popular birds, but I absolutely love them! They're great photo subjects too, but quite challenging as they're so bright white in the sun, correct exposure is difficult to obtain!
Backwell Lake is a great place for Common Gulls, there's usually one or 2 there.....despite the name, they're not common at all!
They're a softer looking attractive Gull, a bit larger than the very familiar Black Headed Gulls, but smaller than Herring Gulls. One of the shots of them below won a 'Notable' award in BirdGuides this week!
Below are a collection of photo's taken in the last couple of weeks since my last Blog post....hope you enjoy viewing as much as I enjoyed capturing! :)
^Above^ - Hunting Peregrine Falcons at RSPB Greylake.
^Above^ - Gadwall at RSPB Greylake.
^Above^ - Shovelers at Greylake.
^Above^ - Wigeon at Greylake.
^Above^ - Teal at Greylake.
^Above^ - Mallards with a Shoveler (bottom bird) at Greylake.
^Above^ - Snipe flying in at Greylake.
^Above^ - Carrion Crows at Greylake.
^Above^ - Great Tit at Greylake.
^Above^ - Blue Tit at Greylake.
^Above^ - Lapwing at Greylake.
^Above^ - Great Spotted Woodpecker at Greylake.
^Above^ - Goldfinches at Greylake.
^Above^ - Chaffinches at Greylake.
^Above^ - Fieldfares passing over at Greylake.
^Above^ - Robin at Greylake.
^Above^ - Winter ducks at Greylake.
^Above^ - Coal Tits at RSPB Swell Wood in Somerset.
^Above^ - Blue Tits at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Great Tits at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Marsh Tits at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Nuthatches at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Robins at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Blackbirds at Swell Wood.
Chaffinches at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Great Spotted Woodpecker at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Squirrels at Swell Wood.
^Above^ - Redwing at Ilminster, Somerset.
^Above^ - Starlings at Middlezoy in Somerset.
^Above^ - Song Thrush at Backwell in North Somerset.
^Above^ - Robin swallowing a big berry at Backwell!
^Above^ - Tufted Ducks at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Shovelers at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Mute Swans at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Moorhens at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Mallard at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Common Gulls at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Common Gull chased by a Black Headed Gull.
^Above^ - Black Headed Gull meets a Common Gull (on the right) at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Herring Gulls at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Lesser Black Back Gulls at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Black Headed Gulls at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Squabbling Gulls at Backwell Lake... Herring, Black Headed, Lesser Black Back & Common Gulls all in bottom pic!
^Above^ - Grey Heron at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Jackdaws at Backwell Lake.
^Above^ - Redwings enjoying berries near Middlezoy in Somerset.
^Above^ - Fieldfares near Middlezoy.
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