A surprise visit from a hawk.

I thought I had a Buzzard flying low over my house today, which is quite unusual where I live. I've seen them soaring high on the thermals, but not low at speed. When I looked out of the window, sat on the rooftop opposite was a Harris Hawk. They are not wild here, but can be seen in many falconry centres up and down the country. It made my day, but I still had to let someone know that this bird was around. I have let the relevant people know and hopefully it will be back with it's owner soon.

What an awesome bird. You can see the ring on it's left leg.

I wouldn't get many birds on my feeders if these were around all the time.

Little Grebe

Little Grebes, I have found, are always difficult to get close enough to photograph. They are small, quick and pretty shy birds. So as soon as they catch sight of you they either dive under the water or shoot off and away from you as fast as they can.
Having said all that, I managed to quite close to some at Burton Mere RSPB reserve at the weekend. I managed to get some shots as they came close, and they weren't that interested in me for once.

Here's the young one. Not a very pretty looking thing, but sort of cute.

This one had more of it's winter outfit on.

Willow Warbler

We had a glorious Saturday morning with bright sunshine. Birds were on the move as they moved off to warmer climates far far away. Soon to be gone will be this little Willow Warbler that I found. A lovely bird, that I will soon by longing to see again when Spring returs to these shores. Only 6 months to go.

Kingfisher

Pennington Flash has usually come up trumps when looking for Kingfishers. They can be seen zooming around the many water ways and quite often sat on posts or perched on the overhanging vegetation. Lovely to view through the binoculars, but more often than not too far away for my 300mm lens. Last weekend though, I got lucky. Walking down the path towards Pengys hide I could see the little fellow sat on the perch just yards in front of the hide. I only managed a few shots before it dived in for a fish. Some below for you.

Into the breach to do what they do best.

Tufties

Dozens and dozens of Tufted Ducks flying around Pennington Flash this morning. They seemed to take an age to actually decide where to land, but it was nice to watch them in the early morning sunshine.

Quite obvious from this shot as to why they have their name.

Meadow Pipit

On my patch we get Meadow Pipits a few times a year. They're usually passing through in the Spring and the Autumn. Sometimes they can stay for a day or two, and at other times they've stayed for a few weeks. This morning I found a pair that were being hassled by the Pied Wagtails. They kept getting chased, but were never scared off and managed to carry on skulking through the grass.
They are a bird that I take for granted sometimes, as they are quite common in the areas that I go birdwatching, but on closer inspection they are really quite a handsome little bird, as I think these pictures show.

You can see the yellow of the bill here.

Lovely olive markings on the back.

The Greenshank and Snipe

The waders are moving around at the moment, and I had some great views of two in particular at the weekend. A Greenshank and the Common Snipe. The Snipe is one of my favourite birds. Very peculiar looking with a ridiculously long bill for the birds size, but useful for probing the ground for food.
The Geeenshank has long legs and guess what? They are green. It is a very graceful bird as it walks around the edges of the shore line.

Common Snipe, with it's great bill.

The juvenile Greenshank and Snipe together.

Are you looking at me?

Pennington Flash

Another weekend visit to Pennington Flash, and more great birds to see. It really never disappoints. Below are some birds I found at the Bunting Hide where seed is put out regularly and the birds visit frequently. It's always great to see the birds at close quarters. You can watch habits and see who doesn't like who. Which ones like to perch and which ones prefer to do fly by.

Willow Tit on tip toe.

Nuthatch

Bullfinch. (Now, is that not just a little too big for you?)

Autumn sunrise

The early mornings just recently have started to feel more autumnal. My hat has been on, as the temperatures at first light have been decidedly cooler. When the sun is coming up though, it does give some amazing orange light, as the first picture below shows at Church Lane, Woodford.
Birds are getting ready to leave these shores and others are moving in great numbers, like our geese.

First light in Woodford. The four white marks in the sky on the right hand side are actually planes on the same flight path.

Local Canada Geese off on their way.

These Swallows will soon be off to Africa for the winter. I'll miss these little fellas.

Ravens

I've come across quite a few Ravens just recently. You can usually find them up on high ground and these birds below were up at Danebower where the moors are vast. I also saw plenty in Llandudno up on the rocky Great Orme. I even saw my first one over my garden at the weekend. Maybe it was lost.
They make a great noise that is very different to other members of the crow family and quite unmistakable if you're to hear it.

Mute Swan Cygnet

I was at Redesmere a few weeks ago. There are always plenty of ducks and wildfowl, usually the common stuff, but every now again something good turns up. On this occasion I spent my time watching a young cygnet with it's parents. There was just the one, but it was an incredibly cute one. I'll say no more and let you decide how cute it was.