College Lake Nature Reserve - Rat Catching is a Dirty Business

College Lake whilst waiting for the Hobby's to appear, I was watching a Heron stalking through the grass some yards from the water.

Suddenly the heron stuck.  As it was some distance from me I could not see what its prey was, perhaps a frog or a young moorhen?  Taking a photo through the telephoto I could see that it was a young rat.



 

Immediately after swallowing the rat, the heron walked into the water right up to its underside.....

 

....and proceeded to shake itself, throwing water over its wings.

 

Having finished its wash, the heron looks a bit sheepish having had its wash watched.

College Lake Nature Reserve - Hobby

 On a beautiful morning last Friday at College Lake there were two Hobbys flying over the lake trying to catch dragonflies, whilst I tried to photograph them flying in the distance.

 

Suddenly one briefly rested in a  dead tree about 40m from the hide, and I was lucky enough to get these images before it flew off to hunt again.

Tring Reservoirs - Wilstone Kingfisher Pt 3 (disappointment)

Luck plays a big part in getting the photos you want.

 

The kingfisher on a small number of occasions took to the air and hovered briefly above the water before diving in, and on one occasion I was able to get my lens onto the hovering bird before it dived.  Back at home I eagerly downloaded the photos, only to discover that due to the angle of the bird to he camera, the bird's bill was hidden from view.

 

Disappointment, but still a nice shape!

Tring Reservoirs - Wilstone Kingfisher Pt 2

More of the Kingfisher, sitting on a stick dealing with a small fish....

.....and flying across the water.



Photos not as clear as I would have wanted, but at a distance in dull light.

Tring Reservoirs - Wilstone Kingfisher Pt 1

Every year I see kingfishers, occasionally static on a branch overlooking water, but too far away to have a decent shot, or as a fleeting image as it shoots past me over the water, its short call often giving me warning that it is passing.  A difficult bird to photograph.

 

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours in the hide at Wilstone Reservoir.  Nothing much happening, but enjoying the Lapwings squabbles, Teal, Common Terns and a couple of juvenile Little Ringed Plover.

 

Then a very keen young birder, showed me a kingfisher sitting on a stick in the water about 25m away.  Over half an hour I managed to get these images of this beautifully marked bird, which I think is a juvenile, as its bill appears to have a white tip, although this may be a trick reflection. Otherwise it was a male with a black bill.

 

I will definitely be back again, but later in the day when the sun will have moved so that the side of the bird facing me will not be in shadow.  These photos are a little grainy for me. 



Agility Dogs Jump Sequence

Agility dogs enjoying training yesterday evening in sequence.

 

 

NW Scotland - Divers at Clashnessie Bay

Clashnessie Bay is a good place to see divers.  Over the years I have seen three species, most often the Red Throated, with a little less often, the beautifully marked Black Throated.  On rare occasions  I have been lucky enough to see the Great Northern, but these are always at a distance (last a juvenile in June 2016).

 

This year in June it was the turn of the Red Throated....

 

.....Whilst the last Black Throated was in June 2015.

NW Scotland - Ullapool Late Golden Hour

Ullapool taken just as the photographer's golden hour was dying, casting a golden to mauve light on the landscape, early June.

W Scotland - F-15 Eagle

Another eagle, but not a bird.

 

Taken as they flew down Loch Duich whilst we were waiting in the traffic queue (see previous post). 

 

There were four F-15s, one at a time about a minute apart, flying relatively low and close.  The noise can only be described as loud.  I managed to get in focus shots on the third and fourth jets just before they disappeared behind the trees.  I just couldn't get the lens to focus in the few seconds they came towards me, so ended up having rear end shots.

 

Interesting vapour trails.

Monochrome contrast adjust shows engine exhaust.



 

Flying low close to the hills.

 

The last eagle.

W Scotland - Loch Duich - Porpoise Surprise

On our way back from visiting the Sea Eagles, our journey was held up by a major accident on the main road on the northern side of Loch Duich.  We sat in the completely stationary traffic queue for half an hour and there was no movement, so I got the camera out with the hope of photographing some cormorant and herons as they flew intermittently up and down the sea loch.

 

The sun was casting shadows on the opposite green lochside to the south, the relief producing nice shadows.

An interesting landslip with some very distant red deer.



 

A passing cormorant, the closest any bird came.

After at least an hour of waiting in the still stationary queue, my wife thought she had briefly seen a dark shape out in the loch, and wondered if it was a porpoise which were known to occasionally frequent these coastal sea lochs.  Talking to a local in the car in front whom we discovered crewed on tourist boat trips to see seals and other wildlife, he thought it was unlikely to be a porpoise, and more likely a breaching seal.  We kept an eye on the loch, and a couple of times we saw a dark shape briefly appear out of the distant waters. By this time I was pretty sure it was not a seal and was excited at the prospect of capturing a photo of a porpoise. Keeping my camera with its telephoto pointed at the loch, I eventually caught a porpoise breaching in the middle of the loch, possibly some 700m away, with many shots of just the sea, when I was too slow at pressing the shutter as the animal briefly surfaced.   Occasionally more than one shape was visible in different locations, so this must have been a relatively small pod.



Over a further half an hour I managed to grab these shots, but unfortunately never was quick enough to get a head as it broke the surface, nor did the porpoise come close to the shore.  But what luck (for us but not the unfortunate participants of the road accident) and  surprise to see my first known sighting of these aquatic mammals.



 

Postscript: We learnt later that the motorcyclist that had struck a car travelling in the opposite direction left hospital within a few days of the accident.  At the time it appeared to be very serious, with an air ambulance arriving and waiting at least an hour before it flew off.  The road was closed for over 6 hours we also later discovered.  After 3 hours we decided to turn round and make our return to our chalet near Ullapool via Loch Ness to the East, a considerably longer journey than our westerly route taken in the morning.