Escapee !

Pennington Flash - 20.8.2018

With all the Kingfisher action going on in the Horrocks hide it's easy to overlook the presence of the Egyptian Goose that appeared a number of days ago, as I understand there were originally two geese that turned up but today there's only one present.

Egyptian Geese are to be found in sub-Sahara Africa and the Nile Valley (Opus) and were imported to bird collections in the UK, like other species such as Mandarin Duck, Ruddy Duck have escaped and have successfully bread in several locations of the UK, I guess these birds could well be breeding in locally within the region.

The Kingfisher has disappeared through to the small pool to my right so my attention turns to the goose that's come close the edge of the channel in just front of the hide, between the dull browns of the goose, the colourless water and the now flat light it dosen't make for a great image but at least it's a record of the bird I haven't seen too often in the wild.

Egyptian Goose

Kingfisher Time !

Pennington Flash - 20.8.2018

It's been raining over night with drizzle still in the air this morning, and to add to the rain the light isn't so good. I intended to visit Pennington Flash today as there have been a number of Kingfishers putting in an appearance but I'm wondering is it worth going, as they say nothing ventured nothing gained and I go for it.

The car park at Pennington is quite full, in the adjoining park area there's a small fair in full swing with Bon Jovi belting out, it's half term what else would you expect !

Normally I would make my way down to the Ramsdale Hide as you can get quite close to the birds that use a number perches placed in the water using the "big white" but first I take a small detour to the Horrocks hide to see whats about. As I enter cameras are clicking away and someone points to a Kingfisher sat on a post no more than five meters away, quickly I get the camera out to join the action.

The light intensity is pretty good with sunny intervals albeit the sun angle from the side isn't highlighting that normally vivid blue and orange plumage colours you normally associate with this iconic bird. The Kingfisher happily dives and catches small fish returning repeatedly to the posts directly in front of me, at times depending whats it's doing it's too close and I have to remove the 1.4x to get some space in the image.

For a period of about forty minuets it's all action with the bird alternating between several posts and a strategically placed branch, then it's all goes quite with the Kingfisher departing for another part of the flash, I've taken over nine hundred images of the Kingfisher....wow !

All I can say is some times you just drop lucky, with a big smiley face I continue on my way to see what other oppertunites are to be found.

Kingfisher - male

The image below shows the eye covered by the translucent nictitating membrane or third eyelid, it has several functions, it lubricates the eye and also offeres some protection to the eye when the Kingfisher is diving or thrashing about trying to stun the fish.

Another image showing the translucent nictitating membrane or third eyelid covering the eye.

I have included this image as it shows how the Kingfisher can control individual eye movement, look at the left eye of the bird and you can see it's looking down whilst the right hand eye is looking forward presumably at the camera action...amazing. The only other species I know that dose this is the Chameleon but I'm sure this isn't unique in the animal world.

Garganey at Elton

Garganey - 15/16th August 2018

Checking the local bird sites on the web I noted that a Garganey had made an appearance this morning in front of the boat house at Elton Reservoir in Bury, as I hadn't been out for a few days I though why not and have a go for some images.

Arriving at the car park I was some what taken aback as the car park disappointedly has been taken over by "travellers" who seem to be involved in scrap metal !....anyway back to the task in hand.

Having already seen some images of a female / immature Garganey I had good idea what to look, but before I unload all the gear I wanted to locate the duck to save me humping all the gear in the event of an abortive trip but still a little nervous about leaving gear in the car. A scan from the footbridge I pick up the duck which is sat on the waters edge with three Mallard, so back I go to unpack the gear.

Shooting towards the town in the afternoon the light angle is always going to be wrong with whites and greys washing out the colours, to make matters worse the Garganey isn't very approachable. Working myself into the best position I could manage I take some images of which the best is below, but with time running out due to prior engagement I have too call time with the intension of trying again tomorrow.

Garganey - female / possible immature. Wednesday

The weather forecast for today is a lot  better being part sun and cloud so I'm optimistic for a chance of some better images. Arriving around 8.30am, which is early for me I scan from the boat house footbridge but there's no sign of the duck so I make may way up to the creek. The "creek" as it's known locally is a small muddy inlet where a stream from the adjacent fields enters the reservoir and is flanked by willow and other hawthorn type hedging and good for ducks such as Teal.

At the creek a Kingfisher with it's iridescent blue flashes past occasionally stuttering in flight to look for a perch to carry out what it dose best, then I hear and see Whitethroat scrambling around brambles with its guttural chuirrr, and nearby a group of Linnet are busy feeding on the seed heads in the tall vegetation.

At the furthest point right into the creek I located the Garganey dabbling at the waters edge, but this location is at the closes point the footbridge and always likely to get flushed by the occasional walkers crossing the bridge, so it's a quick retreat back to the car to collect the gear before all the dog walkers are out and about.

I'm now back at the creek and I've brought the throw over hide, I don't want to chance moving near the bridge so the plan is when the duck moves into side banking to move as close as I dare to the waters edge and wait my opportunity.

The light is good and as I've brought the 2x along I thought I'd give it a go, that's 1,000mm, with the "cropper" camera that's 1,600mm !!...the down side some times the images can look a little soft, but I think on this occasion the images look perfectly ok for my use.

Over the next 60 minuets the Garganey happily feeds at the waters edge occasional disappearing under the over hanging vegetation, this gives me the opportunity to switch to the 1.4x extender with it's better image quality for when the Garganey occasional comes nearer.

After a a quiet period and for no reason that I can see the duck takes to the air flying off in the direction of the boat house, and that's it session over. Heading back I don't located the Garganey again, on the other hand I'm not concentrating that hard as I'm happy with the recored images already in the bag.

Garganey - Thursday

I've included this image as it shows some nice under wing detail, image was taken with the 2x extender at a 1,000mm which is some what softer than when using the 1.4x.

After some ten minuets of carrying out some feather maintenance the Garganey eventually finishing off with a wing flap, as I antisipated this it gave me the chance to up the shutter speed, I still could have done with just a little more thou !

Mandarins of the FOD

Cannop Ponds, Forest of Dean

When ever I'm out and about in the forest I often come across the multi coloured Mandarin Duck. Originally imported from East Asia to bird collections in the south of England, escapees are now well established with good numbers to be found in the Forest of Dean.

Being a tree nesting species it's not surprising that these ducks have found the forest to their liking with an abundance of suitable tree nest sites, pond and lakes all close by. One of the best locations I've found to see these ducks is Cannop Ponds, particularly the top pond, in fact I have even seen them from the car on Marion's Pool on the weekly shopping drive down to Monmouth so it's always worth keeping a look out as they can turn up anywhere.

Outside of breeding season later in the year is a good time to photograph these ducks as they often group together with up to twenty individuals, the males busyly jostling each other for the attention of the females giving you the chance to get really close as they are preoccupied trying to be top dog, or should that be top duck !

Mandarin Duck

Mandarin Duck (female)

Never managed to get a decent shot of the female in difficult light and always wary of your presence