Out For An Hour

Ashworth Moor - 10.9.18

After all the rain yesterday and a break in the weather this morning I thought I'd have an hour up at Ashworth Reservoir for more images of the many wagtails and pipits that are currently present along the road wall. It's still grey and overcast but one of the benefits of using the mobile hide (car) is at least your out of the wind.

Wagtail and pipits numbers now are down on previous days but there are still a fair few Swallows hawking along the embankment, occasionally forming large groups they rise high in the sky as thou they are about to depart south to warmer climes only then to decent and continue feeding over the reservoir.

One of the mornings first sighting is a female Hobby, an account of which you can read below. Another birder has just passed this location and is further down the road and unfortunately would have missed the encounter, the only other birds of note are a couple of female kestrels, of course I could spend couple hours doing a full circumnavigation and scan of the reservoir, but thats for another day.

After working my way up and down the road a number of times I spot a falcon sat on the north wall, I'm hoping it's the Merlin again but this bird heavily marked and very light brown almost juvenile in colour, it's a kestrel. I abandoned the car and creep along the wall just to a point where the bird isn't too obscured by the walls turret, it sits content for a few minuets enough time for a couple of hundred images, and then it's gone...time for home and a coffee.

Kestrel - female

Having just arrived I'm sat in the car scanning to see where the pipits and wagtails are located along the road wall then, off the south side fields near the two turbines a brown falcon fly's pass dropping over the reservoir wall and out of site within seconds to reappear landing on the wall, it looks very much like a female Merlin.

I quickly get the camera out but the settings in the camera are flight settings of the egret from my last outing with one stop minus exposure...doh ! to complicate matters the falcon is the the wrong side of the car and the wing mirror is in the way, then falcon fly's further down the wall, when I eventually get a clear view it's even further away and image below is all I manage still using some real duff settings.

I'm disappointed not to get a better image never the less happy to see this falcon no more than a mile from the house.

Merlin - female