The Little Gulls Have Arrived

High Rid Reservoir - 20/04/2023

Little Gulls the smallest of gulls seen in the region are only passing through the UK on their way to breeding grounds on the Baltic counties, generally only hanging around for a day before moving on to the next location, if your lucky the next location won't be to far away to giving you another opportunity to grab some shots of these engaging tern like gulls, but you've got to be quick as no sooner as they arrived their gone.

Yesterday I was at Elton Res watching over thirty of these small back wing gulls "dancing" tern like generally keeping out of range in the middle of the reservoir and only coming close on the odd occasion, given I was using a 100-500mm zoom lens on a full frame camera, lets just say I was pretty much disappointed with the results.

It's now the following day and a group of up 35 LG's are on High Rid Reservoir about five miles from Elton and possibly the same gulls, another chance ! Arriving around 4.30pm the gull are cruising up and down the middle of the reservoir...doh ! I'm now using the 500mm with a 1.4 ext and the results looking through the viewer look a much better.

The sun now low in the sky and the light fading as it nearly 6.0pm thinking I've had the best of the action, the gulls have congregated in a group on the water a good time to call time, then all of a sudden for no apparent reason they all take to the air circling for a several minuets in the last of the good light then they depart in the direction of Bury ?

Little Gull

Back Out & About

River Calder - 16/04/23

Apart from a week down on the Costa it's been well over four months since I was last out with the camera, motivation and the lack of opportunity all playing a part, the good news is normality is back with a trip up to the Scottish Boarders followed by a week at El Taray in Central Spain to look forward to. In the mean time I'm off over to Ossett to try and get some images of the two Black-crowned Night Herons that have spent the last two weeks on holiday on the River Calder.

Ossett is a few miles from my former working location so not entirely a new to me, so checking BirdGuides to see if herons were still present, which they were....its post code into the sat nav and I on my way.

This is an easy short walk to the location with about ten birders on site looking at what looks like a white blob in a tree, like all Night Herons I've seen in Spain it's usually head down and sleeping not moving for the next hour, time to look for something else !

Sand Martins are zooming around which breed along the river bank, several Kingfishers flash up and down the river, warblers are singing, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap all belting it out, but it's a family of Goosander that's caught my attention so I spend the next hour trying to get some images.

Returning back to the BCNH location it's now awake slowly climbing down the tree, now you would think as a bird it would be easier to fly but these small herons do the opposite. It's "mucky" shot with all sorts of the branches poking in different directions apart from one location where there's a nice green background, its just a case of waiting...boom got it, the rest well lets just say will be heading for the bin !

Black-crowned Night Heron

Goosander - female