At Last - Goosander Shots!

I knew they'd be on the lake today, freezing weather always brings the more interesting ducks to the town waters. So it proved today, although as ever my photography is terribly "record shot" and everything is soft looking that isn't totally out of focus.

My hands are so shaky, it is impossible to for me to take steady hand held shots. I know it's only a bottom end bridge camera, but I should be able to get better pictures than these.

That being said, freezing my hands off on a bright cold day with a spine slicing wind blowing across the water, I've got a few shots where you can just about see what is going on.

The egrets are a bonus. Never been seen before on the Blue Lake, but we now seem to have three that have settled in for the winter, either squabbling or actually attempting to breed today. Again ,my shots of these were terrible.

Still, I will keep trying. Just being outside is nice enough!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 24.02.18

Hot Hot Hot at RSPB Langford

After the early cloud thinned, we ended up with another red hot day with clagging humidity, although not as bad as yesterday; we have avoided any of the incredible thunderstorms or tornadoes I've seen people post on twitter.

So, after getting shorn this morning to help me cope with the heat - and better conceal my irritating bald patch - I took off for RSPB Langford the long way round, through Stapleford Wood, singing Jeff Buckley and Marvin Gaye. Luckily no pedestrians were out to witness my doppler shifted version of "Mercy Meeeeeeeeeeeee".

First thing I noticed when I arrived and parked up my bike in the rustic log they use as a stand there, was the large numbers of migrant hawker and common darter in the air.  But frankly, I was too tired after an hour's riding to go chasing after the darters and dragons again, and all I wanted to do was sit down and have a drink.

Luckily I didn't have to move from the water's edge benches, because right in front of me a little egret was making a wonderful display of leggy, tippy-toe hunting out on the reed bed while the lapwings peeped and fought all around.

Judging by the number of lunges and stabs, it was finding plenty to eat out there!

A lovely bird that certainly made the ride worthwhile.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.09.16

To Besthorpe Reserve by broken bicycle

The sun was shining through my window at 9am, a treacherous, lying view that told me that hey, today was a day to be ambitious and head for Besthorpe Notts Wildlife reserve by bike, especially seeing how I'd looked up the night before how to find it and all...

http://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/nature-reserves/besthorpe/

The good weather began to look not so good by the time I rocked the Sustrans 64 past the turn in for Langford Lowfields, the butterflies again fleeing my even more rattletrappy approach. As the evil clouds darkened approaching Besthorpe, rattetrap bicycle became rather more grinding and crunchy until, heading onto Trent Lane, the rear wheel bearing seemed to give way competely and turning the pedal resulted in clanking noise but no actual motion.

Bugger.

But, I was there, and figured I may as well enjoy the trip. Worth it too, it was, after walking down to the reserve through a field full of wildflowers and erupting with the now ubiquitious Meadow Brown and Ringlets - thought i saw a Brown Argus too at one point and the guide confirms they can be found there - I arrived at the lake, to be confronted with a sort of acquatic Jurassic Park.

The Mons Pool, overlooked by a screen, was a mass of cormorants. More than I've ever seen in my life, sitting drying their wings like pterasaurs, diving for fish, flying about like stubby World War 2 bombers, or just sitting around in the distance, socialising. Had a great view with my 10x25s, examined a flock of geese on the water which turned out to be greylags, lots of coots scuttling about making their little cornet calls. But, next to a rather disinterested looking cormorant in a tree, what's that white thing? Is it a plastic bag?

No, it was an Egret, gently preening itself on a branch! Pretty excited to get a first decent look at one of these pure pure white birds, although I'd seen one from a moving train before. Watched it for a while, before heading off to the next part of the site and there was about another 8 or so of them on the sand flats, stalking about like the 2/3 sized herons they are, or just standing elegantly. So beautiful. They don't seem like they hunt like herons, they don't have that statuesque intensity. They almost bring a touch of Egypt to Nottinghamshire (oh, pseuds corner does await you) - my folks tell me they line the banks of the Nile there.

As a bonus, scanning the water revealed a pair of Shelducks, with two chicks in tow - difficult to say at a distance but the chicks seem more silvery than mallard ones.

Time to go, I'd arranged a lift home with my fantastic stepfather, and had coincidentally arranged the pick up to be the Lord Nelson pub. Heading back on my bike as if it were an 1760 pedalless boneshaker, pausing to take a picture of these attractive purple flowers and seeing a mustellid prance across my path, I got to the pub...

...to find it was shut, and it was now raining hard. Thank god for porches eh, for shivering tyro nature bloggers!