Grey Plover on the Axe Estuary

Here's a few pics of the Grey Plover which I was going to upload until the Bittern took priority. The birds were very distant (i.e. on the other side of the estuary) hence the low image quality:

BITTERN on Axe Estuary!!!!!!!!!!! Photos galore...

I'm having a tough time with a hideous workload at the moment so when news of a BITTERN on the Axe Estuary reached me (many many thanks to Tim Wright) I was determined to get some pics between stints at work. I took approximately 1000 shots, primarily because it was very far away (200 metres at least) and I wanted a few good enough for the blog; either way it's my first Bittern on patch so just seeing it was fantastic. Although distant, the bird was feeling particularly showy at times...

Pics of the Grey Plover and more will be on the next post; the Bittern took the limelight :)

Photo update

I've been working day and night this week so haven't had time to blog. Here's a few pics from recent outings:

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Common Darter

Little Grebe

I managed to pop out to see the 3 Grey Plover on the Axe estuary between work and work today. I got to Tower Hide and saw 5!! I'll upload some distant pics of them with my next post.

SPOTTED CRAKE !!! Jam by the gallon...

I got a message early afternoon from Steve Waite saying that there was apparently a Spotted Crake from the Field Studies Base hide. After checking the source (thanks Ian Hunt) I dropped everything at work (first time for everything...) and booked the afternoon off. I had a lot of bad luck with the Spotted Crake that stayed for a few weeks this time last year; many 6am starts and I still didn't manage to see it. However, this one is a tidier bird, and was a fair bit closer too... all in all I'm glad this one was the life tick for me:

The light was awful for this shot but I kinda like the pose

It's RIDICULOUSLY fortunate that the bird has chosen a small area right in front of a hide despite there being loads of suitable habbo around. It makes you wonder how many of these elusive birds we actually get, with this only being the 2nd record since 1940s?? Hmm...

Kingfisher Hovering

Just a couple of distant pics to keep regular viewers interested :)

More Osprey!!

I visited Bowling Green Marsh again to see the Ospreys; just couldn't resist them! They both stayed horribly distant as most readers will be able to tell by the post that the bird is sat on (hence the poor image quality). Here's the adult; the juvenile remained down at the Dawlish end of the estuary:

OSPREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had some absolutely lovely company this afternoon and a distant view of a stunning OSPREY. Regular readers will be aware of my massive interest in birds of prey so I did something unusual and travelled off patch to see the bird. Here it is, distant but stunning none-the-less:

More Wader-y Posing

Here's a couple of shots from this afternoon; the light wasn't great but it's been a couple days since I posted so this'll do:

Little Stint

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Getting close to these was difficult as the water level is pretty high on Black Hole Marsh again. Hopefully it'll go back to being nice and muddy soon...

Photos from Black Hole marsh & Beer Head

I gave Black Hole Marsh and Beer Head a quick visit early evening today. It was nice to see another Little Stint which arrived yesterday on BHM (I think) but there wasn't anything else of interest new in.

Beer Head was good with 40 ish Yellow Wagtail, 4 Meadow Pipit and a single Whinchat.

Little Stint

Little Stint

3 Swallow

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Whinchat

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Ringed Plover

Eagerly awaiting a stonking American wader; there are a few about quite close to here so Black Hole Marsh may come good...