Greylake – The floods recede

These images from Greylake RSPB reserve on the Somerset Levels were taken at the beginning of the month.  In fact, they were taken on the afternoon of the day I visited Shapwick Heath (last blog).  The water level had gone down some and the reserve had not long been reopened.  The A361 main road to Taunton was still closed about 3 miles south of Greylake and I believe that the village of Mulchenhay was still an island-community.

In the reserve itself, parts of the boardwalk still touched the water-surface when you walked along it.  It was suggested to me later that that was only because of the weight of kit I was carrying!

I encountered this injured Mute Swan with his family.

I haven't the faintest idea what might have caused his injury and there are limits to how closely you can inspect a very large, injured cob.

There was little to be seen (from a photographic point of view) from the hide except, perhaps, this Pied Wagtail.

"We're all waders now"

I returned to the car park and became aware of the effects of Sod's (or Murphy's) Law.  I had carried a heavy load round the reserve and to the hide and, there, right next to my car, was a Reed Bunting event.

 

A crew was filming flood-scenes for BBC Winter Watch, but none of the Greylake footage was shown when the programme went out.  The scenes shown were mainly at Sedgemoor.

There were some bit-players at the car park.

Chaffinch

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

The Robin theme is usually uppermost at this time of the year.  Here are some more images from Stourhead, Wiltshire.

There might be two Robins shown here.  Two had already paired up and were active together in harmony.  However, they were both so bold and fussy and they were darting around me  –  sometimes too close for the camera to focus.  During our little photo-session I lost track of which was which and I'm not sure I can tell the difference anyway.

Chaffinch

Great Tit

A female Mallard x, I suspect

Next week I shall have some images from the edge of the New Forest  –  Siskin, Redpoll.

The Winter Continues

The weather is turning colder and many parts of the country have had snow.  Snow was forecast to arrive here this morning and it came in on cue.  As I press the Publish button, there is a covering of 6-8cm and it's still falling steadily with a brisk breeze.

The first group of photographs was taken at Stourhead over the course of two days in Week 1 2013.

Two robins appeared to have paired up already.  I met one of them staking out his territory before Christmas.  There are now two getting along well together.  I can't yet tell the difference between them and it is possible that the images above include both.  They were so busy fussing around me, getting far too close for photographs, and generally trying to take charge of the session, that I quickly lost track of individuals.

Tufted Duck in the fog

The second group of images was taken on the Shapwick Heath (Somerset Levels).

Mute Swan

Breakfast

"I'm off"

Wigeon

Kingfisher

This female must have been on the course.  No matter what angles I tried to get when she made visits to this tree, she always had her beak behind a branch.

Not so with this Blue Tit, who was much more obliging.

Blue Tit

Greylag Geese enjoying the morning sunshine