Shapwick Heath

The date was 6th April 2013 and it was the day that the first signs of spring appeared here!  I spent the day on the Somerset Levels.

The images that I'm posting this week were the ones taken before lunch.

I include my first picture because Great Egret (ardea alba)  –  often known as Great White Egret  –   made history last year by breeding here for the first known time.  The photograph was taken from far too far away for a good image and it's here for interest only.  I couldn't tell whether if was one of the new, 'English' ones or one of the older French birds.

The Coot were a litle closer!

These Gulls flew around Noah's Hide and I think they're Herring Gull.  ☺

The antics of this Mallard amused me for a while.

He definitely taxed me as he kept hiding his face behind a reed.


To one side of the hide, and seemingly watching the watchers there, a Blue Tit showed itself in an obliging way.  (Once the leaves come, we won't stand a chance.)

Ever alert

Going out on a limb

Great Crested Grebe

Wigeon

Greylag Goose

Defending an area of the lake

The last group are again, like the Great Egret image, taken from too far away to make a good picture.  A pair of Great Crested Grebe were shaping up for what might have become their characteristic courtship dance.  I wanted to capture this, distance notwithstanding.  In the event, it never reached the full dance, but here they are.

There you are then.  The ones that should have 'gone on the cutting room floor'!


Next week I shall post images from Greylake, Somerset, taken after lunch on the same day.

Easter 2013

The cold was continuing and, even when the sun was shining brightly, you felt that the wind would take the skin off your face.

I stayed at home most of the holiday weekend and went further afield only on Easter Day  –  to Langford Lakes at Steeple Langford, Wiltshire.  Don't you just love these old village names?

In my garden:

Dunnock

(The dandelions are doing well this year!)

The male Blackcap was still visiting.

Do you mind?

Dreaming of insects?

House Sparrow

I can see you

Oops!

At Langford Lakes:

Great Crested Grebe

A still moment on one of the lakes

Canada Goose

 

Mute Swan

A pair of Chiffchaff were displaying nesting behaviour in low bushes overhanging the edge of one of the lakes.  When they came higher into other shrubbery, there was a chance for a photograph.  After they had led me a merry dance for about an hour, these are the best I could manage.

Next week I shall have images from a day spent on the Somerset Levels.  It was my first day back there since the beginning of January.  The Levels are not really the place to be when bitterly cold winds are blowing relentlessly.

Footnote:

I've just set some Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) seeds in a tray on the conservatory window sill.  They don't flower until their second year and then they self-seed.  So, given that some of these start growing and I'm able to plant them out later this year, in 18 months I might have seed-heads in the garden.
Never say that I don't plan ahead!