What have you seen

If you're visiting Somerset, the Wells, Glastonbury area etc or nearby there are some huge flocks of starlings round and you can see them roosting or taking off at the Hamwall rspb reserve. The noise is quite something too. There are many other birds and creatures to see at the reserve so it's worth a visit.

see here

What a morning....loads of Kingfisher activity...pair displaying, flyby's within 4/5 feet.  Lots of fishing, but not in my eye line.

I then had a very surreal moment, I was watching a female that sat in a bush no more then 6/7 feet away, when the bird adopted a very downwards posture and I thought 'you are going to fly'.  What I didn't know was that the Kingfisher had seen a bird of prey.  The first I knew of the Sparrowhawk was when it dived in, inches above my head, swooped down and tried to come up into the bush.  I felt the movement of the air off of the Sparrowhawk's wings.  The Kingfisher exited the bush in a hurry and my enjoyment was over for the day.

The value of my net hide is that the Kingfisher and Sparrowhawk would never have been anywhere near me without it.

The pic of the bird behind twigs is seconds before the attack.

Beautiful photos again greylag. Very envious if both the sitings and your camera skills.

We have a local sparrowhawk, hadn't seen it for a while, however last week it visited and took one of the little birds that hadn't tucked itself in the bush by the feeder enough. We often have bird imprints on the conservatory windows where I presume it's paid a call. So far only imprints not bodies on the ground. 

More great pics GL.  Went for a walk along Breydon, lots of birds starting their return journey to the continent obviously help by the winds from the West.

Norfolk will be a lot quieter very soon.  I just love the birds in winter.

I do not get much past the Kingfisher pool....I have noticed that the geese are much fewer in numbers this winter.  I did have a flight of around 15 curlews come up off the marsh as I was walking home.

Bearded tits were also calling from the reeds, Marsh harriers were display calling from down in the reeds.

I bet tomorrow is gloomy.

Fabulous pics GL, didn't see much wildlife at the NEC today, but only managed to spend £1.80 on some Isabella clips.

We have high winds at present this side of the country, which presumably you way get tomorrow.

Thanks for the link to Wildlife Watching Supplies. Have they changed their stock, as I did not see any net hides, but a choice of 4 bag hides. Is that what you meant?

We are now members of a re-named club in case nobody noticed on the page header. Caravan and Motorhome Club

Large flocks of geese were gaining height before heading east, too far away to identify but did see a large flock of Redwings and Buick Swans leave.

BL....sorry!  Yes it is called Bag hide.  None of my Kingfisher pic's would have happened without the hide.  It folds into a neat bag, thought it was expensive, but not when I see the pic's I have taken.

I have hidden a three legged camping stool at my Kingfisher pool and I sit on this with the net over me, my elbows resting on a rucksac across my knees.  I have used my tripod, but this is fairly restrictive, when I might want to swivel around.

The female had a choice of a dozen branches to perch on and for two days running chose the nearest spot to me.  This bird spent time just looking down my lens. The birds are too close and too fast for movement shots, but these sharp shots are just what I love.

The picture with the fish shows that sometimes they actually spear the fish.

Some of the head feathers are the sharpest I've ever had, I do like detail.

If I had any hair on my head that Sparrowhawk would have given me a parting.

For the first time (for us) we've seen little egrets on the beach at Abersoch.  They've been seen before, since about 2014 apparently.  I love seeing them in southern France, and we've seen them in the harbour at Pwllheli before, but never on the beach just down the road from the cottage where we're staying.