A Christmas Visit to Magical Mistley

29th December 2015

I like to try and go to Mistley once a month during the winter months as the composition of the birds changes both at The Quay and The Walls. On my last visit The Quay was totally dead as the wintering ducks had still to arrive. However today was quite different with good numbers of Goldeneye and Pintail swimming around quite close in.

At first glance I thought that this brown one was a female but closer inspection reveals that it was in fact a 1st winter male with its white cheek patch just beginning to show and therefore this pair are in fact father and son.

All the birds were resplendent in the mid-day sun, and even better when they performed a number of swim-pasts.

Now on to The Walls and I hadn't even got out of the car when I was greeted by this rather tame Pied Wagtail which strutted its stuff on the grass verge.

Although I often take photos of gulls, particularly in flight, it would appear that this is possibly the first Common Gull that I have ever photographed. I suspect the the reason for this is that they are not in fact as common as the other gulls and are not as tame around people. Anyway, I was quite pleased with this one.

The tide was now well on its way in, pushing the waders up the fast disappearing mud towards the road. Today, Redshanks were very much in abundance and were very smart when illuminated by the sun.

But the stars of the show as always were the 100s of Black-tailed Godwits, which are not only the most numerous wader here but also the most confiding. One still had the remnants of its winter plumage, or perhaps it was getting ready for next summer.

And then when the mud is totally covered they all fly off to their high tide roost. You have just got to love Mistley.

A Long-tailed Duck at Lackford Lakes

28th December 2015

A nice sunny day so time to go to Lackford Lakes to photograph the long-staying Long-tailed Duck. The Bernard's and Doubler-decker Hides were both extremely quiet so I moved straight on to Bessie's Hide where the duck has been spending much of her time.

However, walking through the woods I came across Barry Woodhouse lurking by a tree. Barry had cunningly seeded a large log next to the path and was busy photographing the endless stream of birds that came for their free meal. It would have been rude not to join in. Apart from the Blue and Great Tits, there were also Coal Tits and Nuthatches, but the star of the show today was the Marsh Tit which, although fast, did pose a couple of times.

Now on to the business in hand and Barry soon found the Long-tailed diving close in on the Hawker Pool. As is often the case the duck was diving continuously for long periods of time and therefore initially this was the best view you could get.

However, I did eventually manage to get one shot albeit in a shady part of the lake, but then it did swim into the sun briefly. Thereafter it swam away, flew off and returned to Long Reach but very distant.

A Winter Visit to Mersea Island

23rd December 2015

A winter visit to Mersea Island but with an outside temperature of 16C it hardly felt very wintry. However, let's hope that the birds will come to the island irrespective of the weather. The flooded grazing meadow held the usual 100s of Black-tailed Godwits at their hide tide roost as well as an array of Grey Lag Geese, Brent Geese, Wigeon and a small flock of Golden Plover.

At Stone Point the tide was just starting to recede exposing several acres of mud which attracted thousands of waders, mainly Dunlin but also Grey Plover, Ringed Plover and Turnstone.

There was also a couple of hundred Knot feeding in the shallows. When they took to the air it can only be described as absolute chaos and unbelievable that there are no mid-air collisions.

But the star of the show today was this adult Mediterranean Gull at West Mersea which could not resist the lure of a crust of bread. Who said that I don't have field-craft?