A Review of 2020 - Part 1 January - March

This is the first of my reviews of the year 2020 covering the period January - March for which I have selected five rather special days.

7th January 2020

Today was a trip to Verulamium Park in St Albans to see the rather tame Kingfisher that fishes at close range on the River Ver. It is amazing to think that this bird sits here fishing just five yards from the footpath where there is a constant procession of families with buggies and children, dog walkers and of course a small contingent of photographers. And as you can see from the photos she is totally unconcerned by all the attention. We know it is a female by the orange on the lower mandible, a Kingfish with lipstick!!

1st February 2020

Today was a visit to Lackford Lakes in Suffolk where I would normally go at this time of year to photograph Kingfishers and waterfowl. While I am there I also spend some time at the famous fallen log where seed is put out to encourage tits, Robins and other small birds to come down for some photographs. However today the star of the show was a small Bank Vole which was taking advantage of the seed that had been dropped by the birds. Just look at those huge eyes.

2nd February 2020

Today was a visit to Pitstone Hill to try and find the Ring Ouzel that had been present for a few days. A fairly daunting task as it is such a large area but being flat, albeit on a slope, did make life a lot easier. Considering that we were silhouetted on the skyline it was amazingly confiding.

16th March 2020

A visit to High Wycombe today to photograph a Black-bellied Dipper that had taken up residence in a rather public park. UK Dippers have a chestnut breast band and are resident, but this Black-bellied Dipper is a winter migrant from Scandinavia. It seemed very much at home by the waterfall with families walking past just yards away.

16th March 2020

It has been traditional for years now to go to Watlington Hill in Oxfordshire to photograph the Red Kites quite close to their original release point in the Chilterns back in 1990. However, now that they have spread it is possible to take photos like this just down the road from my house.

Part 2 covering the period April-June 2020 coming soon.