Another trip to the lakes

On a beautiful sunny morning I went for a walk with my eldest son to Anton Lakes. My son has recently purchased a super-duper long lens and was wanting to try it out by pointing it at some birds.


I felt quite inferior with my much smaller lens but am quite pleased with some of the results I got. 

This robin sat and posed for me beautifully

Cormorants sat on the highest branches

A hybrid, mostly mallard but think he might have a bit of shoveller duck in him

Mallard (see the difference to the one above)

One of the many mute swans that frequent the lake

A goosander (managed to get better photos than the ones I took the other day)

And again, you can see his colours better on this one

So elegant, I love it when swans glide through the water like this

I love the water glistening on this swan's neck and beak

Another mallard  - what a stunning colour they are when the sun shines on them!

And last but not least a beautiful tufted duck

Let's hope this sunny weather continues. It makes so much difference when taking photos and we have had more than enough grey murky days recently.

Winter has arrived at last!

Well, we are at last experiencing some wintry weather but hopefully it will not spoil these daffodils which have been out on our local recreation ground since Christmas.

Both DH and I have had colds since just before the New Year but decided that we needed to get out and blow the cobwebs away so we went for a short walk today to Anton Lakes, a local nature reserve. I have to say it was really quite chilly with an icy wind blowing and for the first time this winter I really should have put some gloves on but it was still good to get some fresh air in our lungs.


We did manage to see a Goosander duck which is quite rare in these parts and a Kingfisher, unfortunately the photos I took of these birds didn't turn out particularly well as the Goosander was some way from us on the other side of the lake and the light wasn't good when we spotted the Kingfisher. It is always a pleasure to see Kingfishers as we don't see them very often, although we have seen a couple since Christmas, one on Boxing Day as we took a walk by the river in Kingsclere and now again today.


We also saw an elusive Water Rail but he didn't hang around to have his photograph taken and took to skulking in the bushes and weeds by the side of the river!

Goosander

Love the reflections of the reeds in this little pond

A view looking back to the main lake

Lots of hungry waterfowl, unfortunately we didn't take any food to give them so once they realised we weren't going to feed them they swan off

A majestic Mute Swan

This photo shows how choppy the water on the lake was today

And the stunning Kingfisher (not a fantastic photo but at least you can see what it is)

We are so lucky that we have two nature reserves close by where we can enjoy spotting wildlife and occasionally see something a bit more unusual.


Until next time ....

Out and About

Sorry, I have been missing from Blogland for a couple of weeks. We have been out and about but life has been busy and I haven't had much time for either writing my blog or reading blogs. I will endeavour to catch up this week although I am working three days this week so time might just run away with me again.


So what have we been up to?


We made a quick afternoon walk to Anton Lakes one very hot sticky afternoon. Here are a few photos that I took on that day.

We have also made a couple of evening visits to Rooksbury Mill, this seems to be a good time to see water voles and patience certainly paid off as we spotted one in the long grass at the side of the river and waited around on the bridge until he eventually came out and showed himself properly. I am really pleased with these photos.

The evening light was perfect for photography.

Time for walking has been in short supply over the last fortnight but we did fit in a morning walk in a location that must have become familiar to you recently. Yes, we were in St. Mary Bourne again on a lovely sunny day.

How about this field full of ox-eye daisies, simply stunning. The photos don't show its true beauty.

The lake was looking as tranquil as ever on this hot sunny day ...

and the roses growing over the thatched cottage walls were at their very best ...

as was this beauty growing in this garden.

This weekend was our usual monthly craft get-together at my friend Colly's house in Long Eaton. We decided to take an extra night in a hotel and go to Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve (just outside Coventry) on the Friday. It was here five years ago that I took this photograph of a dragonfly which I am really proud of. We have been wanting to return ever since. 

This time we didn't see many dragonflies but what a brilliant day we had. The highlight was seeing a kingfisher for more than a usual brief second and be able to photograph it. A longer lens would have been great but I am more than pleased with what I achieved. Here are a selection of photos that I took at this brilliant location.

We reluctantly left Brandon mid-afternoon as we had to make our way to our hotel near Derby in time to check in and shower and change before making our way to the Dog and Duck in Shardlow where we met up with some dear friends and their grandson for a lovely meal before returning to their house for coffee. A perfect end to a great day.


On Saturday I met up with more friends at Long Eaton for our crafty get-together and spent a happy day crocheting and nattering while DH visited a local nature reserve at Attenborough for yet more wildlife photography.


We made a quick visit to Dunelm Mill before leaving Derby this morning as I needed a cushion pad for a new cushion I have crocheted and we treated ourselves to a new duvet set before heading for the M1 to drive back down south. On arriving home we spotted this moth on a cyclamen leaf, we have since discovered it is a scarlet tiger moth. 

It somehow seemed a fitting end to a weekend filled with spotting and photographing all kinds of wildlife.