Another Fishlake surprise

One of the most surprising sightings on Fishlake Meadows happened on the 30th of September when ringers trapped and ringed a first year male Bluethroat. These birds, most likely from central Europe, should be off to North Africa or India to overwinter, but odd ones get lost, and this one had the good grace to turn up tantalisingly close.
I don't think anyone other than those involved in ringing actually got to see this bird, although the lucky ringers got to see it twice as it was recaptured a couple of days later. My own searches remained fruitless so I am indebted to Simon Ingram who provided this fine photo.

A splendid find.  My own walks didn't produce very much at all in the way of photographs or unusual birds, in fact on one occasion I have never known the meadows so quiet. Maybe the ringing exercise had made things wary, but the only surprise was the number of wrens skulking about in the reedbeds.
I often see a female Roe deer with a three quarter grown youngster in toe at the moment, I think this was her, but the offspring was nowhere to be seen (although at Fishlake, this doesn't mean it wasn't there). This is a typical view.

As the weather was kind, I practised my bird in flight technique on the numerous Grey Herons with limited success, but more by luck than judgement came up with a couple of passable pictures.

Reflecting on Great Crested Grebes

On the waterways of Norfolk we were rarely out of sight of a Great Crested Grebe, and they are surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, used to boat traffic and take very little notice of them. These close up views allow you to see the subtle variation in plumage as juveniles grow and adults move towards winter plumage. I did find very quickly that telephoto lenses and moving boats make poor companions and as a result generally took only a few pictures from the boat, and usually when we were parked up.

The shots below were in Hoverton Little Broad where we anchored up for lunch, and where the shelter from the bushes and bright sunlight behind gave rare and perfect conditions for mirror like reflections. I was really pleased with these:

Ahoy there! A couple of firsts for me.

Last week the world around me was largely aquatic. We took to the slow running waters of the north Norfolk broads and lived on board the flash looking little number below (seen brilliantly parked up by me at How Hill).
For those unacquainted with nautical terms see glossary below.

Nautical term:  English translation

Bow: Pointy end
Stern: Blunt end
Mooring: Parking spaces          
Mooring up: Parking
Cruising: Driving
Loop with double half hitch: An easy knot      (to get wrong)
Below decks: A challengingly small space downstairs
Bilge pump: A sort of random alarm call during the night
Boat hook: Effective tool provided for repelling invaders
Mop: A less effective tool for repelling invaders
Wash: Waves (alt. an interesting experience in the shower)
Berths: 2 x the sleeping space available

On the first day I didn't want to travel too far having never actually driven anything much bigger than a canoe on the water before and was a little concerned about parking (especially reverse parking) despite the very good tuition from the guy from the boat yard (who happened to be a twitcher) who basically explained that steering largely doesn't work in reverse.
The nice thing about this boat is that the steering wheel is on top which is reasonably high and gives you good views over the reedbeds, marshes and fields, which is a definite boon if you want to see the wildlife. Anyway, we decided to park (I mean moor up) at St Benet's Abbey about an hours drive (cruise) from our starting point at Ludham. As it happened, and maybe moor by luck than judgement, I slid into a parking place like a pro with a sense of tremendous pride and tried to look cool as though I did this every day.
During the calm and quiet evening we watched a Barn Owl hunting along the far bank (which wasn't a very far bank) and then a couple of Marsh Harriers, a Grey Heron or two, several Great Crested Grebes, a few Mute Swans, and listened to any number of Cettis Warbler. A trickle of Swallows and House Martins kept passing over, I imagine getting quite anxious to be on their way for their winter holidays in far flung places and warmer climes.
The first night I slept like a log. Happily logs generally float. Awaking early, I squeezed out of my bed, fought with my clothes and ventured above decks to check on the weather which wasn't too bad as it happened, although I couldn't see much as the sun wasn't up. A cup of coffee later and I watched the sun climb above the horizon into the waiting thick blanket of cloud, dousing the lovely early morning light. Still it was dry and warm, calm and quiet, and I had a lovely view of the still water, broken only by... I blinked my blurry eyes.... that was an Otter! The first Otter I have ever seen in the wild, and a sight I had given up hope of ever seeing. I scanned and scanned and waited and waited but it had disappeared.
A Marsh Harrier however had reappeared close by and we sat and watched it bouncing on gentle wing beats along the edge of the reeds when suddenly, right below it, the Otter bobbed up from a small ditch which it must have been exploring. With indecent haste I shot downstairs for my camera and managed a few shots in the gloomy light as it fished its way downstream, spending more time below than above water.

The noise of the shutter seemed to catch its attention, and for a magical moment, it stared right at me before sliding back into its fish laden element

 We watched it carry on fishing right into the distance until it disappeared and we turned our attention to the important matter of breakfast during which I wondered if I had just dreamt the images I had just seen. But no, they were on my camera. Not only that, it was heading back along the far bank again!
I lost it as I fumbled to set up the camera and the ever watchful Heron laughed at me.

Maybe he had picked up the trail of bubbles that I just had. This is what an Otter looks like underwater:

and this above:

 Amazingly this was one of four Otter sightings we had that day, three others in the evening at Cockshoot Broad when I was cameraless. We glimpsed two following each other very close by, but couldn't find them again. My first day afloat and four Otters, how many would the rest of the week bring? Answer.. none. We just had one of those luckiest of lucky days.

Fishlake Ospreys

Well its been an exciting time down at Fishlake Meadows with returning Hobbies putting in occasional appearances and at long last an Osprey decided it was a good place to stop en route on its long journey south. I say AN Osprey, but actually there has been more than one over the last 7 weeks. A friend of mine who lives on the estate nearby has seen no less than 3 in the air together, which would certainly seem to confirm my opinion that the current bird is not the original one I photographed a few weeks back, nor possibly the one I glimpsed previously from the car when driving to the local tip (causing some erratic driving).
Anyway, for the record, here is the one from the 17th of this month.

Looking straight at me, which is a bit unnerving.

It was a breezy day and it seemed as challenging for this magnificent bird of prey to stay balanced on its perch as it was for me to keep the camera steady on a momopod

After 30 minutes or so it hawked around over the ponds for a few minutes before circling off in the company of a Buzzard

Exciting though it is to see these birds locally, some of the more regular birds here which some people consider humdrum are far from mundane in my view. This Grey Wagtail kept me company (and kept me entertained) on the canal for quite a while when waiting for the Osprey to turn up. What a beautiful bird it is. Never still, and in the deep and dappled shade of the tree lined barge canal, it gave me all manner of photographic challenges. I know they aren't pin sharp, but I'm still quite pleased with the outcome.

Normal service will be resumed again soon

I have taken some time out from the world around me lately as it inexplicably shrank when my best friend's long life came to its inevitably sad conclusion. Winston was everyone's friend, he loved everyone and in return everyone loved him, but none moreso than us and he leaves a gap which will take a long long time to paper over. I don't think a kinder hearted being ever trod the earth and I know my family all feel priviledged to have shared his comfortable companionship and to have called him "ours".

Fishlake Meadows ...continued

I have been taking photographs, but I have been very lazy in sorting them out and sharing them. These date back to the 19th of July on a pleasant enough day when I was hoping to hear a bird again that may possibly have been a Savi's Warbler. Unfortunately, I never heard it again. Fortunately, there are always other things of interest, and on this day it was mostly Sedge and Reed Warbler fledglings, and insects. There was one fledgling that I couldn't positively identify and looked different from the others, so I will stick it in in the hope that someone more experienced than me might help me out..

A less welcome visitor to some, is this one..

Orange Balsam may not be anything like as invasive as Peruvian Balsam, but I suppose it really shouldn't be in this sort of setting. (I quite like it though).

One of my favourite small breeding birds on Fishlake is the Reed Bunting. Although the striking looking male wasn't showing himself on this day, and despite not usually being attracted by women with moustaches, I actually prefer this female's subtle mix of creams and browns

Very close to where she was sitting was this Water Knotweed looking pretty in pink, it isn't scarce here, but neither is it in profusion

One species that was in profusion was the Gatekeeper, they were flitting about everywhere, but finding one not on the wing proved quite difficult until this one eventually stopped by for a quick slurp of Ragwort nectar.

Also feeding on Ragwort, but in a different manner, were the Cinnabar moth caterpillars which had put on a considerable bulk since my previous post. Here they are still wearing their stripy pyjamas and gorging themselves on their unfortunate host.

I haven't seen so many Peacock butterflies as in previous years, but maybe its just been a question of wrong place at the wrong time, so I spent a little time in the company of this fresh as a daisy example (while being eaten by Horseflies). When the wings are folded, there is little to suggest what treasure may lie between

This one was a little shy in exposing its full glory

I know its a familiar butterfly to everyone, but I wonder how often we stop and really examine its beauty, the tiger stripes at the front, the dusting of bronze near the body, the ginger hairs, the raggedy but perfectly symmetrical coastline of the trailing edges, the gold tipped antennae... I suspect most of us are too mesmerised by the eye spots to take all this in. And that is just as well, because that is what they are there for.

On the way back up to the canal I at last found a Blue tailed Damselfly at rest in a place I could photograph it.
I love watching these things fly, the body almost gets lost against the dark ditch water and they look as though they are towing a bright blue flag by an invisible bit of string... ahem...maybe thats just me

When looking for butterflies, it is always a good idea to look not just on flowers, but on the ground. Butterflies often supplement their diet with various minerals and nutrients to be found in soil and other less palatable things to be found on the floor. This Red Admiral was not sunning itself as I first thought, but tasting something from the path as can be seen in the second picture

Near the canal the parallel ditch forms a very small pool which is often a good resting spot for dragonflies. Its also a good spot for the very strange Branched Bur-reed flowers, the male flowers above and the female flowers below all borne on the same stem.

I was buzzed here a few times by an Emperor dragonfly and a Southern Hawker (I think) but neither hung around for portraits. Much more obliging were the Common Darters of which there were quite a number around, each with their own particular perch. Of all the dragonflies these remind me most of helicopters, they hover quite regularly and at rest often fold there wings down as though ready to go in the hanger.

I know this looks like a studio shot, but it really isnt!

I tried a few in flight shots of which none were really successful, but I include this one as to me it reminds me of that helicopter in Thomas the Tank engine. I know. I have a vivid imagination. Anyway, it looks to have a cheeky grin. Actually the main reason for posting it was to show how the legs are tucked up in flight to reduce drag.