Tuesday 6 November 2012

Off to Brandon Marsh.

After doing some early morning chores on Monday morning I shot over to Brandon Marsh hoping that the female Smew reported there on Sunday would still be there.

Parked up not long after 9.30 AM in cold but sunny weather.I  raced off to the East Marsh hide with fingers crossed but my hopes were dashed when two birders I met on the main path told me it had flown south just before 8.00 AM and had not been seen since.

Half an hour later sitting with two friends in the East Marsh hide and not seeing any decent birds and just as we were discussing how to get rid of the weed that is choking up the Carlton hide pond something popped up near the hide and quickly dived under again.The conversation went : "What the hell was that ?"  "A Little Grebe ? " No too big "  " A female Goldeneye ?"  "No way" .The bird then popped up again and in unison we shouted out  "Blimey it's the Smew".

It had returned.What a cracking looking duck.Got some decent shots before it cruised off.












It was a very good fisher catching several decent sized Perch (?).













There was a nice looking Grey Wagtail on the centre roof.










1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great blog and lovely photos. I have the same camera lens as yourself and my photos are not a patch on yours. Can I ask do you use a tripod or monopod when taking pictures, also any particular setting you could recommend please.

Regards Paul