TWO OLD FRIENDS RE-VISITED.

On Monday morning I thought I'd visit a couple of old friends which I have become very fond of this last couple of weeks.

The first one I went to see was the local Common Redstart which true to form came out to see me very soon after I arrived and perched on the paddock fencing.This time in an effort to get some decent shots at long last I used the Canon SX50 bridge camera on full optical zoom with the 2X converter on giving 100X magnification.Much better reach than my 400 lens but the quality suffers but very good for such a cheap little camera.

After lunch I went over to Seeswood Pools to see my very good friend  the Night Heron.Whilst waiting for Kath  to arrive I found a very nice Grey Wagtail on the causeway.

Kath and I had walked only about 50m down the path to the Night Heron viewing point when a chap appeared from nowhere and said "Do you know that this is private land and you are trespassing and will have to leave".This was the angling club bailiff who had giving Kath a problem the week before.Oh Dear ! !

I was a bit worried Kath might give him a "Nuneaton Kiss" (far worse than a Glasgow Kiss) and we both would find ourselves in Nuneaton nick but she just told him only the landowner could ask her to leave and walked on down the path.I stayed with the bailiff and thought about going into aggressive mode but you need lots of energy for that mode and I need what little I've got to keep me alive.I soon dismissed grovelling mode as that is very demeaning and finally settled on charm offensive mode.

To cut a long story short this mode worked a treat and by the time we had reached the viewing point we were almost friends.He even told me where and when was the best time to see a visiting Osprey later in the year.

I joined Kath and 3 other birders at the viewing point but not only had the Heron not been seen by these birders no reports had gone on out on Birdguides of it being seen today.However 10 minutes later I made these birders very pleased because I spotted skulking deep in the undergrowth.

It then flew into a tree and settled down for a while about a couple of metres above the water.It was just visible.

It then flew about 20m to the left and as I had come to try for some flight shots this was my moment.However I was caught unawares (I was chatting) and ended up with some not so good shots.

It then landed on some twigs and gave some cracking views but not till after we had to race down the path to the next gap in the reeds.What a cracking bird.Magical.

It the flew again another 30m to the left.Unbelievably I was caught unawares again and missed out on some flight shots completely this time.It then skulked low down in the undergrowth for ages and was often hard to see.