A RARE VISIT TO BRANDON MARSH.

Fancied somewhere different on Saturday morning so I decided to make a rare visit to Brandon Marsh hoping to get some Kingfisher and Hobby shots.

Things didn't start well that morning because I managed to drop my electric beard trimmer down the toilet and to make matters worse it got wedged in the trap and took some freeing.Of course it was ruined so that clumsiness cost me £26.

Despite this drama I managed to park up at BM not long after 9.00 AM and on the way to the Steetly hide I managed to get some shots of a Blackcap and of a Goldcrest. 

There was only one birder in the Steetly hide and he'd had no luck at seeing a Kingfisher despite waiting for an hour.I had much better luck because one soon flew in and landed on it's perch.It soon flew off but came back a couple of times in the next half hour.

I then headed straight to the Ted Dury hide hoping to get some Hobby shots.Saw one straight away but it was far off and soon flew off into the distance.

I then settled down in the hide to wait patiently for a Hobby to show again.A long wait then ensued which I'm not good at but luckily there were some Water Rails calling out to keep one on one's toes.Suddenly one appeared with two chicks in tow.

After about 2 hours a Hobby finally showed again but it wasn't playing ball and refused to come close and almost all the time it was hawking with the sun behind it.Inconsiderate so and so.It did land in a tree for a while but the tree was in the gloomiest place it could have chosen. 

I got one decent flight shot as it flew into the nearby tree but the others certainly weren't keepers.Don't want to moan to much as they are great birds to watch.