BLACK TERN AND OTHER RECENT SHOTS.

On Wednesday I went over to Brandon Marsh getting there pretty early.This was a change of plan as I had previously decided not to go there again unless a decent bird had been spotted as it is a pig of a drive there with the Tollbar island road works and I never seem to do well there with the camera.Pity really as it is a great reserve.

Despite visiting all the hides and having a long walk round the only shot I got was of a Jay that glared down at me from a tree.In fairness to Brandon Marsh a lot of my time there was chasing a Cuckoo on the tip area and failing to get any shots.

On Thursday morning I had a quick visit down to Marsh Lane and managed a shot of one of the many Reed Warblers there this year.

On Friday morning for a change I decided to check out the grounds of my two local NT properties where I've had a bit of success in recent years.Both at Baddesley Clinton and Packwood I found nothing .Both were very quiet.

Back home for lunch feeling a bit grumpy I was suddenly livened up by a text from John Oates "Black Tern on Engine Pool".Gobbled down an early lunch and shot over there.It was still there zooming round the Engine Pool.

To sum up a stay of an hour and a half I had a torrid time trying to get even a half decent shot.I took the best part of 300 shots and almost all were blurred grey blob shots the trouble being the Black Tern zooms around very quickly and as it's a dark bird it disappears when against the tree line.You cannot see it yourself so the camera has no chance of locking onto it.

I tried heavy duty swearing but this had no effect and when I walked from the causeway round to the far bank where it seemed to be flying closer to it then decided to fly closer to the causeway.Great to see though and  great fun trying to get some shots.These are my best.  

This morning I went down to Marsh Lane and helped with the Bird Count for a couple of hours.My pathetic contribution was a Swift a GS Woodpecker and a Green Woodpecker.

Whilst looking for a Lesser Whitethroat on the railway embankment for the Bird Count and failing I did get my first decent shots of the year of a Common Whitethroat.