A Visit to a gloomy Brandon Marsh.

With the dull weather still about I was pleased to get these two shots in my back garden on Sunday morning.The Blackcap shot was very pleasing as it was a good early Warwickshire tick.

Having stayed in for a couple of days I braved the dull conditions on Monday morning and went across to Brandon Marsh.It was very damp and misty to start with as I walked down the path from the centre but it was nice to be out.

Met up with Jim who was doing some ringing in the coppice to the right of the main path.He had caught a Nuthatch which he kindly let me photograph.The blood is Jim's not the birds.

It was good to see most of the paths were flood free so I visited a lot of the hides but only the East Marsh hide had any action.Here a Bittern spent most of the day unfortunately well hidden deep in the reeds however another Bittern flew in and out of the reeds a couple of times but I struggled to lock on and messed up a lot of my shots.

I left just after lunch and called in at Marsh Lane hoping to see the White fronted Goose reported there at the weekend.Despite several hundred Greylag Geese dropping as the sun was setting I failed to see it.

Two bad days out with the camera.

I have had a couple of poor days out with the camera this week one at Marsh Lane and one at Brandon Marsh.Nothing to do with either reserve which I love to visit but because the weather has been so gloomy that taking decent shots is a real struggle.

I popped across to Marsh Lane on Thursday afternoon for a quick visit braving the rainy conditions.It was very gloomy which was a shame because the car park pool was heaving with birds with many hundreds of Ducks,Gulls and Geese on the water and on the grass banks.Nothing special but I did see a few Common Snipe, a lone Shellduck, some GBB Gulls (a ML tick for me) and a distant brief view of the Bittern.

On Friday I spent a few hours at Brandon Marsh in the very dull conditions.Where is the sun? Despite wandering all over the reserve I saw very little and hardly took a shot.A friend had a Bittern fly over his head as he approached the EM hide but I never saw one at all.

My Warwickshire list has risen to 61 ticks with the Shellduck and a Wren (first Wren I'd seen for ages) which is probably miles behind everyone else.

Here are some pics I did manage.These are the best of the bunch so you can see how bad the rest were.I think one is the escapee NZ Scaup.Not sure what the juvenile Gulls are but there's a GBB Gull amongst them.

A Brandon Marsh Bittern.

For me Waxwings and Bitterns are magical birds because it doesn't how often you've seen them or how many shots you've got they are always great to see them again.So on Tuesday morning at Brandon I was pleased to see a Bittern again.

I got there mid morning and was disappointed to see the forecast was wrong yet again as it was very gloomy,damp and a cold wind was blowing.I didn't meet any birders as I made my way down the main path the reason for this was explained as I entered the East Marsh hide everyone was in there.The place was full probably because a Bittern had flown into the reeds half an hour ago.

I joined some friends at the end of the hide waiting patiently for it to show.Nothing showed for 45 minutes and when the Bittern did come out darting across the channel we were all caught napping mainly because we had been distracted by Kath who insisted on telling dirty jokes.This is the best I did which turned out to going,going gone shots.

Another hour later it appeared again this time to the front of the hide but well hidden in the reeds.Got a couple of more typical Bittern shots.

By this time I'd lost my seat and was standing at the back so when the Bittern flew across the front of the hide I messed up and didn't get a decent flight shot.This is my least bad shot.

A cold morning at Marsh Lane.

It was sunny on Sunday morning so I set off for Marsh Lane.It didn't take me long to realise the country lanes were very icy and I had to go even slower than my normal pace but managed to get there at 9.00AM in one piece.

It was nice to see there was open water on the CP pool and loads of birds showing but other than a couple of Common Snipe there was nothing special.I then had a bit of luck as I met up with a couple of friends Colin and Steve and as we approached the northern causeway screen Colin spotted the Bittern even before he got to the screen.It was on the edge of the reeds pretty close to the screen.If I had been on my own I'm not sure I would have spotted it.

Nice to get some Marsh Lane Bittern shots.

Found some open water.

On Thursday morning when I saw that some more bad weather was on it's way for Friday onwards I thought I'd better go out with the camera and try and get some shots.Being shrewd for a change I decided to go to Draycote Water where the chance of some open water was higher than at the rest of my local patches.

When I got there at 10.30AM and started to walk down the Farborough Bank the good news was that it was calm and not too cold but the bad news was it was very gloomy and as I need bright conditions to get a half decent shot things were not looking good.Annoyingly only a few miles away there was blue sky but it stayed well away during my stay.

I soon met up with Francoise who told me the drake Smew was about a hundred metres this side of the spit so off I dashed to try for some shots.It stayed a bit far out so no decent shots but always nice to see and a nice Warwickshire tick.

After the Smew flew off towards the Valve Tower I walked a bit further along Farborough bank and was pleased to catch up with another of my favourite ducks some Goosanders.Got some reasonable shots of the females but the male I always seem to struggle with particularly in poor light.

A Trip to Brandon Marsh.

As soon as I saw that it was dry and not too dull on Monday morning I decided to go over to Brandon Marsh hoping that the ice had melted and there were some birds about to point the camera at.

A quick visit to all the hides soon showed that the ice had not melted and everywhere was still frozen over.Luckily I found a few friends in the Carlton hide so the chat was good but in an hours stay no one had cause to use his camera.There were no birds about at all.

As I walked back to the centre I got a text which told me "A Bittern from the CP hide at Marsh lane". As it was only a short detour on the way home and I'd never seen a Bittern at Marsh Lane off I trundled.

Got there just after 1.00PM and joined a couple of friends in the hide.The good news was that they thought it was still here but the bad news was that it was in the reeds that were the furthest from the hide.30 minutes later after one birder had given up it showed walking for a short period on the ice before hiding back in the reeds.

I left 30 minutes later by which time the hide was full.Took a very record poor shot but don't laugh too loud as it was several miles away and it was very gloomy but I was pleased as it was a Marsh Lane tick for me.

A Warwickshire List.

Lots of my friends each year do a Warwickshire List and I thought that this year I would have a go.A few of them seem to get around 180 ticks but that is going to be way beyond me.

I have cheated a bit and have used the old Warwickshire boundaries to include Knowle because that's where I live and to include Marsh Lane which is my nearest local patch.

My start has been poor with only 35 ticks so far but it began well with a lesser Redpoll visiting the garden on Saturday morning.

A visit to Marsh Lane on Sunday morning was also a bit disappointing with the pools still frozen over but I did get a Tree Sparrow on the Oak Hide feeders.

There were several Gulls on the ice some of them immature which gave me a problem with ID so if you can help please do so.One of the immature Gulls was bigger than a nearby LBB Gull so a GBB Gull? Is that a Herring Gull at the back of one of the shots?