Still struggling locally getting bird shots.

Like most local birders I'm struggling to get any decent bird shots in our area and this was demonstrated on Monday with a trip to Brandon Marsh and on Tuesday with a trip to Marsh Lane.

Brandon Marsh was extremely quiet which was a shame as it was a bright day ideal for getting shots.To show how bad it was a friend spent several hours in the Carlton hide and,except for an early visit by some KF's,saw nothing all day and had hardly taken any shots.

All I managed were some shots of some Swallows which were gathering together on some wires obviously discussing routes to Africa.One experienced bird was giving advice to some juveniles and I'm sure I heard him say "Whichever way you go don't go via Malta".

The only bird I saw from the Carton hide was a Green Sandpiper.

It was also pleasant walking round Marsh Lane on Tuesday morning.I found the young Water Rail preening in it's usual spot but as before the reeds in front of the viewing screens spoilt the shots.

Some Reed Warblers showed well from the same screen.I think they were juveniles.

I did miss the Garganey which was in view from the Railway hide which I didn't visit and I also missed a Wheatear that was showing in the car park.

Scraping the barrel.

In the last few days I've paid two brief visits to Marsh Lane and a longer (mid afternoon to the evening) visit to Brandon Marsh and I must confess I've struggled to point the camera at anything remotely interesting on the bird front.Well it is early August!!!!

On the visits to Marsh Lane I managed a shot of a juvenile Water Rail but I had problems with tall reeds just in the wrong spot.Also I was able to get a shot of a Little Grebe with a juvenile which would have been better if the sun hadn't been in front of me.

I had a long session yesterday afternoon in the Carlton hide with several other birders and my god it was slow going with one or two birders nodding off.The Hobby eventually showed up and paid several short visits for a couple of hours but as usual did not come anywhere near the hide.What a miserable so and so!!!!! This is all I could manage.

The juvenile KF was around but only for short visits.Tried to get something new shotwise but only ended up with a rain shot,a diving shot and an artistic shot.I said I was scraping the barrel.

Also I got a distant shot of a Lesser Whitethroat (well I think it's one) in the bushes to the left of the hide.My first shot of one this year.

Hobbies.

Hobbies are my favourite bird and I love each year having a go at getting a decent shot of these fast flying chaps but this year has been the worst year for seeing them since I started birding six years ago.I've seen them several times both at Marsh Lane and Brandon Marsh but for some reason (no dragonflies?) they have only stayed for a couple of minutes each time before flying off into the distance.

I went to Brandon Marsh yesterday lunchtime for an afternoon visit determined not to take any more KF shots as I'd gone beyond overkill recently so I was very pleased when a Hobby showed up from the Carlton hide.

The good news was that it stayed for 30 minutes but the bad news was that it never got any nearer than the dead trees to the hide never once, when hawking for dragonflies, flying in our direction.Shouldn't moan too much as it was very nice to see.Here are a few distant shots I managed (need a much bigger lens!!!!).

Here is a better shot I managed to get at Marsh Lane a few weeks ago.

Not one of the better days out birding.

Hadn't been out with the camera for a couple of days so I was pleased to get out early Saturday morning as I headed to Brandon Marsh.

Although it was fairly bright when I set out it was pretty gloomy when I started to walk along the main path and to make matters worse everywhere was very quiet with nothing remotely interesting showing.

I ended up in the Carlton hide and joined a few friends but like the weather the mood in there was gloomy.If it wasn't for a juvenile KF showing up there was nothing at all to point the camera at.Due to the poor light my attempts at getting KF fishing shots were worse than dreadful and all I ended up with that was a little different were shots of the juvenile preening.

I left before lunch before I got too depressed and called in at Marsh Lane on the way home but things didn't improve much there as the Godwits and the Sandpipers had all left and a Hobby over the car park pool flew off before I could get the camera out.

Another trip to Brandon Marsh.

Having done no birding for a few days I was pretty keen to go out with the camera on Wednesday morning although the forecast was not too good.As nothing decent had been reported locally I went over to Brandon Marsh.

Spent most of the time in the Carlton hide mainly because other then the Little Egret there was nothing of note anywhere else on the reserve and a few friends had encamped there for the day after the"best ever KF shot".Fat chance!!!!!!

I joined in of course and,although we all have got loads of KF shots, it's still great when one turns up and settles on a perch for some fishing.We were quite lucky today as at least one paid frequent visits and at one time three were present.It must be one of the best spots in the country for getting KF shots.

So how did I do amongst all this competition.Well not too good.I was experimenting with new settings designed to give fast shutter speeds to freeze the action when they dive into the water.All I ended up with was a load of crappographs although one shot nearly was great.

A Juvenile Water Rail.

Popped down to Marsh Lane early Sunday morning for a quick look round.Other than the usual suspects it was pretty quiet with a lone Common Sandpiper and a very young Little Ringed Plover being the better birds on view.

On the way back to the car park we had a quick look through the causeway screens and spotted a juvenile Water Rail perched on the reeds.I must confess I was not sure what it was at first but still rattled off a few shots before it shot off.

At the same spot a Sedge Warbler came up for some close ups.

Not a bad day with the camera.

As I walked along the main path at Brandon Marsh on Friday morning I was not confident of getting any shots as it was overcast,a bit cool and it was spitting rain.As it turned out it was one of the better days.

I had a quick look in the Teal hide and besides the 3 Green Sandpipers there was nothing else about.As soon as I opened a flap in the East Marsh hide I saw a Little Egret on the far bank which turned out to be a decent bird because it flew over to land in front of the hide.Here are a few shots.

Also present and close to where I first saw the Little Egret was a cracking looking Black-tailed Godwit.Now it wasn't such a decent bird because it remained a long way off all day often hiding in the undergrowth.This is all I could manage.

A quick look in the Carlton hide was well timed as a Kingfisher was flitting about including a visit to the new post to the right of the hide.Here are a few shots (yawn yawn).