My First Summer Visitor.

I had planned to go to Bempton this week for the cliff nesting birds but with the grey skies that were forecast for the week it has been called off.  Instead I decided to stay close to home and visited Cleethorpes Country Park, hoping to get shots of the water voles sitting on the water cress beds; it was not to be, however, although I did get pleasing pictures.  It was also good to have several good sightings of the kingfisher and to hear my first summer visitor, a chiffchaff.  Blackthorn was well in flower and several toads were busily mating.

To view large, click on an image.

Success with the Watervoles and Kingfishers at the Country Park

As the weather had been grey and very cold yesterday and I had failed with the water voles, I decided to revisit Cleethorpes Country Park this morning.  As the forecast was favourable, I was up and out at 6.00 am for the sunrise at 6.30. The sun was just  beginning to lighten the eastern sky, where the morning star, Venus, hung, shining brightly.  It was an absolute pleasure to have the world, even a busy country park, to myself as the sun rose majestically above the horizon.  Sadly, there were no clouds whatsoever to reflect the light of the rising sun, but it was a joy nonetheless.  Once the sun was up I made my way to the drain to try again for the water voles.  Today they were out in force busying themselves with feeding.  Although very confiding, they were surprisingly difficult to photograph; it is amazing how grass and dead stems from last year can intrude in the picture, spoiling a clean image.  Earlier the drain bottom was in deep shade although I was looking into the bright sun making things awkward and then when the sun rose high enough the light was very contrasty.  As is often the case bright overcast would have been preferable.  Still, we shouldn't complain about the warm weather, and warm it was, reaching 21.5 degrees; beautiful.  The kingfisher was much in evidence flying up and down the drain and I did manage one reasonable image but sadly with a busy distracting background.  Still a wonderful bird to watch however. Other birds of note included a hunting sparrowhawk which flew over a couple of times, little egrets(illustrated below) and curlew.

 I was also pleased to see several early butterflies on the wing: small tortoiseshell, peacock and brimstone (illustrated below).  Pussy willow is coming out and there is a flush of green on the hawthorns.  Spring would appear to have arrived, but I am sure we shall experience some cold weather yet.  It was a pleasure as well to meet up with several local photography friends who were all after the same subjects as myself; always good to compare notes and share stories.
To view large, click on an image.

Water Voles at Cleethorpes Country Park

As water voles have been seen and photographed at the Country Park, I decided to pay a visit to try myself and also to, hopefully, photograph the kingfisher.  Although, at first light, the weather looked promising, it soon clouded over and the brisk wind made it feel very cold.  After parking up I made my way to the drain where the voles had been seen and it looked encouraging; reasonable clear water and plenty of watercress.  As I reached the second bridge over the drain I met some other photographers who had seen the kingfisher and photographed a vole, the burrow of which was in the bank opposite.  It would appear to have been very confiding.  However, despite 3 hours of waiting and watching and getting colder by the minute, my luck was out.  I did get a brief glimpse of one animal in a different part of the drain, though.  I did better with the kingfisher, getting several good sightings and even some distant images.  At one point it flew low along the drain and straight through the pipe where it went under the bank.  There were plenty of black headed gulls and magpies about and a couple of times a heron flew over as well as a little egret and a curlew.  On the main lake I had a good sight of the female goosander that has been present for some time and I noticed that at least one great crested grebe is back; I look forward to watching and photographing their beautiful courtship ritual in the weeks to come.  I include some photographs from previous years below.

To view large, click on an image.

Kingfisher hiding in blackthorn blossom

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Great crested Grebe courtship ritual.

Great crested grebes displaying.