Derwent Reservoir

 A few images from Derwent Reservoir a couple of weeks ago.

Peregrine.

A couple of distant Osprey

One with a fish.

Buzzard.

A Sparrowhawk flew over the hide.

Canada Geese.

Mallards.

The Forest of Dean part eight

 The final part of our holiday to the Forest of Dean and I have combined two days into one Blog. The first day saw my wife and I visit Symonds Yat where I took loads of photos of the view on my phone but only a few with the camera and they consisted of a couple of distant Peregrines and a Buzzard. The second day started at New Fancy Viewpoint in the hope of seeing Peregrines and Goshawk we didn’t see either. Then it was on to NT Westbury Court Gardens and finally Soudley Ponds.

A distant Peregrine at Symonds Yat.

A second distant Peregrine.

A distant Buzzard.

Chiffchaff from New Fancy Viewpoint.

A couple of Crossbill from the same place.

Emperor Dragonfly from Westbury Court.

These fish at Westbury Court must be used to being hand fed as they came to the surface the moment anyone walked by.

Bumblebee coming into land.

 Aphids being farmed by Ants for their honeydew.

Green Dock Beetle.

Red Kite above a café that we stopped at to have a coffee.

Red-eyed Damselfly at Soudley Ponds.

Large Red Damselfly with bait.

Pond Skater also with bait.

If you don’t look too closely these images of a young Pied Wagtail catching Damselflies look quite sharp.

Female Mandarin.

Male Mandarin.

Pied Wagtail.

Female Emperor laying eggs.

The same female only this time eating on the wing.

Holiday day six part two

 My final Blog from our holiday in the Cotswolds and this one is about some of the birds we saw while at RSPB Otmoor oh, and one from the cottage.

Someone said they had seen at least six Cuckoos at Otmoor this was one of them.

One of the first Blogs I did from Otmoor contained an image of a Red Kite carrying what looked like a white rat. I’m finishing with a similar image. Looking at the wings I think it’s the same Red Kite and  another white rat.

 A pair of Marsh Harrier teased me every time I was at Otmoor they were always too far away for any decent shots.

Heron skimming across one of the pond.

Then waiting to catch something.

Great Crested Grebe gliding past the reeds.

GCG coming in to land on the pond.

GCG about to take off.

Reed Warbler skulking about in the reeds.

Garden Warbler.

I was sitting in the cottage getting the images I had taken that day from the camera onto the laptop when I heard a commotion outside. At first, I took no notice but it went on so I decided to take o look. On the ground under a tree lay a dead Jackdaw but flying away was this Peregrine. I’m not entirely sure what happened but it looks like the Peregrine had had a go at the young Jackdaw in the nest and the parents were having a go at the Peregrine and that was the commotion I heard. It ended with one dead young Jackdaw and the Peregrine flying off with just a feather. That’s nature, raw in tooth and claw.