A 1st summer Spoonbill was a fantastic find on the Whixall floods the previous evening - well done Anthony Griffiths!! Needless to say - only my second Spoonbill in the County and there haven't been any twitchable ones other than these in recent years - I was on my way over there.....
Luckily my timing was impeccable as it had just flown into one of the floods adjacent to the roadside - some 100m away but that's one sizeable bird!
Spooked by something, it remained jumpy....
and just after 9.00am it flew out to the east! A few folk were gathering and whilst the prospects didn't look good, it didn't depart too high and I reckoned it would be back!
30 minutes later my prediction proved correct!
Taking me by surprise but circling around....
And then a nice sequence as flew towards me!
Not easy to keep up with it as it loomed overhead!
Back in the frame and bit of a ruffle to finish......
I need a session with it much closer?!
Followed by an out of County encounter with a Great Northern Diver munching its way through the Crayfish population at Chasewater in 2008...
Regular visitors to this blog will know I don't need an excuse to break off a car journey for a bird or two! So, en-route to Chesterfield and with just 15 minutes to spare, I called in at Chasewater. The Black-necked Grebes seem to have departed but the juvenile Great Northern Diver was showing extremely well.......
What do Great Northern Divers eat for breakfast? How about a nice fresh crunchy Crayfish? Simply break off the claws, then down in one gulp.....
Gosh is that the time - better hit the road for Chesterfield......
And on my back later... Ever wondered what Waxwings feed on when the berries have all gone?
Cutthorpe near Chesterfield has been home for four Waxwings since the 15th March. They hadn't been reported for two days however - nevertheless, I decided to try my luck as the site was just a mile or two from where I was returning from an AGS plant show.
I really am on a roll right now, not only were the birds present, I managed to take a few pleasing pictures between snow flurries - the sun even made an appearance! Fantastic birds, as I haven't seen these for a few years, I make no excuse for posting a picture or two.......
What do Waxwings do when the berries run out? Well, they don't look quite as nutritious but how about catkins for starters!
