Venus Pool - Lesser Redpolls

 A nice surprise to have a few Lesser Redpolls feeding on seeds right in front of the Memorial Hide!

A tad easier than when they are at the top of the Alders!

Venus Pool - Merlin

A Merlin is always welcome anywhere but even more so at VP where they are pretty difficult to come by? I was stood at the Oak Tree end of the causeway when this fem / imm zipped along the hedgerow and landed above my head!! Impossible to get a clear shot...

Eventually it took flight heading down the causeway and I got three overhead pics against the dreaded white sky!

They will do, better than now...

Venus Pool - Pintail

Not just Swans, there were three Pintail on show today - 2 males and 1 female. 

Venus Pool - Whooper Swans

 About time I took a picture of two and with a couple of Whooper Swans dropping into VP, it would have been rude not too...

Once they relocated at the southern end and started 'calling / head bobbing', it was just a question of 'when' they would depart...

They were too close to catch together sadly...

Love these high energy moments!

Undercarriage tucked in and away they went...

Edgerley - Whooper Swans inc JZH

Two families of Whooper Swans were settled in a field opposite the Royal Hill pub today, found by John Reeves. They were in two 'loose' family groups: 2ad + 3juv and 2ad + 1juv mid morning. Another one dropped in, making 9 in total. One of the adults was wearing a yellow darvic ring and despite them being 300m + distant, I did my best to get a meaningful image of the details?

Two adults plus one juvenile...

Two adults plus three juveniles...

Adult which dropped in to make nine in total...

Here's the best I could do to decipher the ring letters which are JZH

This is a returning adult which I photographed in flight during the winter of 2019/20 on 19th Jan 2020. For more info

see here.

Venus Pool - Snipe

Children's books often use wildlife to stimulate learning to count and I managed to get some obliging Common Snipe to gradually congregate around an imaginary crocodile today? 

One lonely Common Snipe walking into view.

Along came a second one so then there were... TWO

Standing in the water as happy as can be, a third one joined in the fun so then there were... 

THREE!

It's starting to get crowded as another one made... FOUR

With room for just another one, can you guess what would arrive? Yes you got it, well done, it's Snipe number....  FIVE!

I'll forward this to Gemma and my Grandson for comment? A new career looms?  

PS They loved it!

Venus Pool - Teal explosion

Wigeon numbers had dropped dramatically today following the influx of yesterday. Instead it was an explosion of Teal which dominated proceedings. Once again, courtship took precedence but it was the sight of numerous (some of the 135 counted) exploding out of the vegetation of the middle island which was a sight to behold...

Snipe numbers set to increase next?