Venus Pool - Yellow-legged Gull (2w)

After the adult Yellow-legged Gull seen in September here, nice to another one and this time a 2nd winter bird (looking remarkably similar to one seen by Dave Chapman the previous day). It was annoyingly always behind the small groups of Lesser BBs but eventually showed well...

With something unseen putting all the Lapwings up, it was soon time for flight shots!

Mostly underwing to start off with..

But eventually giving a clear view of the saddle, nearly fully mature and a feature quite distinctive against the mostly dark wings for this age of YLG...

A farewell bank as it left heading over towards the fishing pool...

Venus Pool - Whoopers vs Cormorant!

 The pool was nice and peaceful with the Whooper Swans either sleeping, feeding or cruising around. It all came to a sudden end when a Cormorant thought it would be clever to peck a Whooper Swan's foot?!

Seen in close up...

I personally don't think it was a very good idea! Watch the reaction....

Lucky for the Cormorant he dived just in time!!

The whole sequence only lasted two or three seconds...

Venus Pool - Whooper Happy Families

 In amongst the fifteen Whooper Swans present today, there were two family groups, who kept themselves separate. Family one had just the one juvenile...

Despite one of the parents straying out of the frame, you could detect the strong family bond.

Even when feeding!

The family with two juveniles stuck together more but once again, one of the parents was camera shy, keeping out of the frame!

The symmetrical lines had to be broken...

In the late afternoon sunlight, just finishing off feeding!

Swan life isn't always calm and leisurely however, as you will see in the next post!

Venus Pool - Black-tailed Godwit

Apart from Lapwings and Sandpipers, Black-tailed Godwit has generally been the most likely wader to see at VP this year with a steady flow of them from late summer. Up until now, they had always been interesting as 'group shots' but today, one was obliging me in front of the hide - in cracking light!

And after burying its head in the water, time to expel anything non-nutritious, like water or mud!

The light was good too, for a change!

There's still time for something special to drop in?? Just...

Wyre Forest - Spectacular Spiders

An excellent walk in the Wyre Forest with Shropshire Invertebrate Group turned up two spectacular spiders! One was a tiny (less than 1cm) Jumping Spider, simply stunning once the macro lens got to work 

It looked familiar, very similar to the cover picture (Evarcha arcuata) of Wildguides 'British Spiders' and turned out to be  in the same genus - Evarcha falcata.

The other was a large choice rarity - female Green Huntsman (Macromatta virescens)

Not venomous like the Tabloid Australian favourite from Australia but unsurprisingly quite a sprinter! 

Two very  choice additions to my spider list :-)

Venus Pool - Red Kites

'Make hay while the sun shines' is an appropriate proverb, spurring the local farmer into action 'harvesting' the grass for winter cattle fodder over the past couple of days at Venus Pool. The activity had attracted the attention of an estimated six Red kites too. plenty of flight opportunities albeit often distant...

A tail to be proud of, acting as a rudder for their acrobatic flight when feeding...

Upperwing shots were hard to come by but here's a distant one!

A nice head on moment as this one flew over the hide!

Not exactly Gigrin numbers but the best views I think I've ever had at the Patch!!

Venus Pool - Whooper Swans

October often springs a Swan surprise at VP and today saw five pristine Whooper Swans dropping in early afternoon! I never tire of them and always take too many images, even in the unhelpful light!!

They looked done in from the long flight!

And you have to look your best for the camera!

Time for another drink (that's all they seemed to do!)

Posing nicely...

Yet another drink?

And it was all too much for some of them!

They flew out heading north at sixish (while I was eating my tea!)