southend pier

I visited southend pier this afternoon for an hour 

with plenty of med gulls 

2 Guillemots

12 scoter

6 crested grebe

and 1 great northern diver

 E494

I wonder where this came from ?

just before I got on the train I see a great northern diver 

not a bad end to the visit

A few more pics of barn owl from the patch 

I probably see it every other day from my bedroom window

fudge duck and a bit of luck

 lucky or not when I arrived at priory cp bedford I was told the duck was showing from the hide the other side of the lake so of I went 15 mins later I was in the hide. I sat down had a quick look with my bins there it was . I picked up my camera I took 2 photos of it in the water and  it took flight to the other side of the lake where I was 15 mins earlier . Unlucky yes but a lucky flight shot as it passed. 

 I took this after I walked back round the lake but was more than happy with the flight shot

when I got home thought I would check the patch as I had barn owl the other morning from my bedroom window .

bingo!

bearded tit

Another great day taking photos of birds at close quarters

getting a bit spoilt of this lately

Hyde park , and a first for inner London , and a first for me to take photos of this cracking bird

When Shaun and myself arrived we were the only ones there

but it didn't take long and there was a constant flow of locals and birders

 passing and commenting on this entertaining birds

after taking another 200+ photos we went to see how the professionals do it at the natural history museum as Shaun had won 2 tickets for entering a photograph competition .  

Gulls !!!! Help !!!!

Amwell NR I have been there a 3 or 4 times in the last couple of weeks first for caspian twice failed then for glaucous gull scored then back for caspian probable fail 

Being a novice when it comes to gulls

and any birds actually 

when the Caspian gull was at amwell 

and was only seen feeding an hour before I arrived

I was in with a good chance of seeing it

But then I had to ID it

2 other birders was there and we all decided this was a good candidate

in-fact one of us felt he was sure

but it wasn't me 

comments welcome !

also this scaup  which was very nice