12 March 2022 - Hollingworth Lake
« Newer | Older »Little Grebe, Goldeneye, Goosanders, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Stock Dove
Had a good look for the Water Rail but no sign this morning, although it was gone 9 am by the time I was on site. After a while I went and sat in the hide where the Little Grebe was visible distantly on the enclosed pool, along with the female Goldeneye and a couple of Teal. Suddenly both the Little Grebe and the Goldeneye swam round the spit and up the channel in front of the hide, offering some somewhat better photo opportunities, though I was more preoccupied with the grebe than the Goldeneye. It then spent some time fishing just to the left of the hide, and the sun came out briefly too. For some reason it was always facing away and only when it turned its head was I able to get any detail on the bill and neck. It seemed to be catching water beetles of some sort. After a while it swam round towards the road out of site. At one point during this a Buzzard appeared over the fields opposite, behind the road, being mobbed by a couple of crows.
I had a look in Pavilion wood where a few Redwing were present, but it was quite windy and cold, and not much else was moving. I decided to head back, have another look for the rail (no joy) and then went up to Syke Farm and onto Whittaker wood, where I finally looped back along the top edge of Ealees back to the top of Bear Hill. It was fairly quiet in this area compared to last week, though a pair of Buzzards were perched in the trees over the stone wall from the path, and a couple of Roe Deer were in the valley. A Sparrowhawk flew past over the top of the buzzards, and just one Stock Dove was noticed, but very little else.
In the garden, the Tree Sparrows were in residence, along with a female Reed Bunting.
Little Grebe , 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 125, 220 mm
Little Grebe , 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250, 220 mm
Goldeneye, 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250, 220 mm
Buzzard, 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100, 220 mm
Buzzard , 1/60 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200, 219.76 mm
Roe Deer, 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 220 mm
Tree Sparrows And Reed Bunting, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 195.64 mm