Sandwich Tern Fishing

Peter Tonkin and I revisited Devoran Quay today looking for perhaps one last encounter with its annual migratory Osprey which have been showing well over the last Month.

We had the incoming tide, The fish in the estuary were rising well and good weather with very light winds but it seems we were a day or two too late to catch the last of the migration Osprey.

Our consolation prize came by way of a couple of Sandwich Terns that put on several bouts of fishing for small mullet between rest periods on a mid river sand bank.

These graceful birds were very skillful hunters taking small fish on around 75% of their dives and on the last one that I followed it emerged with two fish for the price of one dive.

They provided us with an interesting subject to work with for the duration of our visit and we will of course be back again a bit earlier next autumn for the Osprey migration.

Devoran at Dawn

I arrived at Devoran Quay before dawn this morning looking to catch the early tide and perhaps an Osprey fishing the calm waters,  With no wind or ripples on the water the light, colours and reflections were quite spectacular for scenic photography,  I had no wide angle lens with me so it was out with the mobile phone to do what I could,  I even had a go at a selfie !

As the light levels improved the local wading birds caught my attention as they moved to fresh feeding grounds,  The Curlew and Red shanks looked lovely on the wing with the woodlands creating a contrasting green background and reflections on the still water

It had been a perfect morning for an Osprey to fish on the full tidal flat calm waters with fish movements very easy to detect and no early boat traffic at all but on this occasion there was no Osprey either,  As I left a couple of hours later the light levels were up and the tide was well on the ebb with small boats, kayaks and even a standing board surfer taking to the water,  Time to be heading for home.

Osprey fishing

I went back to Devoran Quay yesterday for more fishing behaviour shots,  The juvenile Osprey was still there and fished twice in a couple of hours but on both occasions it hunted an area down river to the east which meant working against the morning sun which tended to create images in silhouette but I was quite pleased with some results posted below when converted to black and white

My Catch of the Day

An Osprey moves out from the cover of the densely tree lined banks on the south side of the river at Devoran Quay where following a long cold windswept wait for its arrival it rewarded me with my first Osprey hunting photos,  It circled over the water several times searching for fish which when sighted were attacked immediately,  I was ready for this but was totally amazed how hard the bird hit the water penetrating its head, body and feet a foot or so under the water leaving only its wings above in a huge splash zone which created a bizarre image that fits nicely into the sequence of images posted below,  It took the Osprey three attempts before it caught a Mullet and its struggle to exit the drag of the water was something to behold,  It then flew casually back into the tree canopy to devour its 'Catch Of The Day' at a leisurely pace and I headed for home to download my first ever fishing Osprey images,

An amazing encounter with such a powerful Bird of Prey.... Happy Days !!!