Carnsew Basin early AM

I called in at Carnsew Basin on the Hayle Estuary early AM today looking for sightings of the current Osprey that is on a fishing stop over for a few days before migrating onwards towards west Africa

Carnsew basin was perfectly calm and showing lovely reflections from shore side properties and its prominent church with a late moon setting behind it,  I thought the weird shot above just showing the moon set over the church reflections was interesting.

First up on the wildlife was a fishing Cormorant with an interesting split reflection caused by its own body movement. A distant Kingfisher was followed by a large flock of noisy Canada geese moving out of the estuary and a large volume of ducks moving in.

I finished off with a very bold Rock Pipit that was foraging in the tidal rock banks in front of me for over thirty minutes and what about the Osprey I hear you say !  Well it did finally show and passed by at a rate of knots with five crows snapping at its tail feathers but I will be back again later today to try my luck once more.

I spent a lot of time while waiting for the Osprey working on Cormorant behavior and reflections which will be shown in my next blog !

Osprey over Hayle Estuary

I have spent quite a few hours trying to capture images of the elusive Osprey that has been fishing the Hayle Estuary for several days.

Well two hours into this mornings visit I finally had this Majestic bird in my viewfinder as it made a close overhead pass.

A little sunshine would have been nice to improve exposures but when you are snapping away on an accommodating Osprey that is stacking up images in your memory card after many hours of waiting you don't tend to complain.

No fish caught on this occasion as the local seagulls were harassing the Osprey badly but if they had not done so chances are that the Osprey would have already fished farther down the estuary and not ended up flying in my direction.

 My last image gives equal attention to both birds for creating the spectacle by their behaviour !!

Devoran Quay

I revisited Devoran Quay again PM today having picked up the CBWPS report of one fishing here the evening before,  As the tide came flooding up the creek the bird life came with it, I worked on Swan, curlew, Black tailed Godwit, Red Shanks and oystercatchers while waiting several hours for the Osprey,  Conditions for fishing were excellent when the Osprey finally arrived flying high along the opposite bank treeline, It went on up the creek and returned back down six minutes later without fishing or stopping in the trees,  I then realised that with fine calm weather came a steady increase in small boat traffic towards the evening  which was effecting the Osprey's comfort zone and the joy of watching it fish was not to be this evening,  It flew back down the creek looking for a quieter stretch of water.

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 !!!