Ryan's Field PM Today,

As the skies cleared around 1pm today I popped into the hide at Ryan's field to see what was showing,  A large mixed group of mainly Golden Plover and Lapwing,  a couple of gulls and a dozen or so Redshanks  were all settled in the shallow water of the lagoon centre and stayed there wading around or sleeping for twenty minutes or so when all hell let loose as a hunting Peregrine came streaking in amid them causing panic and confused take-off movement from all of the resting birds,

Most eventually got away safely but not before the Peregrine had taken its toll on one unfortunate Golden Plover

The Lapwing gradually returned in small groups but the Golden Plover seemed to have had enough and all but a few stragglers had moved on to hopefully safer pastures

Other sightings included a pair of close showing Oystercatcher that might just be the pair that nested on one of the exposed lagoon islands last year raising two fine chicks against all the odds of them being predated.

When the sun shines the wading Redshanks always look good as they feed around the near margins

A lone Curlew seen enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sunshine

A Pair of Shellduck were busy feeding around the lagoon with this male already showing its full mating plumage

So  [ With the exception of one luckless Golden plover ] a good afternoon was had by all !!

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.