A Pair of Spoonbill,

Ryan's field came up trumps again this morning with a pair of Spoonbill flying in from the Hayle Estuary just after I arrived.

The birds were obviously hungry and wasted no time before they were catching and throwing small fish and shrimps down their throats as they shadowed each other around the shallow lagoon that forms part of Ryan's field for over an hour,

When they were full they both exited the water on to one of the small islands to complete a serious round of preening which is no mean feat with such an awkward shaped bill that is designed for catching fish not cleaning delicate feathers.

With the preening done one of the birds was intent on snoozing but the second bird was having none of it and took off with the first bird in hot pursuit and my last shot shows the graceful flyers returning out over the estuary where they had arrived from to give me such an excellent performance

Spoonbill at Ryan's field

Wildlife took a bit of a back seat today as I spent some time at Specsavers checking out sight issues effecting my vision with the onslaught of Cataract in both eyes, Predictable the NHS do not consider them bad enough to replace the lenses at this stag, so it seems  Things have to get worse before they will get better!!  I'm not to impressed with this result and have ordered my white stick and what happened to that fine old proverb: 'Prevention is better than cure'  but I did come away with a new pair of vari-focal glasses to try to help with my photography in the mean time,  So, off of my Soap Box and onwards and upwards.

I dropped into Ryan's field hide on my way home at the same time as a semi resident Spoonbill so I sat and watched its interesting behaviour in somewhat blustery and stormy conditions which pulled the light levels all over the place,  The gusting winds were unbalancing this large bird but it set off round the shallow lagoon demonstrating its side ways but very effective fishing technique and it was soon throwing back a few shrimps and worms

Following the fishing the sun came out briefly as the Spoonbill went into preening mode which it carries out very skilfully considering what looks like a very clumsy bill

The Spoonbill looked about as impressed with the blustery weather today as I was with the NHS so it decided to get its head settled down over its back to ride out the storm and I went home to write about it while I could still see what I was doing !!

Sunday morning at Ryan's field

I called in at Ryan's field again this morning looking to catch the Spoonbill fishing but I guess I was a bit early as the Spoonbill though present spent most of the time that I was there sleeping with its head and bill resting on its back,  Golden Plover stole the show flying in in large numbers to be followed by around a hundred Lapwing,  A small flock of five or six rarer Greenfinch were next to show perching briefly on one of the bank trees.  Daily residents such as a Lone Curlew, several Black -headed Gulls were as always busy fishing for shrimps, and an amorous male Redshank made several attempts to mate with a couple of un-cooperative female The Spoonbill finally decided that it didn't want to be left out of the photo shoot  and made a small effort to catch a few shrimps before flying off over the estuary,   All in all, A pleasant pre-Sunday breakfast visit !!

Spoonbill at Ryan's field this morning

A maturing Spoonbill flew in to one of the Islands in Ryan's field as I walked along the Hayle causeway just after sunrise this AM and it was nicely backlit by the rising sun,  It entered the shallow water of the lagoon as I watched its skilful use of its Spoon bill which looks quite clumsy and cumbersome when viewed front on but becomes a finely tuned instrument for fishing when studied from the side to create some interesting angles for portrait images,  Its perhaps interesting to watch the fishing action which is conducted side to side  which would tend to imply that any potential prey would see very little of the bill heading in its direction !!  A very clever natural design .   Other subject on the water line included many Lapwing,  A Grey wagtails and three or four Black tailed Godwits all of which are posted below.

Spoonbill's morning work-out

    I dropped into Ryan's field hide early AM to find the reserves resident Spoonbill asleep in the middle of the lagoon with its bill firmly buried over its back between its wings,  Not much inspiration here but I took a couple of shots as you do and noticed that the Spoonbills reflection was quite strong even in the prevailing low light levels,  I locked my lens and focus onto the bird, turned on my remote shutter control and waited on the assumption that the bird must surely wake up shortly,  

The first sign of life came when the spoonbill started moving with a token preen of its under-feathers

This was followed by more energetic standing on the spot  wing exercises over several minutes

Its strong wing beats and impressive wingspan now created a more exciting image

In the final image below the Spoonbill used the full power of its amazing 1.35m wingspan to make a standing take-off while also creating the opportunity for this pleasing full stretch reflection before flying  off over the estuary

Ryans Field RSPB Hayle Estuary

The Eric Grace Memorial Hide at Ryan's Field is a popular meeting place for birders and Photographers on a daily Basis,  Many species pass through here with regular rare sightings  Then you have the local stars such as Kingfisher, Peregrine, Lapwing, Sparrow hawk and Spoonbill and its the later which is illustrated here to show the hides potential for close subjects which are often on calm reflective water,

This  solo Spoonbill has spent much of the last year at various locations around the RSPB  Hayle estuary and regularly fishes for shrimps at Ryan's field

Perhaps a little lonely the Spoonbill shows some fancy footwork and wing structure to a local

Little Egret along with the invitation 'Come Dance with Me.....'

But the Egret Takes a Pass and the lonesome Spoonbill moves on

They say 'everything comes to he who waits ' and on the afternoon of the 8/11/16 another Spoonbill flew in to join the resident and they seemed to get alone just fine but.....no dancing just yet