Todays bird Portraits

My day started with me heading for the south coast without a camera over my shoulder which feels really weird !!  I was off to Trewavas head to check out one of my Adder hot spots and to make a couple of clearings in brambles and hedgerows to attract any early risers into a safe basking area without to much old bramble and vegetation to foil good photos when they show,  It might seem early for Adders to come out of hibernation but last year I had my first show on the 15th February  [ Posted below ] and the year before was even earlier on the 23rd of January so I have high hopes of a positive sighting before to long,  We just need a couple of frosty nights to chill them down a little followed by warm early morning sunshine to tempt them out,  So watch this space for early Adders !!

I spent the afternoon in the hide at Stithians southern cut-off and came away with a few more portraits of some of the resident birds as posted below,  First up was the resident Male Great Spotted Woodpecker which looked very striking in the dappled sunlight in the woods behind the feeders,

My second show was from an immaculate looking Wood Pigeon in the same location,

A  family of four Moorhen came in from the Cut-off waters to forage under the feeders

And a busy little Wren went out on to the water hunting for fresh water shrimps and insects among semi submerged patches of vegetation

Great White Egret at Stithians today

When I arrived at Stithian reservoir this morning I was in formed by Bob Sharples that a rare Great White Egret was showing on the opposite bank from the Stuart Hutching hide so I popped in there first and did the best I could over the several hundred metre distance that the egret was showing,  It did a nice pass of a mature Grey heron on the waterline which was useful for scale and a few minutes later took off and headed north along the reservoir affording me a few flight images,  I took a few shots of around a couple of dozen Lapwing roosting along the near shoreline and moved off to the Cut-off hide.

I re-joined Bob and Peter Tonkin in the cut-off hide and within a few minutes we had a very low flying male Sparrow hawk come in from the water straight through the feeders,  He missed the birds and we all missed the shots and things returned to normal until the Sparrow hawk returned again to perch in the dense but leafless canopy of a waterside tree, It worked its way behind a mass of thin branches and we all complained  but it was still watching the movement of every bird that approached the feeders, The thin stems broke up its form to blend with its horizontally barred chest but those piercing yellow eyes were ever watching for the right opportunity to take prey.

The feeders were busy with pairs of Greater spotted Woodpecker, Bullfinch and my first pair of Firecrest showing within a couple of hours along with a family of Long tailed Tits and four Greenfinch that were constantly calling each other,   An interesting if cold day with two 'firsts' for this year from the Great White Egret and the pair of Firecrest