With the sorting of my photos from the Romania trip taking so long, together with a family holiday and other family commitments, opportunities for me to grace the birding world have been rather few and far between. So I have lumped three rather unremarkable trips into one blog.

Firstly, I said that I would report back on the unidentified Egret species from Romania. Well, it was not a Great Egret, and not really a Little Egret, so, after comparing it with some photos on the web, I have settled on a white morf version of a Western Reef Egret, similar to a Little Egret but the legs are yellow and black, not all black. It is also called a Western Reef Heron. Here is the only photo I have.

 

Any comments would be appreciated.

Now to the trips. 12th July, a friend and I went to North Norfolk. First stop was at Burnham Overy Staithe to photograph the Swifts that nest in the building behing the harbour.

Loads of photos from the mornings efforts, most of which went into the trash - well they do fly rather fast!!!

Next to RSPB Titchwell to the beach as I had heard that there are sometimes Little Terns flying past,

and some Mediterranean Gulls on the freshmarsh. A few adults

and juveniles too.

Next trip was 17th July to the RSPB reserve at Lakenheath Fen. Making straight for the hide, a Juvenile Bittern was showing well, even taking exception to a passing Moorhen.

But, apart from some good opportunities to photograph Dragonflies and Damselflies, the only other bird was a juvenile Great Crested Grebe.

With the waether changing we were home just after lunch.

The first week in August and it was time for our annual family holiday with our two sons and families, this time in Maspolonas in Gran Canaria. Not a time for photos but I did manage to squeeze in my 100-400 lens, converter and the 5d mk4 camera.

Just a short walk from the hotel, there was a freshwater lake called La Charca that was reputed to attract birds. So after a couple of days, with the rest of the family enjoying the hotel pool, I took the camera to see what I could find. Disappointing. The lake was very brackish, with the feeder stream dry, having suffered from the lack of rain in the mountains. Quite a few dead fish due to the lack of oxygen.

Also, the only vantage point was the promenade that was much higher than the water level but, surprisingly, a Greenshank showed well but photos had to be carefully taken as I really hate photos that look down on the subject.

Apart form a few juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls loafing around, there was a strange duck species that looked like a Ruddy Shelduck but was much too pale. It showed well during a couple of visits, once with a mate that had a broken wing.

From home, after investigation, it was indeed a Ruddy Shelduck but the plumage was most probably pale due to the lack of vitamins in the brackish lake. I have only ever photographed this species once before, at distance, so, despite the odd plumage, I was quite happy with it.

As I said earlier, some unremarkable trips but that is the joy of wildlife photography.