Lynford Arboretum Friday 29th April 2021.

The object of this trip was to try to photograph Firecrest where at least two pairs were nesting. Firecrest is one of our smallest birds, with it's cousin, the Goldcrest.

The friend who I went with had been a week earlier so knew the locations to stand and wait. Firecrest is a Schedule 1 bird so using recordings to call them in is illegal during the nesting season so it was patience.

Waiting in a shady glade, a pair got used to us being there and carried on feeding allowing good shots.

A Goldcrest also showed up to join the party.

We then crossed the road and walked to the bridge, placing food on the pillars to see what would come in. Immediate reaction - obviously the birds there are expecting food to be used to attract them in. Ignoring the obvious more common birds, we had Nuthatch, Coal Tit and Marsh Tit.

More or less a repeat from last week at Kettlestone Woods.

5th May 2021 - Grafham Water and Stirtloe

First off to the dam at Grafham to see if I could find a Channel Wagtail but no wagtails at all except a Pied variety

There was a party of 25/30 newly arrived Swifts that were hawking over the dam. Great fun trying to get shots of them in the quite stiff breeze - many duff shots but a few that I was pleased with.

I then moved to nearby Stirtloe to see if there were any recently arrived warblers.

A Sedge Warbler showed well with a Reed Warbler behind it. Both were shots into the sun but that can often make the shot more interesting.

After a lot of walking and standing around, by mid-afternoon my knee began to tell me that it had had enough so off home.