Big Waters Sunday Walk 24 April 2016

There was only 3 at the starting point, Alan J, Ian D and myself although after 20 mins we were joined by Keith B who had already done at least a 3 mile walk before joining us.   Keith had seen a Redstart in the reserve on his way to joining us along with a few other things but as its now 2 days since him telling me that I have forgot.  Anticipating the fact that I forget things I got Alan J to hold up the Hide Book where he had scribbled written neatly some of the things we saw collectively today.

The first new batch of wildlife was a Mallard with 7 young which I failed on more than one occasion to get a decent picture of despite being called for by the others.  The only one I managed was the following which was taken at a distance (obviously).

Here are a few others I managed to snap although I didn't take many, if any, on the walk round because it was too blood cold to take my hand out of my pockets and I had gloves on (its getting bog standard for April this bloody weather - climate change, getting warmer (poppycock) although no doubt the Met Office or some such organisation will bring out a set of figures showing it was the hottest/driest/wettest/coldest/sunniest (Delete as appropriate) April since records began.

 Plenty of Chiff Chaff and Willow Warblers around

A few Swans around some energetic some not

Plenty of Sheep and Lambs in the ever changing Stafford Farm

This poor little thing has something wrong with its right leg and was

hobbling along the same path as us but then took a right

into some thick bushes

A couple of distant shots of a pair of Common Tern that have been around for a

couple of days now, although as soon as they appear an Otter has shown its face

for the first time for a while

Quite a few Sand Martins were playing on the reed just outside the hide

The Robins were quite active around the area today and got a few good shots of them

 Although this little guy seems to be particularly greedy

Well, thats about it apart from the video which contains some quite good footage this week although the commentary was sort of hogged by one guy today, have a listen and see if you can figure out who it is.  I also did another underwater camera video which was a bit lighter than last weeks although the camera seemed to have fallen over after I placed it in but there is still a small excerpt there showing at least 2 Newts if not 3.  Someone please have a look and tell me which they are?

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