Patchwork Challenge - Longham Lakes Visit 14 25-Sept-2016

No new birds, but it was nice to go out.
I headed off with a friend who had never been to Longham before and we immediately flushed a Green Woodpecker that was feeding in a nearby field. There were lots of Great Crested and Little Grebes about, and we also spotted a hovering Kestrel. I thought I spotted my first Sparrowhawk too, but as neither of us could identify it with 100 per cent certainty, it's not being included.

Pleased with this Green Woodpecker :)

There were a few gulls about, but mainly Herring, with the odd Black-Headed Gull for good measure. No Little Gulls, despite an intensive search for them. Ducks in general were quite scarce, with just Mallard and Tufted Ducks present, which was a little disappointing.

Black-Headed Gull flyby. Boring.

Still on 62 birds for the year, which isn't the best, but I still managed to have a nice day :)

A Trip To Longham Lakes

As I'm on holiday this week I decided to take a trip down to Longham Lakes. It's a fantastic location for viewing birds, thanks to two huge ponds, one of which is heavily stocked for local anglers. There's a large number of different species to be found there, with the occasional waders appearing as well. Although I didn't see any new birds, I still managed to have a great walk and saw a surprising number of birds. Here's the ones I saw on my two hour walk.

A Grey Wagtail on the way to Longham.

Tufted ducks were still breeding.

And I continue to mistake them for Scaup.

There were a large number of Coots.

A Mute Swan preens itself.

Or simply hung out in groups.

Great Crested Grebes continue to thrive.

I love their little tufts.

A Red Admiral shot via my Powershot X50

Not all Mallards were in eclipse plumage.

Although this one was.

Cormorants were plentiful.

Providing some nice flyby shots.

Herons were also in large numbers.

This one kept flying ahead of me.

Eventually upsetting some Tufted Ducks in the middle of the lake.

A juvenile Great Crested Grebe.

A disturbed Buzzard takes flight.

More Grey Heron action.

A fuzzy Little Grebe.

A butterfly I don't recognise.

Another Great Crested Grebe.

More Mallards.

A Carrion Crow flying home.

A preening Tufted Duck.

A young Moorhen.

Yet another Heron.

Guess who!

A Wood Pigeon.

And we finish things off with a Collard Dove.

Hope you enjoyed the photos.