Woodpecker

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It's always nice to see woodpeckers, although they are much easier to hear than to spot. Recently however, I have come across a couple which seem less cautious than normal. This one I heard clearly hammering on a dead tree in my local park. It saw me approach and flew to a higher branch - but when I stopped to to watch, it returned to its original location and continued to peck away.

Wordless Wednesday: Wren

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Marsh Frog

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Apologies for the lack of entries in the last few weeks. I twisted my ankle rather badly at an RSPB reserve in March, which rather restricted my mobility, and subsequently have been ill as well. This weekend, however, despite a continuing sore throat I made it out in the sunshine and was rewarded with an excellent birding weekend. Lots to see. Black-caps a plenty. Lots of kingfisher sightings. Some stunning light as well. Hopefully I'll post up some of those photos in the next few days.

On Saturday afternoon I spent a happy hour photographing marsh frogs behind a local bird reserve. Usually they're quite shy and hop away as soon as you appear, but on this occasion I was able to get very close. This particular shot was taken with a 400mm lens, but I managed to get a lot closer and took some with a 105mm lens as well.

The highlight was seeing a pair of juvenile tawny owls this afternoon. Sadly they were well hidden in the trees and the light was all wrong, so the images are not great, but it was lovely to see them. Kind of makes up for all the missed opportunities of the last few weeks...