Lesser spotted Woodpecker & Wood Warbler at Yarner Woods

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

 

I had a good day out today at Yarner Woods reserve on East Dartmoor over the border in Devon.


Managed to capture shots of 2 new species photo-wise for me, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker & the Wood Warbler.

We were fortunate to discover the nest of the Lesser Spot so I got some shots as the birds approached the area with food for a rather raucous brood.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

The Wood Warbler stayed aloft so many of the shots were taken against the sky or the raindrops as they cascaded into my lens hood.

Nevertheless 2 good birds that I'd never photographed before in the UK (I did get LSW in Poland last year).

Wood Warbler

Wood Warbler

Wood Warbler

Little Egret aggression

I watched a couple of Little egrets going for it this afternoon at Walmsley Sanctuary.

Initially I wondered if it was some kind of courtship chase but then things turned quite aggressive (could still have been courtship!).

There was one particular bird that wanted to attack all the other egrets in the reserve and it kept picking on others until this time it looked as if it was going to drown the other unfortunate bird.

Here is a short sequence of pictures taken from a fair distance away hence the poor quality!

Both birds flew away seemingly unharmed!

Grey Wagtail and Dipper in North Cornwall streams

Grey Wagtail

This fine female Grey Wagtail was with it's mate feeding on the recently hatched flies and bugs.

Dipper

 

One of the few Dipper shots I took today that had the bird free from heavy shadows!

Common Eider in take-off mode

Common Eider, 2 drakes and a female

Taken from a boat in Batsfjord, Northern Norway.

Eiders .... in Batsfjord, Norway.

 Some of the "target" species of Eider up here at Bastfjord just north of Varangerfjord.

King Eider

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

King Eider

Steller's Eider.

Male Common Eider

Aurora borealis... Norway

A few shots of the Northern Lights (Aurora borealis) taken last night 17th March near Kirkenes in Arctic Norway.

I definitely won't be seeing any aurora tonight as it's snowing hard outside at the moment!

Common Frogs

Common frogs

These two frogs were making their way through the garden to our pond this morning.

As you can see the female is well swollen with eggs so I expect to see some more frogs spawn in the pond tomorrow morning,

We had our first spawn a bit later this year on the 4th February.

Common frogs