Well, Feb 28th and I'm back up the reservoir, the sun is out, it's a beautiful morning so, time for a walk with the cameras. I'd definitely been bitten by the Crossbill bug and really hoped to capture shots of a male, I hadn't seen one at all, yet.
I arrived reasonably early, I like to get up here before the crowds, there aren't many at this time of year but, more people can mean fewer birds and wildlife.
I decided to take a walk across the dam first, the water was like glass and the Oystercatchers and common Gulls were gathering on the railing and the tower. and as I walked across, they started taking off and flying away over the calm water.
The Oystercatchers fly low over the water making for perfect reflection shots, if I could get them.
A human appearing can cause a mild panic as birds take to the air so when two or three birds all took off and headed in slightly different directions, it made a great shot.
I called this a confusion. of Oystercatchers because it was difficult to work out how many actual birds are in the shot! When I reached the centre of the dam, I grabbed a few shots for a panorama view of the entire reservoir. The track I usually walk runs up the other side, where the house can be seen here and carries on for around 2 miles, before turning into a woodland trail.
The silence up here is just amazing, bird calls being about the only thing you hear, Grouse can be heard on the hillsides on the right of this shot.
From the far side of the dam, you can see as far as the trail goes, the small clump of tree just right of centre is approximately where the track ends. Walking back across I grabbed a few shots of the tower and some of its residents.
Large numbers of Common Gulls and others gather as Spring moves in, Cormorants often use the tower as a convenient perch to survey the water and dry off. The reservoir is pretty full at this time of year but it can be a real surprise how quickly that level drops as we move into Summer.
I made quite a lot of shots of the Oystercatchers, many of which just didn't work. So, I headed up the track I usually take, looking out for the Crossbills and simply enjoying the tranquility. A Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow popped up on a pine right yay the track and caught the early morning light beautifully.
There are times when I'm walking up here when I meet no-one and rarely see a bird.
As I wandered on, I could hear a loud song in the trees ahead.
A Mistle Thrush singing its heart out, calling for a mate maybe? Once again I heard the tapping of the woodpecker as I approached the picnic bench and there she was, watching me from a tree trunk.
I've only ever heard and seen a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers up here and usually in this same area, I'm sure there are more than that around, it's a huge area and I only walk a small part of it. I'd heard and seen a few Redpolls flitting around and one gorgeous female pop out onto a branch almost directly in front of me and waited for me to get my shot.
There are quite a lot of Redpoll up here, usually keeping their distance and flitting quickly between the trees so it was great to see one so clearly and get a shot. The Siskins were all around as well and feeding up, which is what allowed me to get a nice shot of this male.
Yet another beautiful blue sky morning walk alongside the reservoir but, it was almost lunchtime, time I was heading down the road again.
Soon .....
