Thrushes

Hundreds of Redwings  and a few Fieldfares have joined the more usual Blackbird, Song Thrushes and Mistle Thrushes to take advantage of the glut of Berries in our garden and around the village .

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Fieldfare

Redwing

Long Tailed Duck

31st October
I found this juvenile Long Tailed Duck at Roadford Lake in Devon a week earlier ,when I'd taken a few record shots at distance and in poor light, this day though was bright and sunny with some lovely autumn colours reflecting on the water. I used good old fashioned field craft to get as close to the bird as I could without disturbing it ( or the other ducks present).

Juvenile Long Tailed Duck

Somerset Levels

25th October..A great day out on the Somerset Levels , hoping to see Bearded Tits, a species I'd had brief views of a few times but never seen well and never photographed. Our luck was in, as soon after arrival we were treated to brilliant close up views of both male and females coming down to the path to feed on seed and grit which had been put down for them, ( they take grit as an aid to digestion in the autumn when their diet changes from insectivorous to seeds).We also had my best ever view of Bitterns , with at least two right in front of the hide, but photography was still not great as they either stayed partly obscured by the reeds or when one did come right out into the open was directly in front of the bright low sun, but still brilliant to watch .With Great White Egrets and Kingfisher as well a good day all round.

Female Bearded Tit

Male Bearded Tit -an exotic looking bird.

Bittern Take off

Typical view of a Bittern

Bittern silhouette

Kingfisher

Lapwing and Common Snipe

Great White Egret

Great White Egret