Warnham Nature Reserve.. another visit

Had a quick nip into Warnham again today.  Red polls not in sight but did see a Kingfisher which, fleetingly, posed on a branch... only got time for the one shot.

Accordingly to a fellow birder, about 100 Greylag Geese had flown in this morning..mostly they went around the corner of the reeds.  Over in the distance were a pair of Mandarin Ducks but no sign of the
Pintails today.

Just a few pics...

In the 'feeder' area..

Perched by the Kingfisher Hide

Hundreds (it seems) of Gulls... I gather there could well be more arriving

The five black-sheep tending the grass of the wildflower meadow..

Most of the Greylags were bathing..

and preening...

Just a quick trip in the sunshine and tomorrow..... fingers crossed for more of the sunshiny stuff :D

Warnham Nature Reserve - a pair of Pintails

Had a quick trip into Warnham today on the way to do some shopping.

Great to see a pair of Pintails.  Initially they were miles over on the other side from the Kingfisher Hide but something flushed everything out and they came a little nearer.  Also a couple of Redpolls in the feeder area. Lovely sunshine but something up with the camera I think.. having real focusing problems but, there was some smoke from a bonfire somewhere close so this may have thrown everything off.

Red Polls

The one that got away.

Pair of Pintails, Great Crested Grebe, Coot and Mallard!

Pochards.. spot the odd one out!

Dozen of gulls on the lake.. and a quarrelsome pair of Black-headed Gulls

Testing a lens at Amwell..

We'ed hired a lens to test over this weekend... Unfortunately the weather on Saturday prevented trying it out.  I'd managed to put it through its paces on Friday and today the sun shone enough for Pete to try it out.

Just a few pictures for no particular reason today:

The River Lee that runs along the edges of RSPB Rye Meads was very very full after all the rain we've been having.

A flock of Lapwings went up, circled a few times and then headed off away from the reserve

And at Amwell, when we arrived, the sun was shining and the trees, now, have shed nearly all their leaves.

Up in some of the Alders, a small flock of Siskins fed and Pete spotted a Redpoll.

At the feeders:

and a Reed Bunting that sat on a reed for a considerable time.. pity it didn't come out from behind the blade of grass before flying off!

and the skies turned grey and rain threatened so we called it a day.

Bury St Edmunds - a first visit

Plan A was to test a lens in the brilliant sunshine that was forecast at the beginning of the week!

Plan B - with heavy rain and winds forecast for today, we abandoned Plan A and Pete drove us to Bury St. Edmunds.. a place I'd never visited.  And today was Christmas Fair Day along with the 'normal' market.  It was very busy with people.

The Cathedral was packed so we didn't go in..

However, St Marys Church...

had many visitors but we were able to walk around more easily... many wonderful stained-glass windows..

Back outside we wandered and finally went back to the car..

 There was a Natavity scene in which there was a donkey and 3 alpacas... not the prettiest of animals.

The smallest pub in Britain... The Nutshell 

We stopped to buy some sandwiches for lunch before heading off.... into heavy skies and rain.

But despite the weather, a good day out!