I escaped to Warnham Nature Reserve

Unfortunately still embroiled with moving an elderly aunt and 'down sizing'....(I'm amazed how my patience has lasted!!..;)


After the thrills and spills of unpacking/repacking boxes this morning, I ran away to Warnham Nature Reserve.. never known it so quiet.. but it WAS the afternoon and it WAS hot!!


Two pairs of Common Terns out on the lake... but dozing on the Tern raft.


No birds at the feeders - which, sadly, were mostly empty... I expect the birds are very hungry at this time of the year though!


Last night I was experimenting with the Nikon V1...in my garden.

Interestingly, I didn't notice the 'insect' until processing the picture.  Looks like a grasshopper of some sort!

The scented azaleas I've inherited in the garden are wonderful...


So onto Warnham... quiet, quiet, quiet...... except for a Kestrel that hovered.. a bit far away.. as I entered the reserve

and eventually one of the 4 common terns left the tern raft and perched

May flies have started being visible.. and I didn't notice the 'bug' immediately above the Mayfly (no the edge of the leaf) until I processed this (rather a record shot) picture.. no idea what it is... unless anyone can ID this for me?

All was quiet out on the lake..

This is one of two orphaned lambs that have been adopted by the reserve..

and the buttercups are coming out.. wonderful to see them with all the other wildflowers!  I do like that the wildflower meadow has been left to the flowers with very clear 'pathways' mowed so inviting visitors to stay on the 'straight and narrow'

Hopefully I've got 2 days off now (except for a visit from the plumber tomorrow morning) so I do hope I can keep my camera company on a day out!

An experiment with cameras Nikon V1 v Panasonic G3

As I mentioned in my earlier post today , I had some more pictures to post from my visit to WWT Barnes and Bushy Park.  The subjects are varied as I was comparing the performance/capabilities of two cameras with similar lenses.  I'd tried as much as possible to have the settings the same as possible and mostly, in my view, one came out better overall than the other.  I'll leave you to decide which you prefer!

Nikon V1 with 10-30mm lens

Panasonic G3 with 14-42 mm lens

From here on in I shall use Panasonic and Nikon

Nikon 1

Panasonic 1

Nikon 2

Panasonic 2

Nikon 3

  

Panasonic 3

Nikon 4

Panasonic 4

Nikon 5

Panasonic 5

Nikon 6

Panasonic 6

Nikon 7

Panasonic 7

Nikon 8

Panasonic 8

Nikon 9

Panasonic 9

WWT Barnes and Bushy Park

Decided to head up to Barnes today...it was very quiet....a few birds about but it would have been great to see some flutters and dragons.. but not yet it seems!

When I was living in Surrey then I had Ring-necked Parakeets as regular garden visitors.  It's rather nice to hear them again.... :)

This Male Mandarin sat on a rail of a bridge and 'peeped'

Later on a Jay flew past and posed for a bit.

It was lovely to bump into Jenny and Brian.. hadn't seen them for ages.  Brian confessed that they follow my blog - I'm flattered.  And Brian, could you let Jenny know you're looking at it please? ;)  And good to see Rick again!


In terms of pictures that was about it.  I decided to go off to Bushy Park as I hadn't been there for such a long time. I rather miss it!


The Red Deer Stages are growing their antlers again and they (the antlers) are covered in velvet - very tactile!

A pair of mute swans had produced just the 1 cygnet... not seen many anywhere this Spring.

and Dad was drinking..

So having had a quick bite to eat I headed off down south.  I've got quite a few more pictures from the other cameras... but that's for another post and day.

A quick trip to WWT Arundel

Had a trip over to WWT Arundel today... seemed very quiet and not much about to photograph so mostly the pics today are of captive birds.

Very quiet in terms of not only birds but people too.. which was rather nice for me.  Pity thought that the boats weren't running... at least I saw no sign of them.


From there onto Nyman's gardens... but that's for another day and another blog!!