Topic: Rails (Birds)
Attenborough, June 2007
Spent Father's Day taking Dad around Attenborough. Lots of young birds - Reed Warblers and Whitethroats, Tree Sparrows, Great Tits, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan and Mallard all got photographed.
There were also a large number of Banded Demoiselle dragonfly-type creatures around; enough that we saw a sparrow catch (and drop) one, one got caught and eaten by a spider, and we found just the wings of another on the path. Mating Ladybirds and a bunch of Peacock Butterfly caterpillars, and some strange cricket-type critters, were amongst the other insects we saw, not counting all the flies and midges.
Attenborough, December 2004
Taken before the visitor's centre was opened - the door's still boarded up.
The reason there are twitchers in some of the photographs was due to the appearance of a Sora Rail, the photographs of which are elsewhere.
Sora Rail, December 2004
At the end of December a rare Sora Rail arrived in Nottinghamshire, a long way from its usual stomping grounds in America (perhaps migrating when it got pushed off course by one of the many hurricanes this year?). There have only been around a dozen ever seen in the UK, so it attracted quite a bit of attention. Some week or so after it first appeared I got a chance to see it in person, and after only a few minutes of waiting it not only appeared, but almost walked right up to the waiting crowd.
The photographs below show quite clearly what distinguishes this bird from other rails - the beak colour, the white on the tail, even the white dot near the eye.
Nature
Random bits of nature photography from various places (Chichester and London certainly, some of it inside the office and my house!)
Nottingham, canalside in the snow
A walk along the canal in Nottingham.