Today I paid another visit to the Shropshire Ornithological Society's reserve at
Venus Pool. Here are some more photos taken from the publicly available hides.
On the left a Little Egret with a black bill and yellow feet. On the right a (Great) White Egret with a yellow bill and black feet.
Lapwings are a jumpy species and often all take to the air for no obvious reason. Eight returning.
A Common Snipe giving good views.
Again
And again.
There were two standing in formation.
"Don't look at me like that"
Looks as if it blowing an alpenhorn.
This was a real surprise find. It is a first-winter Green Sandpiper - an adult would show a darker back and therefore more contrast between the white belly. This species is normally a passage migrant though a few stay over winter mainly in small ditches.
Unusually there were no Cormorants when I arrived. Suddenly a group of 32 arrived together. Here are nine of them, four of them showing the breeding white thigh patch.
There is a woodland hide where tits can be seen. A perky Blue Tit.
Always a treat to see Long-tailed Tits looking this way...
..and that.
Better have another."
(Ed Wilson)
