I cant stop that buzzing feeling.
I must admit this week has been eventful and the saying "one good deed deserves another" really came to pass.
It will come as no great surprise to my regular readers that I visited Goldcliff Lagoons. Its a special place that is becoming close to my heart. It is a lovely relatively unspoiled reserve with fantastic hides.
Thursday evening I was looking forward to a late evening bird-watch. When I arrived at the lagoons I was approached by a nice chap who ran up to me. He warned me not to go into Hide 1 as some horrid individual had defecated all over the inside including the birders log book and the smell was revolting.
To keep the story short after a bit of bird-watching and I think I came to the conclusion that I could not do nothing about the mess in Hide 1 and decided to put it right and do my good deed for the week, so that other people in the bird watching community did not have to face it.
After a big gulp of fresh air I entered the rank inside of Hide 1 and cleaned it up the best I could, using some supermarket carrier bags from my car. Yuk.
After cleaning up the worst of it and then reported the "vandalism" later, on the various birder community forums. Thanks to NRW and the site manager the remaining mess got sorted the following day.
I must admit despite that incident the visit to Goldciff was pretty good as I got to watch the aerobatic displays of a Hobby for a short while.
I returned on Saturday morning and the vandalised hide was now clean and in a better state. My highlights from the visit were watching 500+ Curlews roosting at the lagoons and seeing them fly off to feed at the tides edge as it went out. A Hobby made a late appearance and this time I watched it chase Pied Wagtails around the tops of the Hedgerows. Awesome stuff.
So we get to this morning and the good deed that was done for me. My friend Ian Howells ( He literally can charm the birds out of the trees - especially Tawny Owls) invited me over to his hide.
Ian has been working on a project for a while to attract Buzzards. Recently the hard work, patience and time he has invested has really paid off and he has started getting a Buzzard regularly attending to feed.
Well to say I was excited would be an understatement. I was "Buzzing" with anticipation and thrilled to have the opportunity to photograph a Buzzard close up.
As ever wildlife photography involves getting up at the crack of dawn and we got to Ian's hide early in the morning. It had been raining but the clouds parted and the sun came out. Bang on time she arrived (we think its a female- she looks big ,no offence meant to females :) " but in birds of prey female raptors tend to be bigger than males).
She was a very attractive bird. Her plumage looked fantastic and she fed for a while but did not eat that much of the wood pigeon. Ian tells me that the Buzzard ate nearly two yesterday so I guess she was not that hungry.
Ian and me were graced with 35 minutes of her time. The Buzzard was so relaxed and moved to another perch and settled taking some time to have a look about and preen.
I must admit I was in pure photographic rapture and all day since the visit I cant keep out of my head that Righteous Brothers tune , but instead of "loving" its I cant stop that buzzing feeling :)
Thanks Ian. Brilliant experience yet again.
It will come as no great surprise to my regular readers that I visited Goldcliff Lagoons. Its a special place that is becoming close to my heart. It is a lovely relatively unspoiled reserve with fantastic hides.
Thursday evening I was looking forward to a late evening bird-watch. When I arrived at the lagoons I was approached by a nice chap who ran up to me. He warned me not to go into Hide 1 as some horrid individual had defecated all over the inside including the birders log book and the smell was revolting.
To keep the story short after a bit of bird-watching and I think I came to the conclusion that I could not do nothing about the mess in Hide 1 and decided to put it right and do my good deed for the week, so that other people in the bird watching community did not have to face it.
After a big gulp of fresh air I entered the rank inside of Hide 1 and cleaned it up the best I could, using some supermarket carrier bags from my car. Yuk.
After cleaning up the worst of it and then reported the "vandalism" later, on the various birder community forums. Thanks to NRW and the site manager the remaining mess got sorted the following day.
I must admit despite that incident the visit to Goldciff was pretty good as I got to watch the aerobatic displays of a Hobby for a short while.
I returned on Saturday morning and the vandalised hide was now clean and in a better state. My highlights from the visit were watching 500+ Curlews roosting at the lagoons and seeing them fly off to feed at the tides edge as it went out. A Hobby made a late appearance and this time I watched it chase Pied Wagtails around the tops of the Hedgerows. Awesome stuff.
So we get to this morning and the good deed that was done for me. My friend Ian Howells ( He literally can charm the birds out of the trees - especially Tawny Owls) invited me over to his hide.
Ian has been working on a project for a while to attract Buzzards. Recently the hard work, patience and time he has invested has really paid off and he has started getting a Buzzard regularly attending to feed.
Well to say I was excited would be an understatement. I was "Buzzing" with anticipation and thrilled to have the opportunity to photograph a Buzzard close up.
As ever wildlife photography involves getting up at the crack of dawn and we got to Ian's hide early in the morning. It had been raining but the clouds parted and the sun came out. Bang on time she arrived (we think its a female- she looks big ,no offence meant to females :) " but in birds of prey female raptors tend to be bigger than males).
She was a very attractive bird. Her plumage looked fantastic and she fed for a while but did not eat that much of the wood pigeon. Ian tells me that the Buzzard ate nearly two yesterday so I guess she was not that hungry.
Ian and me were graced with 35 minutes of her time. The Buzzard was so relaxed and moved to another perch and settled taking some time to have a look about and preen.
I must admit I was in pure photographic rapture and all day since the visit I cant keep out of my head that Righteous Brothers tune , but instead of "loving" its I cant stop that buzzing feeling :)
Thanks Ian. Brilliant experience yet again.
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| Buteo Buteo Common Buzzard |
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| Feeding on a Wood Pigeon |
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| Buzzard gaping. |
