Monday, 26 August 2013

Little and Large

Yesterday I joined a group of 17 other birders from the Isle of Wight and we visited Brading Marsh.  There are over 100 acres being managed by the National Trust and the Council.  We had just set foot on the Marsh when 2 Marsh Harriers, 1 Hobby and 1 Buzzard gave us great views.  However the leader told me that 2 Great Egrets had been seen over the past week and we found one of them.  The weather was raining and the shots are all taken at a great distance. Below is 'Little and Large'


I was thrilled to see the Great Egret even through it was always at a great distance and very flighty.


This is  the Great Egret among a group of Little Egrets.


These are most of the group out birding at Brading Marsh


These are Little Egrets flying over Brading Marsh and at the end I have a short video of them.


This is the tree where 17 pairs of Cormorants bred this year.


 This is some of the Cormorants and the way they are sitting reminds me of the song, Doe, Rea, Me!


This is a dead tree where the Cormorants also like to sit and you can probably see, Mallard, Coots and the Little Egrets in the water.





These shots (not good) are of the Great Egret.





I included the shots because I don't often see a Great Egret and never in my Northern Ireland.


Cormorant


Cormorant singing!  Notice the thousands of flies to the top left of the photo


Can you see the 5 Heron in this greenery?


Canada Geese  
We also saw Teal and 2 Pintail, Moorhen, Swans, Pied Wagtail, Lapwing and a Kestel in the afternoon.  The weather improved and the sun came out.  There will be a short video of the Kestrel at the end.


These cattle were our companions although not brave enough to pass us!


We saw 4 Black tailed Godwits feeding.


We also saw about 8 Wheatear on the ground catching flies.




Sorry about the quality of all the shots today but I hope you enjoyed seeing what was at Brading Marsh.

At present I am unable to join the videos on YOUTUBE (they must have a problem) so I will show you these few short clips that I took.

The first one is of the Kestrel and can be accessed at   http://youtu.be/CxDekMUqE8U

If the space before is black, click it and the video will appear.



The second video is of the Little Egrets and a Heron and can be accessed at  http://youtu.be/hcKL-5m_zBg

If the space before is black, click it and the video will appear.



The last little clip is of the Great Egret and can be accessed at  http://youtu.be/ZxVBoyK3UzE

If the space before is black, click it and the video will appear.


Thanks you for visiting and especially appreciate all the bloggers would sent me best wishes that my eye would improve quickly.  My eye sight has not been impaired, however 'The Look' will get me into acting in a Dracula movie!  I look as if I have only 1 eye as the other one is blue and red!!  Not a pretty sight.

MANY THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS ON ANY OF MY POSTS TODAY.

I am linking my post to The Bird D'Post

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

27 comments:

  1. Carole M.26 August 2013 at 19:19

    a great outing of enthusiastic birders; I especially like the godwit and the wheatears

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure26 August 2013 at 19:38

      Hi Carole Many thanksf or your comments. Yesterday it was lovely to watch from a distance the Wheatears.

      Delete
  2. Elephant's Child26 August 2013 at 19:39

    Oh wow. Never mind the little - chalk up LARGE enthusiasm from here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure26 August 2013 at 21:07

      Hi EC Yes that wasreally special for me to see in the ISle of Wight (Great Egret) Thanks for looking in and commenting.

      Delete
  3. Bob Bushell26 August 2013 at 19:43

    Beauty of the birdwatching, ah. What amount of birds you shot us today, brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure26 August 2013 at 21:08

      HI Bob Yes it was great to meet new bird watchers and we did have good finds. Thanks for comments.

      Delete
  4. Tanna26 August 2013 at 19:51

    Margaret, I'm happy to hear your eye is improving! Looks like you had a grand outing with some kindred spirits. You just have to love that! It is so impressive the size difference of the egrets in your Little and Large photo! Not being a birder, I had no idea. You are educating me as I travel along. blessings ~ tanna

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure26 August 2013 at 21:12

      HI Tanna Although I am be no mean an expert on birding, I do like to share what I do know and blogging has given me an another avenue to do that and I am glad you are learning from my posts. You will find when you are out and about, you will notcie things more and begin to recogise birds better. Thanks for yur comments. I appreciate them very much.

      Delete
  5. ADRIAN26 August 2013 at 19:55

    Another great look round. The great Egret must be called Gulliver looking at the first picture.
    It will only be a few years before they move further north.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure26 August 2013 at 21:16

      HI Adrian Yes, how did you know that Great Egret was called Gulliver???? Yes you are correct, it won't be long before they move northwards. Youtube is playing up now adn I have a great video of about 13 clips I have put together into 6.45mins but youtube are not processing it!! Very frustrating!! I think, this is were you would have a rant!!! Thanks for comments. I am going to get off computer today as I now have a headache (not usual for me)just in case I am straining my eyes.

      Delete
    2. ADRIAN26 August 2013 at 22:00

      I didn't know it just seemed apt.
      Take a tablet and buy a bottle of imported Jamiesons. I hope you feel better soon.

      Delete
    3. Margaret Birding For Pleasure26 August 2013 at 23:32

      HI Adrian Took tablet adn lay down, feel much better. Hate whiskey!

      Delete
  6. Ragged Robin26 August 2013 at 22:55

    Wonderful to see the Great Egret - its a lovely reserve - only visited it once though. Hope your eye clears up soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure27 August 2013 at 02:48

      HI RR Many thanks for your comments adn kindness. Yes it is a lovely reserve.

      Delete
  7. TexWisGirl26 August 2013 at 22:58

    the cormorant tree is so cool. glad you got to see the great egret. :) love the curious cattle.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anni 27 August 2013 at 02:16

    Excellent Margaret!! Yes, I did find the 5 herons!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure27 August 2013 at 02:50

      HI Anni Thanks for comments and glad you were able to find the 5 Herons.

      Delete
  9. Ginny Hartzler27 August 2013 at 02:44

    I spotted all five Herons! But my favorites here today are those cormorants in the tree. They REALLY do look like they are part of the tree. Instead of growing leaves, it is growing birds. The little wheatears are so well camouflaged! I do hope your eye is healing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure27 August 2013 at 18:38

      HI Ginny Well done in finding the 5 Herons and thanks for yuor comments.

      Delete
  10. Unknown27 August 2013 at 03:27

    What a beautiful place with many birds. Looks like you had a great outing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure27 August 2013 at 18:39

      HI Gunilla Yes it was a good place to go birding adn in good company. It is always nice to meet new birders.

      Delete
  11. Phil Slade27 August 2013 at 21:33

    Looks like you had a brill day out birding with like-minded people Margaret. Good to see the size comparison between Little And Large. All those cormorants nesting in one tree! Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure28 August 2013 at 08:58

      Yes I did. Also it was good to meet new birders. Thanks for commenting.

      Delete
  12. Christian Perrin28 August 2013 at 08:52

    The photo of the dead tree covered in cormorants is quite magical!

    It's funny how one person's rarity is another persons 'garden variety' and vice versa - here we have plenty of Great Egrets but I've never seen a Black-tailed Godwit. They mix in with the Bar-tails and it's rare to see them in their breeding colours too, making it even harder to spot them!

    I hope that you are still enjoying your time away and that your eye continues to heal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margaret Birding For Pleasure28 August 2013 at 09:01

      HI Christian Thanks for your comments and your kindness. I agree with what you say and it is wonderful that through blogging we are able to see many more species of birds from all over the world that we may not ever be able to see in the flesh.

      Delete
  13. RNSANE30 August 2013 at 22:23

    My goodness, this was an amazing post. How nice to go out birding with a group - and your day was certainly filled with birds! I knew the names of only a couple!

    Great photography.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)