Our First Adventure Blog

So today, I decided I might as well start a blog, as Luke and I are becoming very enthusiastic about birdwatching (well, me more so than Luke as he was enthusiastic beforehand)

Yesterday we went to several reserves. The first being How Hill (http://howhilltrust.org.uk/). It is beautiful there. Luke got  a few lovely scenic shot.

Broken windmill

Windmill

Boat

We also grabbed some lovely shots of a robin who loved to pose for the camera.

Standing tall (E)

Feet over the Edge (L)

Just going to pose like this (L)

:O No more photo’s please (E)

Random Fun Fact: The Robin was declared Britain’s National Bird on December 15th, 1960.

Our next stop was Hickling Nature Reserve (http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/nature-reserves/reserves/hickling-broad). Here we saw;

• Lapwing
• Little Egret
• Marsh Harrier
• Crane
• Kestrel
• Heron

Here are some pictures below of what we were able to capture.

Lapwing Flying (E)

Little Egret (E)

Little Egret (E)

Little Egret (E)

Crane (E)

Horse (E)

This was my first time seeing a Marsh Harrier and I can tell you now, I was amazed. So majestic, so dignified as they flew through the sky. After a few moments watching it fly, I knew I need to get a great picture to show off how awe-inspiring I thought they were. My first few photos were nowhere near as close as I want, but currently I only have 70-300mm lens on my canon camera, so knew I wasn’t going to get exactly what I wanted.

We moved on to our final stop. RSPB Shrumpshaw Fen (http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/s/strumpshawfen/). We are hoping to go back here in the next week, as the penduline tit was seen here on the 1st April 2016. We were unlucky that we didn’t catch it this time, but we did get to see some great display from  Marsh Harriers (can’t tell you how happy I was), who flew around the whole of the reserve. I got to take some photos that I am very proud of.

Marsh Harrier (E)

One of my favourite’s (E)

Marsh Harrier (E)

Marsh Harrier(E)

Marsh Harrier (E)

Marsh Harrier (E)

Random Fun Fact:  The Marsh Harrier almost died out as a British breeding species, but has recovered since the 1960s and changed its behaviour along the way, nesting in farmland and many individuals staying in Britain for the winter.

We are hoping to go back to Shrumpshaw Fen in the next few weeks to see what else we can find. I am desperate to see a Bittern.

We will keep you posted on what we see and do. Thank you for reading.