PEREGRINE ATTACK.

I could have given this post any one of ten names but now I have got your attention.Newton Marsh has been busy with huge amount of duck and wader numbers building up,this has attracted the attention of partners in crime the Peregrine Falcon and the Great Black Gull.I have spent a few mornings catching  images of the comings and goings this week and I was lucky to capture a couple of images of a peregrine attack on the duck with the gbbg following up looking an easy meal,even though the attack happened a long way out I thought it was worth posting a couple of images.The other images consist of a male teal,widgeon in flight,black tailed godwits in flight,golden plover with a couple of dunlin in flight and a juvenile GBBG  learning its trade looking for an easy meal.To see the true extent of the amount of duck at Newton Marsh please visit GG's website www trapper63.blogspot.com
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Pilling Moss Barn Owl.

A trawl over Pilling Moss on Monday afternoon I was surprised to see a Barn Owl hunting in broad daylight and was lucky enough to capture a few images as it hunted close to the road.I'm very pleased with my efforts and I've posted a few images below.

The Waggy Wagtail.

These birds certainly live up to their name and the Grey Wagtail that I came across recently was no exception,with it's tail constantly flicking up and down.This made it difficult to get a sharp image of the whole bird.I've posted  a few of my better efforts below hope you enjoy looking at them.

THE SHOVELER SHOW.

Since Christmas I have been trying to capture images of Shoveler behaviour and the wonderful colours of this duck,it's been difficult because of the light and conditions.A few of my better efforts are shown below,the first image is taken in poor light and my shutter speed is a bit slow to capture a sharp image,the second image I like alot for the light and reflection,image 5 would have shown the wonderful colours of the Shoveler if the light had been abit better.Hey Ho never mind it's wonderful to be out with nature the images are an added bonus that I would like to share with you.

GBBG V'S WIDGEON

Well actually 2GBBG, a Peregrin and a Buzzard against one male Widgeon, not very good odds for the Widgeon. I've seen a GBBG a few times at Newton Marsh dive bombing the Ducks recently, but on Wednesday morning I saw two Gulls dive bombing a Widgeon that had somehow got separated from the flock, this carried on for seven or eight minutes catching and lifting the Widgeon three times out of the water and each time the Widgeon escaped, during this time a peregrin flew low over the water and landed a couple of hundred yards away and a Buzzard was waiting in the wings approximately sixty to seventy yards away.

One of the Gulls was a lot more aggressive than the other, and took up the attack catching the Widgeon and trying to fly to the bank with it, the duck escaped and started swimming away with the gull in close pursuit, catching the Duck dragging it to the bank and pulling it out of the water, the Widgeon escaped twice more but was recaught and dragged back to the bank, finally escaping back to the water, and swimming to the far bank. It was attacked and caught again, escaping twice more and I could see it hiding close to the bank with my binoculars. I couldn't believe that the gull could not see it and eventually they both flew off. After about five minutes the Widgeon slowly dragged itself up the bank totally exhausted. I watched it for about fourty minutes as it slowly recovered expecting the Gulls to return at any time, they flew over twice and ignored the Widgeon and started attacking the flock of Ducks on the water.

I took my first image at 9:54 and my last image at 10:28 though the attack started approximately 9:45. I have tried to be as accurate as possible with my observations. Please judge the images not for the quality but for the story they tell, as it happened over two hundred yards away in very bad light and strong winds. With Iso's of over 2000. Feel free to comment and ask any questions and I will try to answer them.

COTTAM and LEA.

The image of the Heron was captured at the pond on Haydocks Lane Cottam on the 20th of Dec,while the Buzzard was at Lea captured hand held leaning out of the car window on the 2nd of Jan.At the local feeding station after filling the feeders I decided to stay for an hour even though the weather wasn't brilliant,Ia'm glad I did as the sun broke through I managed to capture a few images of the local birds a few of which I have posted below.