too much time on my hands

Happy day- I retired from the London commute yesterday and on my first morning of freedom had the pleasure of 2 Wood Sandpipers at Cattawade, long range digipic of one of them here captures the moment.

showing some leg

These godwits- still fun.  Here's how much extra leg a Blackwit has over a Bartail- enough to accommodate a cluster of bling.

now you see them

Bar-tailed Godwits sticking out like sore thumbs yesterday amongst Black-tailed Godwits and then merging into the crowd with Grey Plovers today.  Wobbly digipics in a blustery spring gale, but catching the moment nonetheless.

Bar-tailed Godwit, Stour Estuary

roots

I had a happy drop-in to Rye Meads RSPB the other day.  Just happened to be rolling past with an hour to spare and no bins, so hired some very not-Swarovski optics for a princely £1.50 and lo- Kingfishers. Mostly they were doing the standard thing of sitting on posts, super-close and looking like a million photos we have all seen- nice but samey.  But upstream was a much more interesting
tangle of roots where a tree had been grubbed out and eventually after a lot of wishful thinking and thought transference, the bird got the message and whizzed upstream to just where I wanted it..

Kingfisher on roots, Rye Meads

a big yawn

This spring's resolve is to spend a bit less time hosing down canvasses gone wrong, a bit more time looking and drawing.

So here's a fluffed-up Ringed Plover on the roost that caught my eye with two beautifully curved toes to keep its balance and a big contented yawn.  Possibly I should have drawn the bill wider open to show that it was yawn and not a call, but that would be too close to cartooning.

Ringed Plover, Stour estuary

spitting feathers

Great fun with otters up at Thetford- thousands of pics must have been taken over recent weeks and almost all closer and better than mine.  But here's a few for the record of the splendid male, with his parti-coloured throat and muzzle in style of a Brazilian Giant Otter.

He seemed in a really feisty mood and twice took a shot at family of Mute Swans, each time sliding gently past them, then once they thought he had gone, leaping completely clear of the water to get up speed and then sharking them from below.   I'm thinking he was doing it out of pure devilment rather than trying to predate them, but he took out quite a mouthful of feathers this time around:

bad dog...

Then a nice orca impression as he dived for the exit..

Bittern revealed

A nice moment from earlier this month- a Bittern just not having quite enough white in its cryptic camo' to disappear successfully against snowy reeds.  So here against the bullrushes it shows up as a warm shadow, just knocking out the whites of the snow when it moves.

The first attempt to paint it on a grand scale was the usual disaster- so the canvas on the easel has been hosed-down and returned to the rack to be recycled another day when orange is again in demand.   Then I've had another shot on some orange card. 

Bittern