The River Thames in autumn

Last weekend I was full of good intentions to head to the Wetlands centre and snap some of the autumn migrants that are now regularly dropping in. I didn't, however, account for the shortening days or how fast the light goes when it begins to. As a result, on Saturday I ended up having a walk along the banks of the River Thames and, in hindsight, I'm quite glad that I didn't make it to the WWT.



The sunset on Saturday evening turned out to be spectacular. At low tide, as the sun descended slowly, I was afforded beautiful views of the river and the bird life it supports.



Groups of Mallards were to be found which, with the sunset behind them, looked beautiful.



I also saw a Great Crested Grebe in its winter plumage, hunting for its dinner.







As I continued to wander up the river back, a family of Mute Swans swam past.



I also spyed a Grey Heron fishing for dinner. I'm not sure how good this particular Heron was as, the few times it did go for a fish, it appeared to fall on the target rather than decisively striking. It posed for a nice photo though.



Once the light had gone, I began to head home. On my way back I heard a Robin in one of the trees chirping away to anyone who listened. I managed to snap this shot of it using a flash and am quite pleased with the result.

The following day I again, attempted to get myself to the Wetlands centre. This time it was public transport that stopped me getting there. With no bus in sight after 20 minutes of waiting in the cold, I decided I would walk instead. Again, it was low tide as I strolled along the river and, again, I was tempted to take photos along the river bank instead of going over to the WWT.



The Great Crested Grebe was out fishing again and, this time, I was able to get a better lit shot of it.





The fog began to draw in as the sunlight faded making for lovely atmospheric shots.



Before the fog got too bad, which it did... very quickly, a murmuration of Starlings were flying just above the bridge. It wasn't the largest murmuration ever seen but it was still fascinating to watch.

Nature at its finest, and harshest

After a day of watching rugby and post-match "refreshments", Kelly and I decided that Sunday should include a serene walk around the wetlands centre.

Between the rain showers, it was actually quite a nice day. There were the usual moorhens and coots milling around and, as walked over to the reservoir lagoon, we spotted a couple of Great-Crested Grebe's.



They were looking for fish and having a bit of a dive but no fish, that we saw, were caught.



While trying to spot a bird that was singing away in a tree, I happened to look up and saw a juvenille Blue Tit watching me.



From something so cute, Kelly then spotted the crueller side of nature; a Common Wasp trapped in a Green Orb-weaver spider's web.  We watched, as the spider slowly gained confidence to approach its monsterously large prospective meal, and start to bind it's legs together.  It's not hard to guess what the final outcome was but I think it's safe to say that the meal will last this little spider quite a few days.

To finish our visit, we went back to watching the cuter side of nature, with some baby Whistling Ducks.

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Barnes

On Sunday, I took a trip to see the bird of prey exhibit at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Barnes. I love birds of prey and the opportunity to see some up close was too good a photo opportunity to miss.

In order of sequence, a fairly chatty, but very cute, Long-eared Owl.

A beautiful Kestrel.

She was a bit of a show off for the cameras.

A Gyrfalcon.

And a Barn Owl.

Ben Long falconry then gave a talk with the Gyrfalcon and a flight display in the theatre with the Barn Owl.





Finally, after a slightly wet walk around in the rain, a Great Crested Grebe was spotted fishing on the main lake.