Back in the land of Bloggersville with a safari up north

The Safari has had rather a long hiatus but that doesn't mean we've not been out enjouying wildlife here there and everywhere...we even got to eastern Canada last autumn!

This week however we've only been a few miles up the road to Leighton Moss RSPB reserve with good friend CR. On arrival we were told that an Otter was showing well from the nearest hide. By the time we got there it was still showing but you wouldn't call it well, more like distant so no chance of any pics. It did remain in view for some time before disappearing up a channel in the far corner of the reedbed.Other than the Otter it was pretty quiet on the pool, a few dozen Mallards, 3 Little Grebes, a lone moulty Pochard and a Heron was about the size of it. A distant Marsh Harrier mooched about and a Great White Egret flew across the far side of the reserve and landed in a bush.

Time to move on and see if we could get closer views of the mooching Marsh Harrier. As soon as we arrived at the next hide looking out of the side window we spotted a Red Deer hind moving through the reeds.

And not many minutes later two more followed the same track

Two mammal species in just a few minutes - nice! There were two mooching Marsh Harriers too, a male and a female. The male did more mooching than the female which repeatedly went to sit in a dead tree to our left and called, a pathetic whinny little call for such a large impressive bird. During the course of the next hour or so they gave repeated fly-bys which was good.

In the pool a Heron  hunted with their usual stealth but failed to lock on to anything worth having a stab at.

Butties and pies beckoned and we decided to eat them at the nearby hide. A good move!!! There were two Red Deer hinds and their calves right out in the open. Such good views, in fact the best views of this species we've ever had in the best part of 50 years visiting this reserve. We filled our boots before our belly - and let me tell you that doesn't happen often! The youngster looked like they were having a game of tag before getting tired and needing sustenance from mum.

What an absolute treat that was. Once the deer had sauntered off into the undergrowth we took our leave and retraced our steps and beyond to the Causeway Hide. Here rain had forced down a mixed bag of Swallows, Sand Martins and a couple of House Martins but as soon as the rain eased off they were up up and away. We hoped to see Bitterns and maybe more Otters but neither were forthcoming. In fact there wasn't much doing at all and most of our attention was taken by a Garden Cross Spider repairing the rain damage to its web. Fascinating to watch how it manipulated the new silk with its legs but tricky to photograph. This is the best one of dozens we took.

By now it was getting towards high tide and our thoughts moved on to the hides overlooking the saltmarshes. The Allen Hide was devoid of life, although a Kingfisher did zap past the window at about 100mph; the Eric Morecambe Hide offered much more. Sadly both the Long-billed Dowitcher and Wood Sandpiper that had been present earlier in the week had heard of our imminent arrival and done a bunk. There were plenty of Black-tailed Godwits and Redshanks to search through, just in case but all the latest news and gossip was negatory, no sign of either of the goodies today.

A Greenshank called in the distance then three dropped in in front of CR. This wass a species we needed for our International Bird Photo Challenge, now in its seventh year. Very obliging the nearest one was too and  become the 141st species of bird we've photographed this year.

A Redshank obliged by landing nice and close too.

And a trio of Dunlin probed the mud to our right. Try as we might we couldn't get a pic of all three of them with their heads up at the same time.

Meanwhile CR was watching a positively dormant one on the Allen Pool. It barely did more than a blink and a half-hearted shuffle all the time we were there.

Back on our side of the hide a Little Egret provided some interest. A shoal of small fish was swimming in the shallows and we were certain it would spend time picking these off one by one but no - it caught one and then had a few stabs at them missed each time and wander off looking rather sheepish, the fish had out-foxed it.

A passing male Marsh Harrier put the wind up the Black-tailed Godwits, and all the other waders, and scanning through the panicked flock we spied at least a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits. We needed them for our Challenge but finding them on the deck amongst 700 or more 'Blackwits' in challenging light was always going to be nigh on impossible. There was only one thing for it - wait for the flock to be flushed again and then hold the shutter button down as long as possible, hope one or more frames have a result that is in at least reasonable focus and spend all Saturday morning sifting through the images with fingers crossed...is that tactics or cheating???

Gotcha...#142. There were Avocets too but largely ignored today for being too distant.

All too soon it was time to go and head back to the motor for the journey home. As we stood up to leave the Kingfisher (or a different one) tazzed by the window at 100mph - darn that bird that would have made #143 hads it had the courtesy to sit atop a nearby post or better still on the stick stuck in the water's edge right outside the window specifically for that purpose. Never mind, better luck next time, it was still a grand day out on safari with great company and fantastic wildlife.

Where to next? We've got some mid-week moth-trapping to do, at Base-Camp and much further afield, the latter site very much weather permitting as the forecast is looking a bit ropey, fingers crossed it goes ahead.

In the meantime let us know who's playing tag in your outback.