Last posting of 2015 - Welney

The weather was very kind for the last day of the year and although colder it was clear and sunny for the middle part of the afternoon at Welney.   Because the weather has been so mild, the Whooper Swans apparently don't leave the fields until later in the day and after dark.   Just three were seen during this visit.   The first image I think must be a Black-headed Gull but there isn't the characteristic dark spot near the eye.   The Whooper Swans were flying against a gathering sky;  the duck I think are Shovelers and the last image brings closure to the year and sums up the wintery feel of dusk.

The Penultimate Image for the Year

This is just a single image because its habitat is so different from Welney Wetlands which follow.    It is a Coal Tit photographed near the bird feeder at home, but through glass so not perhaps as crisp as it might be.

Starling Murmuration - Isleham

Having heard yesterday about Starlings gathering at Isleham Marina at dusk, I checked them out this afternoon.   There were several hundred birds in small groups initially and reportedly about 20,000 in one huge murmuration by the end!   What an amazing sight!   Why do they swirl around making amazing patterns for about 30 minutes before suddenly dropping for the night into a reed bed?    Do they all leave at the same time in the morning when dawn breaks?   Something to investigate..........   In the second photograph is a falcon which was as mesmerised by the numbers as we were by the spectacle.

Boxing Morning Colours

Some muted, wintery colours this morning, and beautiful.

Christmas Eve

Nothing like neighbours calling and decorating the Christmas Tree for us, including Gill!   Thankfully most preparations were complete by the time relatives arrived - fire lit, table laid and important things like that.

Image used as Christmas Card 2015

I held this photograph back from those I took after Evensong at King's College, Cambridge back in November, but wish to share it now.   If I use it at all I think it might be entitled "Coming and Going" or perhaps "Coming and Going at King's College".

"Ditto" - one of our cats

I haven't taken many photographs recently, nor have I been to places which might have lent themselves to images.   However, I had taken these few photographs of one of our cats relatively recently and as I had to take him to a vet today because he has a nasty couple of puncture wounds in a back leg (and he will be alright), I thought it fitting to include some images of him here.

He is rather good looking and darker in colouring than his sister "Cat".   Perhaps she will feature at some point, but not if it was she who fought her brother so viciously!

Anglesey Abbey - III

This posting concentrates almost exclusively on trees and the imaginative and respectful way in which they had been lit by the National Trust for the occasion.   These scenes were at the time, and are now, reminiscent of film sets, especially those photographs with people in.   What justice to trees this lighting has provided!

Anglesey Abbey - II

Not only trees but other aspects of the garden and parkland were luminated - curios almost except for the last image which is of Lode Mill (working).

Anglesey Abbey - Lights at Night

These were taken a year ago when visiting Anglesey Abbey at night for the first time.   This year's displays have finished and I didn't get there this year - perhaps next.   This posting focuses on the more traditional captures of Anglesey Abbey and has a limited colour range.   Tomorrow's posting will include trees which don't have changing colours and are perhaps my favoured memories.

Welney - and the rest of the wildfowl

A miscellany of other waterfowl.   We had access to the 'underneath' hide which brought one almost down to water level, but it was very cold and no one managed to stay there for any length of time!   I think the geese are Canada, some Lapwing and then some Pochard duck.   Still all touched by the breaking light.

Welney - Black-tailed Godwit

I don't think I've seen quite so many Black-tailed Godwit in a flock.   These Godwit were displayed to their best with the sun intensifying in brightness as the flock spent its time being startled, taking off, turning away and coming back down to land again.   There was an occasional Lapwing, Green Plover or Peewit in the flock.