Research Park - 4 October

Before getting round to posting yesterday's images from a morning walk on the Research Park, I went again this morning to find a different atmosphere.    More of that in the next posting.............

The fields have all been harvested and now there's the ploughing in advance of the next sowing of seed.   This plough with a fenland sky is typical of the scenery at this time of the year.

The building of a new warehouse and two more office blocks has started recently and a number of trees have been brought down, including willows.   I did check whether they had a home for the logs - 'yes, one of the directors will be having those'.   Never mind........

I disturbed a heron on one of the boardwalks.   I only had a compact camera with me but was pleasantly surprised how well this photograph came out.  I also disturbed a kingfisher but that won't be believed as I don't have the photographic evidence!

These mock sails are a symbol of the Research Park I think, and quite attractive in a good light.

Birds seen on the Lazy Otter walk

I have seen more Kingfishers this summer/autumn than ever before, but fewer Kestrels.   The Kingfisher was at a considerable distance and extremely well camouflaged in the reeds, but a photograph had to be attempted!

What a wonderful display of wing and tail feathers from a Kestrel when it is hovering.   This one was expending a considerable amount of time and energy hovering and quartering without finding anything to pounce onto.

House Sparrows are also much less common than they used to be;  in fact they are something of a rarity these days.

River Great Ouse near Stretham

Not for a long time have I walked from the Lazy Otter to Stretham Old Engine (a steam driven engine used to pump water off the land into the River Great Ouse) and back, but have done it a couple of times recently.

It was a misty morning and the images below record the landscape and farming activity.   There is quite a community of people living on boats at each end of the walk - different types of boats though.   I was interested to see the curios which were around the boats at the Stretham end.   Perhaps I shall notice more on the next visit.

On the north side of the river were several tractors engaged in the harvesting of potatoes.   The main tractor was trailing a machine which dug up potatoes at its front end and at the back end had a conveyor belt which was filling up tractor after tractor with very fresh potatoes.   A potato was in a tractor on the A10 (holding up traffic) within 10 minutes of having been dug out of the ground!   I had thought those sorts of time scales were the advertising point for garden peas.

 There was an enormous expanse of solar panels in a field on the south side of the river;  allegedly another form of farming?

Swans in the mist on The Cam

It was another very misty morning and this time I went down to The Cam at Clayhithe and walked upstream.   There was virtually no movement on the water so some positive reflections.   Even though the Mute Swans were only a matter of feet away, such was the intensity of the mist that it could be seen between the Swan and the bank.

Yes, I am working on 'white' as a photographic theme!

 Couldn't resist photographing this cow which was also enveloped in mist.

Milton Country Park

This morning was the first which made me think that Autumn is round the corner, despite the forecast talking of some sunny, warm days ahead.

It was the mist which held my attention and so I took the dogs to where there was likely to be mist hanging over water.   There were also some magical cobwebs with 'jewels' hanging from them, and shafts of autumnal light - a lovely time of the year.

Wicken Fen - early afternoon

Few birds to be seen, although a skein of Canada geese flew over and caught the sunlight.   It is always a joy to photograph some Swallows, even if they were not on the wing - easier that way!   Glad they are still around - at Cockup Bridge.   Jays are seen in the garden but not that often and this one was remarkably close to the house - perhaps a young one and not yet fearful.

Was able to photograph some Dragonflies but on very busy backgrounds.  Still, the blog is for shots that record the walk rather than attempts at 'perfect' images - although those would always be welcome!

The first two Dragonflies are the male and female Migrant Hawkers, and the last one is a male Southern Hawker - I think.

Birds at Clayhithe

Although I haven't yet posted earlier photographs of Great Crested Grebes with three chicks on their back, today it was reassuring today to see that all three chicks are doing well and no longer getting a lift on a parent bird.   Although I didn't see parents feeding chicks, they were behaving as though they were expecting a parent bird to produce some food.   The image below is of the family group busy preening at the beginning of the day.

I think some Common Terns must have bred near Clayhithe as there were 8 Common Terns on the wing at one point.   The young birds no longer look different from the adult birds so they may leave the area before too long.

I think the wagtail is a young Pied Wagtail although I have seen Grey Wagtails on this stretch of the river in the past.   A Heron in flight is always worth a click!

Wildlife in the Research Park

I have only recently found the Research Park for dog walking, and it is a welcome addition to others I'm familiar with.    There is an area at the far end of the Park which is not open to dogs and there is a hide there which I visited for the first time this afternoon.  The hide overlooks a stretch of water which I imagine was probably a gravel pit.   I particularly enjoyed seeing some birds not readily seen nearby - Common Sandpiper, Little Grebe with chicks and Common Tern with chicks.   It was a very hot afternoon and the Cormorant was 'panting'.   Butterflies and dragonflies were about too but I need to go back to do justice to some of those that I saw but didn't photograph successfully.

Common Tern chicks appearing to fend for themselves although a couple of adults were around.

It is a long time since I've seen a Common Sandpiper at the water's edge - delightful

A very hot day................

A Dab Chick with chicks!

A Meadow Brown butterfly.

This Meadow Brown butterfly was 'seeing off' what I think was a Skipper so making this a pictorial image

Wicken Fen

I have been taking the dogs out early in the morning, when possible, so as to avoid the heat of the day.   We were on the Fen early this morning, but there wasn't much around.   However, what appears below captures the essence of these walks in Wicken Fen for me - birds, ponies, lilies.   The real delight was finding this Kingfisher (the first I've seen on Wicken Fen) just the other side of one of the waterways, so unexpectedly close.   It wasn't until this bird flew off that a couple of other Kingfishers also flew off - no doubt a family group.    Given that Kingfishers nest in banks, they would be pushed to find that many possible/suitable breeding areas on the Fen.

Water Vole and Kestrel

There have been Water Vole near Baits Bite Lock for several weeks now - they may be there throughout the year; I shall have to keep an eye out for them,   As the reeds have grown during the summer it is increasingly difficult to photograph these quick moving and secretive animals, but always worth the challenge!   Their eyes are bulbous and prominent.   I think there will have been breeding activity because of the increased number of sightings but I have never seen more than one at a time despite their appearing at different places alongside the waterway entering The Cam near Baits Bite.

 This image suggests the shape of a Water Vole is quite like that of a Guinea Pig.

Easy enough to see how a rodent won't have that much chance of survival when a Kestrel pounces like this!