Fife Ness & Kilminning NR

 Just a few shots from a trip out to Crail and Fife Ness:

Curlew keeping an eye on an Oystercatcher,

Dunnock,

Goldfinches,

A Buzzard posed nicely for us,

Kestrel over the golf course,

Curlew again

and Oystercatchers.

Sparrowhawk having a rest after chasing some Redshank and Turnstone around the rocks, sadly for him no lunch!

Finally a nice shot of the Isle of May from the hide.

This is February! Starting at Kinghorn Loch.

 We have threatened for ages to spend more time at Kinghorn Loch and get the code for the bird hide that's there so last week we finally did it. As usual the past few times we've been out it was a bit overcast and with the great Kingfisher views we had I could really have done with a bit more light, but you can't have everything!

So here's a few Kingfisher photos, plus a few other bits and bobs from the hide:

The others; Little Grebe,

Great Tit,

Coal Tit,

Robin,

Dunnock,

Long-tailed Tit

Japanese Gardens - Cowden

 Last week we went with our good friend Val to the Japanese Gardens at Cowden, just 20 minutes away from us, what a beautiful place. We just went for a stroll and to see what it was like, didn't expect any birding, but was delighted to see:

Plus the gardens were pretty nice too!

A Meander Around the Isle of Wight

We have just returned from a short get away to the Isle of Wight, I have never been before although Tina has albeit some 40 years ago! Things have changed....

We started off with a day out to the Needles, somewhere that I'd always wanted to see, unfortunately the weather wasn't great, very dull and a bit windy, but we still had a good time and a nice walk, with a Stonechat,

and a Spitfire showing well!!

I din't have the big lens on the camera when it flew by and we were also in the Cafe at the Old Battery, so it was taken through a mucky window, looking in to a mucky sky!

A bit of sunshine to show off the Needles would have been nice.

We also saw Raven, Kestrel, Skylark add Meadow Pipit as we walked along with the coloured sands/rocks.

The next day the weather wasn't good, the morning started very wet, so we went to the National Trust reserve at Newtown as it reportedly has three hides, it in fact only has two the woodland hide is apparently now inaccessible. But we mad the best of it and went the first hide about a 20 minute walk from the car park, past some lovely Dahlias!

The hide no 1, viewed from hide no 2!

The top deck of the hide is accessed by a ladder, so beware! We went up for hopefully better views in the murk. So we did get some good sightings, from the reserve; Turnstone, Grey Plover, Godwit, Little Egret, Redshank, Dunlin, Brent Goose, Grey Heron, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Cormorant and Ringed Plover.

As we walked to hide 2, (as seen from hide 1!)

a Buzzard showed itself,

as well as Collared Dove and the usual hedgerow suspects.

Our last full day took us in lovely sunshine to the RSPB Reserve, Brading Marshes. Not a lot was seen to be honest, but it was a lovely walk.

After a few hours on the reserve, which I think is definitely a work in progress, paths a too far from the water to see much and a distinct lack of viewpoints/benches, we drove into Bembridge and had a great very late lunch at the 'Best Dressed Crab' cafe. The seafood sandwiches were superb! Plus a bit of Birdwatching from the Cafe/Houseboat:

We followed this with a drive upto Culver Downs and had the pleasure of watching a Peregrine attacking two Ravens, It was so good I forgot to take a photo!

So that was our brief sojourn down to the Isle of Wight!