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Musiewild's blog

~ An occasional blog, mainly photos

Musiewild's blog

Tag Archives: Great white egret

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 10

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, People, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

African fish-eagle, Ayre's hawk eagle, Black-crowned night-heron, buffalo, Bushbuck, Darter, Egyptian goose, elephant, Great white egret, Grey go-away-bird, hippo, jacana, Little bee-eater, Little egret, Mahangu Safari Lodge, Malachite kingfisher, Namibia, Okavango River, Squacco heron, waterbuck, White-backed Night-heron, White-fronted Bee-eater

Friday 1st March, late afternoon cruise on the Okavango River, upstream from Mahangu Lodge. For the most part we hugged the opposite bank, which I think formed part of the national park.

As we move off, we look over to the lodge and its double-decker boat. We’re on the single decker one.
Waterbuck
Disappearing bushbuck
Malachite kingfisher, with prey
Great white egret
This very large elephant seemed extremely angry as he ripped up the grass. Anthropomorphism on my part, no doubt.
Little egret
Egyptian geese
African jacana
What a difference in light when I swing my camera to the opposite bank.
Squacco heron
Darter
White-fronted bee-eater
On the other bank, two go-away-birds
Ayre’s Hawk-eagle
Little bee-eater and White-fronted bee-eater
Little bee-eater
African jacana
Staring out at us, a juvenile Black-crowned night-heron
Buffalo
Bushbuck
African Fish-eagle
Malachite kingfisher
People were very excited to see this, an ‘uncommon resident’, a White-backed Night-heron.
The light was falling, and the boat hastened us back to the lodge. My camera had difficulty with the light level as I pointed it at these hippos, …
… and at my colleagues as they relaxed after a fascinating couple of hours. Time to look at photos rather than take them.

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Starlings at Ham Wall

09 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, Photography, Wildlife

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Ashcott, Avalon Marshes, Canada goose, coot, Glastonbury Tor, Great white egret, Ham Wall, mallard, murmuration, pochard, rhyne, RSPB, Shapwick Heath, Somerset Wildlife Trust, Stephen Moss, swan

I hadn’t been to see the local starling murmuration this winter, so yesterday mid-afternoon I decided to rectify that.  It’s always chancy, and for a good display the ideal weather is clear skies. Yesterday there was mainly thin cloud, but I knew that the birds would soon be migrating back to their north European breeding grounds, and I might not have many more chances.  The Avalon Marshes starling hotline informed me that the previous night the starlings had roosted at both Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath, each accessible from the same RSPB car park at Ashcott, (recently created, to the great relief of those using the nearby country road from which the reserves are accessible.)

Once there, I decided, I’m not sure why, to go east along the rhyne (pronounced ‘reen’) or drainage ditch, making for Ham Wall, rather than westwards to Shapwick Heath.    I made my way slowly to the main viewing platform, 400 metres down the path, enjoying what other birds were to be seen on the reserve, as night started to fall.

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Glastonbury Tor in the distance

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The water levels are carefully managed with sluices

p1250640001p1250646001p1250651001p1250662001p1250663001p1250665001En route I observed Stephen Moss, naturalist, author and TV producer, and President of the Somerset Wildlife Trust, with a small group of people, and I reckoned I must have made the right decision as to direction.  Once I was at the platform, the Avalon Marshes representative advised going on another 600 metres, as a thousand starlings had already  made their way in that direction.  “There’s another half million due, and earlier on in the season there were a million here, but they’ve started leaving.  We have had as many as five million in years gone by.”

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On maximum zoom, in the far distance from the viewing platform, a great white egret, a species that has just begun to breed in the UK.

I walked on the extra distance, taking more photos.

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When I’d gone the 600 metres, I was not alone – this was about a third of the people gathered there.p1250679001

I moved slightly away and lower, to the bank of the rhyne, where there were fewer people. It wasn’t long before I became aware of birds streaming way up high over my left shoulder.  They were all making their over to the north and doing a bit of their murmuring there, but at a low level and not very photographable.  But I got a few pictures over the next 20 minutes or so.

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Then they were gone, into the reeds, for the night.  The moon was up, behind the cloud,

p1250694001and it was time to wander back to the car park, along the rhyne.

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Tardy small groups of starlings continued to fly over my head for a little while to join their roosting companions. How do they know where to go? What more pleasant way to spend a late afternoon? Why don’t I visit one of the UK’s most famous nature reserves, just 20 minutes from where I live, more often?

I’ve just rung the starling hotline again.  Yesterday the starlings only roosted at Ham Wall.  Good call.

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