Red Kite

I'd been watching this kite circling around the garden, at high altitude, for a couple of minutes, then suddenly plummet down a couple of streets away. It took me by surprise when it came over from behind me, really low and with something clutched in its talons. The lowest, closest pictures didn't come out but it got into some good light and I got focus for a couple.

Buzzard and crow

They were too far away for good pictures, but this was a pretty epic aerial battle in the sky to the west of Stocker's Lake today. As well as the two main antagonists, there were a couple of kites buzzing around. It was hard to tell if they were involved or just opportunistically having a look to see what they were fighting over.

Buzzards

We had three buzzards circling over the house today. Only one came down low enough to have a good look at him though.

Coal tit

We were in the garden today, as was the cat, so there wasn't a whole lot of birdlife to be seen. This coal tit was undeterred though. It flew straight over Paul's head and into a shrub just a couple of feet away from the cat.

Not the greatest picture, but you can see its tongue as it feeds

Sparrows

Spring battles

One of the things I have particularly noticed this spring is how aggressive everything gets. It's not just sweetly pretty nest building and egg-laying. There is also fierce competition for food, mates and nesting materials.

Last weekend we went to Amwell, and watched this cormorant undertake repeated raids on a coots nest, ripping it apart and taking the materials back to the island where the cormorants were nesting. The coots weren't too happy about it, but there wasn't a huge amount they could do about it.

Yesterday we stayed close to home and just walked around Stockers Lake, but there was plenty of avian drama.

We haven't seen buzzards in months, but this handsome one flew quite low over head. It was promptly met and chased off by a red tailed kite.

The coots were being particularly argumentative. This battle started with one squabbling pair, and more and more joined in until there were seven or eight birds in the ruckus.

Unfortunately I didn't get a better picture of these two grebes - one had its beak clamped around the other's neck. All very dramatic.

Weston Turville and Wilstone Reservoirs

Yesterday the sky was a bit brighter than it has been, so we decided to go for a drive. Paul pays close attention to the various local groups on Flickr, and there have been some interesting bird sightings coming out of the Tring reservoirs.

We started at Weston Turville, where there was not a bird to be seen. Definitely no sign of the osprey who was spotted there! And there was a howling wind and I'd left my hat in the car, so we moved on pretty quickly.

The Wilstone reservoir was much more profitable. And if there had been a bit more sun would have produced a really memorable day of photography. As it was we got a couple of bursts, enough to illuminate the teal flashes on the sides of the teals, but not for long enough to get a really good lapwing in flight.

Goldfinches

You can see from this lapwing how much difference a bit of sun makes

Yellow legged gull

Grey wagtail

Egret

There was a steady stream of cormorants carrying nesting materials to this island in the middle

Great spot for lapwings

This pied wagtail wasn't keen on having his picture taken

Teals

Teals