Swans and Sunsets at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Last Sunday I went for a walk around Rye Harbour Nature Reserve at the end of the day. The timing was perfect for a great sunset!

The lakes are now filled with Swans:

And ducks, such as this pair of Gadwalls - first time I've ever seen these!

Here's the female Gadwall on her own:

And the male Gadwall:

I was pleased to get a shot of a Cormorant flying overhead, though the light was fading a bit by this point:

It's all a far cry from what it was like back in May:

There's still a lot of birds around, but it's much more peaceful now.

Going back to the sunsets, I'll finish with a few more of my favourites...

Mike

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Latest bird news from Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

This week's highlight is a Black Headed Gull regurgitating food for its chicks! (Including a slow-motion bit when another gull tries to steal the food)

There's a strange mix of Black Headed Gulls across the different islands in the reserve. Some have no chicks yet:

Others have chicks 1-2 weeks old:

While this floating enclosure has much older chicks in it:

My theory is that the best nest sites, which are furthest away from the banks and hides, get taken first, so they have the older chicks. No idea if that's what really happens though! This is my favourite gull picture of the day anyway:

We saw quite a few other different birds this time, such as Cormorants:

A tufted duck (right at the limit of the zoom range of my lens):

A Redshank, I think (also some distance off):

A Little Egret fishing in one of the tidal streams that flow in and our of the lagoons:

And also several Avocets. In these two photos there are Avocet chicks, but in the second one it's hard to spot at first!

I like these ones of an Avocet trawling for food...

And finally, a token non-bird photo - a Common Blue butterfly, at the inland side of the reserve:

More to come after our next visit...

Mike

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Seabirds at Camber Sands

As it was sunny this morning, I took a walk along to the channel the Rother flows along, and then back along the beach to Camber. As the tide was low, there were plenty of seabirds flying along the line of the river but actually below where I was on the sea defences:
allowing me to get some good pictures:
That's a Herring Gull - plenty of them around, usual, here's some more pics:
and it's bigger cousin, the Great Black-backed Gull:
The smaller Black-headed Gull was around too:
and inquisitive as to what I was doing:
The other bird I saw a lot of was the Oyster Catcher:
I know the next one looks the same as the one above, but I like it as it has the bird, its shadow and its reflection all in one photo:
I also saw one Cormorant:
and one Mallard, which was maybe a bit lost?
The sea defences aren't actually in great shape:
but I guess the local council is going to be to broke to fix them any time soon. Hope we don't get a storm surge this winter!

And to finish, a view along Camber Sands, from the Rother end of the beach:
Mike

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