My niece and I visited Titchwell RSPB reserve in the middle of the day. There are a range of habitats there, but the wetland ponds were arousing the most interest as a rare spotted crake had been sighted and many birdwatchers had gathered to try and see this elusive bird. The nearby bird hides were bursting at the seams with birders, twitchers and wildlife photographers. We left the crowded hide and I felt more at home taking my chances wandering around.
For me it was great to see birds I wouldn’t normally see at home, for example avocets and spoonbills. My photos are rather poor I’m afraid as the light was bad and I couldn’t zoom in on my subjects as well as I normally could. Here is an avocet with a godwit.
And here is a better image of a godwit.
I did actually catch a glimpse of the rare spotted crake. It made a brief appearance as it dashed out from one part of the reeds to another. Blink and you would miss it. It was the size of a moorhen and similar to a water rail, although I don’t normally see water rails either. The camera shutters in the hide must have been going mad! One bird which unusually came out into the open for me was this jay. I think jays are super birds to see.
My niece and I had a conversation about how often we get excited when we see a certain shape appear but then realise it’s “only a pigeon”. So here is “only a pigeon”. We would surely miss them if they weren’t around.
Never mind the rarities …let’s appreciate what we have right in front of us! Beautiful in its own right and not needing a big heavy zoom lens to photograph it.
