The King

Last weekend, I took my first photos of Kingfisher. In the poor light, they weren't great. I will be honest; Kingfisher has never been a subject I have bothered with previously. They have been photographed well, with staged photos, etc meaning the chance of something special seemingly unlikely. However, today I got these. Not text book amazing but nevertheless, I love the detail and the colour and even the perch and background. And lets be honest, Kingfishers are great! 
 

Cambs Iceland Gull record equaled

The two juvenile and second winter Iceland Gulls that have been frequenting the Peterborough area, were all on the same island on Stanground Wash this afternoon- an equal Cambs record for Iceland Gulls! Great to share with Josh Jones. 

First Otter of the Year

I'm so lucky to have Otters regular at lots of sites near me these days. This one was in the Nene Valley this morning and I always look for something different in my Otter encounters. Today's encounter had this individual 'Popoising', over and over.; something brand new to me! Fantastic animals! 

Three Sharkeys!

 

With the water levels dropping on the Welland, three Great White Egrets gathered along the Highbank with more Little Egrets than I have ever seen along here as well. 

White Nun

This drake Smew was at Ferry Meadows on the 2nd January whilst Amy and I were looking for Otters- a rare visitor to FM, especially a drake! Fantastic to see- especially after seeing the two drakes at Baston & Langtoft GP the day before!

More Short-eared Owl

The local Short-eared Owls have been drawing plenty of attraction in the past week and I confess have become my addition as well. Amy and I went for a drive on New Year's eve afternoon and once again came across the obliging bird. The last few photos are from when it spotted another Owl or BOP; it's whole facial expression and colour changed dramatically.  

Iceland Gulls

Josh Jones has found three Iceland Gulls in the Tanholt Tip area in the past few days. As I headed toward the area, Paul Bolton had the 2nd winter bird at the pits so I headed there. Sadly, the bird had left minutes later but I was fortunate enough to find the original juvenile on the north pit, until it flew off towards the tip. Both Paul and my sightings were kind of remarkable, as both involved them being present with under 20 large Gulls (at one point my bird was with one of four large gulls on the pit!).

Afterwards I checked Flag Fen and found Josh's new juvenile from this morning (last photo); amazing how such a small area has attracted three Icelands- a joint county record it seems.