My local patch in the mist

In BBC Springwatch, Bill Oddie especially is always urging the viewers to visit their "local patches". Well, this morning, I did. It was great to get out early in the morning too which meant that I could see this morning's mist. The effect was quite stunning, so out came my camera! I loved every minute of it, but was a bit disappointed with the lack of birds I saw. Before I start blithering about what I saw, I had better explain what my local wildlife patch is. It is a large park with a river running through it, and some woodland. It is called the Rye park and is pretty much on my doorstep.

I'm afraid that I only have some swans and ducks to show you today but they are such photogenic birds, so I am quite pleased with the results. On the river before, I have seen Grey Herons very often, and occasionally, Kingfishers too. Thrushes and blackbirds are normally also seen on the grass of the park. But none of these were seen today. The bad visibility probably didn't help, and on another day, it could have been a very different story. The bad visibility changed throughout the day however, as you will find out in my next post.

The Mute Swan is such an elegant bird and they are great to watch. They are a little dominant and the small ducks keep their distance, but they are very funny as they follow you along the path begging for food. I tried using some new camera modes to capture them in a different way today but I think I need some more practice. The swans make such loud noises when they flap their wings too. The swan is such a large bird and they are hard to miss. This is why I am surprised that I found it difficult to see the also large Grey Heron today. The pictures below show some snippets of the swans today. There weren't many different species of ducks out today either, but I did see the Tufted Duck. I posted on Tufted Ducks recently too but I think I got better photos this time. They are less tame than the Mallards, and are smaller too so they are harder to photograph. The males have a shiny look to their plumage and are more striking than the Mallard. My mum does a daily jog through this park and says that there were some colourful ducks yesterday. Just my luck that I saw none of them today :-(

The coots have a brilliant soft look about them, and although they are of a similar colour to the Tufted duck the plumage texture looks very different and they are quite different in how they act. Pictures of the Mallard, Coot and Tufted Duck are below.

I hope that I will be able to visit the Rye again on the weekends and hope that I see a bit more next time. This afternoon was a completely different story, and I have a more successful session of wildlife watching to talk about soon.

All images were taken by me at the Rye park this morning