Thursday 1 August 2013

And it's Good Night from Me........

The morning was already planned in advance as I am making the most of my holidays. I would take Taz for her morning walk, I decided on Borrowpit Lake, then I was picking Pete up and we were going Chub fishing on the River Anker.

As I walked Taz around the pit, another Heron allowed me to take some reasonable pictures of it.

As I haven't really fished properly for a good while now, I was looking forward to a bit of angling when it happened. An email arrived to my phone reporting a Night Heron! A life tick for me, and not too far away.

I needed to get that tick, but it was too late to change plans now as I wouldn't let Pete down after we had made firm arrangements.

I dropped Taz at home, Picked up Pete with his fishing tackle, and we set off. I told Pete about the Night Heron, and we decided to fish until about lunchtime and that would still give me time to go for the Tick if it was still being reported.

We arrived at our chosen venue and set off across the field to the river. It was running high and well over the fishing pegs. An omen? We decided to abandon the fishing and reschedule when conditions were better. I dropped Pete back at home and was heading for Thornton Reservoir and an appointment with a Night Heron by 10.30am.

I have never been to Thornton Reservoir before, but I will certainly be going again. A very picturesque place.

The Heron was still about. It had moved to the shade of a big Willow tree. Although it was on the bank I was walking on, it could only be viewed from the other side of the reservoir. It was now very warm, as I set off to the other side of the reservoir.

I estimate the distance of the bird once located between 200 - 270 yards. I'm pretty good at judging distance, but for some reason this width of the reservoir made distance judging difficult. Not sure why, strange really.

The Night Heron was roosting in a nice shady area provided by the willow tree canopy. Good views through the scope, but pictures as usual were going to be difficult to obtain. A combination of distance, the bird being partly obscured by foliage, combined with the fact I was facing into the sun were all factors against a good picture. However, I would settle or a rubbish one just to record the fact I had seen my first Night Heron. I started off with the iPhone through the scope.

And the Canon Bridge camera.

And finally, the Panasonic Digisoping kit.

 
 

None of the pictures are great, all are acceptable record shots though. What's going to turn up next in the locality?

 

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