Photographs of Attenborough (17th June 2007)

Location: Attenborough Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire^[info] (52.8997, -1.235704 [Google Maps] [maps.live.com] [multimap])

Tags: Attenborough, Banded Demoiselle, Birds, Britain, Butterfly, Buzzard, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Common Tern, Coot, Crows, Dragonfly, Ducks, England, Europe, Finches, Fish, Geese, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Grebes, Grey Heron, Hawks, Vultures and Eagles, Herons And Bitterns, Insects, Magpie, Mallard, Mammals, Moorhen, Nature Reserve, Nottingham, Peacock Butterfly, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pike (Fish), Rails (Birds), Rat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Sparrows, Spiders, Terns, Tit Family (Birds), Tree Sparrow, Wagtails, Warblers, Whitethroat, Wildlife and Nature, Young Birds

Dates: started Saturday, 16th June 2007

Spent Father's Day taking Dad around Attenborough. Lots of young birds - Reed Warblers and Whitethroats, Tree Sparrows, Great Tits, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan and Mallard all got photographed.

There were also a large number of Banded Demoiselle dragonfly-type creatures around; enough that we saw a sparrow catch (and drop) one, one got caught and eaten by a spider, and we found just the wings of another on the path. Mating Ladybirds and a bunch of Peacock Butterfly caterpillars, and some strange cricket-type critters, were amongst the other insects we saw, not counting all the flies and midges.

There was a Buzzard sitting in a dead tree across the river, occasionally being mobbed by crows; and behind it, some strange ball being towed around and then dropped down a steep hill, perhaps with people in it for some kind of extreme sport?

The Mute Swan cygnets were really cute, and we had no problem feeding them with seed; but as soon as the Canada Geese came too close, the adult birds would come steaming in and grab hold of the geese with their beaks, long after the geese had got the message and attempted to get away.

There was a dead pike near the edge of the lake near the old car park, something of a monster; a wonder nothing had eaten it.

Some good photo opportunities; most of the Common Tern pics didn't come out (especially as the shutter seemed to stick and I got a really dark and then loads of white wasted pics until I could turn the camera off!), but some nice warbler pics and lots of fluffy cute ickle cygnets. I also played with some software to try and make some shots look sunnier!