Thats Birding

 A saying most bird watchers will be familiar with. One that I have said many times when I have travelled to see a bird only to discover that the bird had flown away. Today did not go to plan and so this afternoon I decided to go to Nosterfield . On the way I received a message from Chris asking me to let him know if the ospreys were present. I had not planned to go to Flask Lake but did so to see if the osprey was present.

As I walked towards the lake I met a chap who was going back to the car park and he told me that it is there sat in a tree. I presumed that he meant the osprey so I sent a text to Chris. I walked to the lake but could not see an osprey. I walked around a while, checking the trees but no bird.

Then I saw another birder and he was taking pictures of two ospreys that were sitting in a tree. How did I miss them? The birder told me that they had just arrived. We were then able to watch the two ospreys for about 20 minutes. One bird was calling all the time so we presumed that it was a young bird. The other bird flew around over the lake and dived into the lake but did not catch anything. 

After another fly around it dived into the lake again not far away from the nest platform. It caught a fish and we assumed it was going to take it to the younger bird, but it flew off in a different direction. The remaining osprey then flew around for a while and then flew off in the same direction as the first osprey. About 20 minutes later Chris arrived closely followed by another couple of birders. Chris sent a message to his wife who replied "thats birding", a sentiment that the couple agreed with.

It was a cloudy day with the odd spot of rain, not ideal for photos, so these are my best.

I left Chris and the other birders and drove to the reserve I had intended to visit.

The water level is very low and most of the birds were either on an island in the middle of the water or on the far bank. Lots of greylag geese and black headed gull families. on the far shore while little grebe families were busy chasing each other on the water. Chris joined me in the hide but he did not stay long and I left shortly afterwards. For a change I could say "thats birding" from a positive position.