Burnsall Bridge

 You know how this goes, and tis post is being written 3 months late, so any details will be thin on the ground. Burnsall bridge, overcast walk up the river. It took a while for things to get going, but we got smashing views of female goosander flying right past us

-Female Goosander
Futher up the river and we got smashing views of a wren under a rock. It was very difficult to see because it was doing what wrens do and seemingly teleporting around, but when we caught up with it.

-Wren
Again upstream we encountered more female goosanders which conisitently flew past us quite close

-Goosander
We got to the stepping stones and there I got a shot of a dipper on the stepping stones, something I had always wanted to try and get a photo of

-Dipper
We carried on futher than usual today, past the bridge where there are few rocks in the river, and so the birds tend to be a bit different. However, where there were rocks I was able to get close a very bold dipper

-Dipper

I mentioned that the birds were different, and the buzzard overhead shows it, as we moved into more open fields where buzards would be more at home

-Buzzard

On the far bank of the river I spotted this oystercatcher which could well be a first for me on this river, though it may not be.

-Oystercatcher

It was only when we were nearly back at the car that we caught up with another regular on this river, grey wagtail, and it was a pretty poor view at that

-Grey wagtail

Just before we got back we spotted our first male goosander of the day, together with another female, possibly one we had already seen

-Goosander

Soil Hill again

Well, this is awkward because as I am writing about this trip to soil hill a whole three months after the actual trip due to card reader problems. I am racking my brains and am struggling to remember what really happened, and where it all fits in with regard to the photos. There were plenty of skylarks, obviously, and I remember trying to stalk one on the top near to the ruined outhouse. I also remember descending the slope and that the only thing at the bottom was a kestrel on the wire. I can also remember that as I was leaving there was a skylark on the wall, which descended into the field, allowing me to sneak up on it, getting some reasonable photos. Besides that, I can't remember anything exciting happening, so you can make that bit up to make it more exciting if you like, here's a run down of all the photos in apparent chronological order... 

-Skylark on the top

-Kestrel

-Various skylarks

Soil hill

Its been a while, but today was so nice outside it would have been crazy not to go up t' hill. Clear, cloudless Sky's, no wind, what more could you want. To be honest there was not much going on up on the hill, but what there was, was pretty special. There were about three skylarks singing, and two more not singing, as well as a couple of linnets and a kestrel perched on the mast. I got quite close to the kestrel, but it saw me the same moment I saw it, so my great view was very brief.

-Skylark

-Kestrel