Avocets at Blue water Farm Essex

A few more Avocet images from my recent visits to Blue house farm in Essex. This time I was luck to photograph a pair mating close to the hide. The picture sequence shows a pair's behaviour  prior to mating and afterwards. I understand the female has now laid eggs so fingers crossed for that particular pair. The weather is not great this weekend so no further visits this weekend planned.

Avocets at Blue House Farm

Well no Snowy Owl in Essex but over the past couple of weekends I have visited Blue House farm a nature reserve  in Essex to photograph Avocets which breed there. I have not been for a couple of years so was pleased to see about 30 or 40 at the nature reserve. In the last three images the female was adopting a mating position but the male bird appeared more interested in preening and feeding than mating.

The Only Way Is Essex

I havn't been out with the camera for a couple of weeks or checked the other blogs so will get round to that later today. Yesterday morning early I returned to an estuary in Essex to photograph the Avocets and any young that may have been born, I was also hoping to get some images of Black Tail Godwits which frequent the place. A 6.15 start and I was on on site at 7.15 however the omens were not good when I heard loud chattering from the hide. Having entered the hide I came across three birdwatchers with breakfast and coffee littered across the whole hide and for the next hour talked, laughed and joked and then complained that there were no birds close enough to photograph. Eventually I suggested another hide may be more productive and they decided to check it out. It was bad news however for the Avocets and Lapwings who were now gathered in the far distance from the hide. The water levels had dropped significantly since my last visit due to the dry weather allowing the local fox population to take all the eggs. All the nests had been disturbed hence the Avocets moving to a different location within the estuary.Whilst there was evidence that they are mating and maybe laying eggs again unless the water levels increase these new nests may have the same fate. Here are a few images of some Avocets who briefly came close enough to be photographed.

More Avocet Images

I have not been out with the Camera since I came back from Cornwall so no new images to show. I have gone through some of my previous images of the Avocets that I captured during the Easter weekend in Essex. These are amongst the most interesting or slightly unusual.

Easter Avocets Part 2

These are further images from my trip to photograph Avocets on Good Friday morning in Essex. As you can see some were still mating and the bottom three photos depict the birds behaviour prior to and including mating. I was lucky to photograph them on a very still, sunny morning when the light was good and I could capture their reflections in the water. I may return in a few weeks to try and capture their young if they breed successfully.

Easter Avocets

I decided to go back and photograph the Avocets in Essex as I wanted to capture some images in the early morning with a better light. I also wanted to capture some images of the wild Hares on this site. So much for a lie in on a bank holiday. I got up at 5am on Good Friday to get on site by 7am. The hares were too fast far me surprise surprise although I got some distant photographs of a couple. The Avocets however were slightly easier to capture on a beautiful, still and sunny morning. With over 400 images to edit I'm still going through them but here are a few that capture that morning.

Avocets Demonstrate That Spring Is Here

Last weekend I went to deepest Essex to photograph some Avocets at an undisclosed site. I set off at 6.30 in the morning hoping to be there to capture the early morning light. Armed with a map and directions two wrong turns later I didnt get sight of an Avocet until 10.30. That was after a hike cross country of a mile and a half with two large lens, tripod and camera bag. Still I can't complain I managed to see[ for the first time] and capture images of these stunning birds who decided to mate less than fifteen metres in front of where I was standing. In total there were about twenty Avocets present and I am pleased to say they seem to be more widespread in Britain than previously. In fact I am already planning a return trip during the Easter weekend if only that glorious weather returns.