A cold afternoon at Maple Lodge

I missed the best of the light today at Maple Lodge, and apart from my first photo, the rest were taken mid afternoon and are quite grainy. It's a good job I don't take photos for a living ! 

It was an interesting day though. My first port of call was the Rotunda hide where the newly dug out ponds were full and the land starting to settle. A Common Snipe had been spotted there recently and after a bit of searching I soon found it. A bit too far away for my lens but it was fairly active bobbing up and down feeding and often hunkering down so it was almost invisible..

spot the Snipe

 Two hours later the light had changed dramatically and the bird hadn't moved far...

A pair of Teal were on the pond too and the male popped his head up long enough for me to fire off a half decent photo..

 A pair of Jays were taking advantage of the spilt seed under the bird table, and seemed quite at home pottering around....

A Grey Wagtail was wandering around the bank of the right hand pond..

and a female Pheasant emerged for a short time before I lost the light completely....

Elsewhere around the reserve I encountered quite a few mixed Tit flocks with the Long-tailed Tits being the most prolific....if only they would keep still enough for a photo !!

As I was leaving late afternoon some of the 2000+ Jackdaws were coming in to roost. It made quite a spectacle and my photo does it no justice....

A lovely, but short, visit and great to see the usual friendly faces !