I didn’t think it would be much of a day seeing the grey skies and wintery showers this morning, and I know Bob felt the same as he’d rung to say he was going into Hide-ing starting off at Stithians and probably heading off to Hayle hide later…
As per usual I caught up with some work in the morning while the weather was bad and then set off out around 12-30 just after a lovely BLT which Leanne surprised me with 
I needed petrol so we headed down to Tesco’s and more by way of habit headed off to Marazion.. amazingly the sun came out and I thought I’d spend an hour at the cut out overlooking the Marsh.
All the usual suspects were there, Mr & Mrs heron, the rabbits moorhens oystercatchers magpies etc.. and there was quite a lot of swan activity so I thought I’d watch them for a while and maybe get a few shots of them warning each other off..
One of the Oysterctachers was taking a bath straight down in front of me and causing a spray,but by the time I set the camera on him he was just airing his feathers….
The Oystercatcher shake
Well I didn’t have long to wait before the action started between the swans, Aidan had just arrived and was getting tea from the van when two swans locked on and started wrestling.. I thought at first it was two males but it later turned out to be a male female union taking place, though she was definitely feeling reluctant.
Swan attack - The Joining
After quite a Tussle she broke free and made a dash for safety, however He being the bigger stronger and more powerful swan was soon on her again, literally and quickly joined by two other males in some kind of High five activity
No escape - The Union
And so it would seem her fate was sealed and I don’t suppose it will be long before she’s finding her mound to build the nest on..
A cormorant came by on a fleeting visit and landed in behind the reeds did a little diving and then took off again to fly overhead..
As usual now the cutting and burning has ceased on the marsh, there’s much snipe activity and everywhere you walk or stand there’s snipes flying off and landing all around.. so it seems fitting to catch one coming into land for the blog
 Cormorant |
 Snipe landing |
Well it was around this point that Keith hargreaves arrived taking a few minutes out of his busy schedule to say hello and grab his daily bittern fix.. We had a nice chat and he’d already said he’d have to go a couple of times when the Bittern finally put in an appearance just in time for him to grab a few shots before going back to work..
I was that busy telling everyone where he was I almost missed him myself but just grabbed him through the reeds..
The daily Bittern fix
Well Keith was happy and headed off to work and I decided to call it a day and go up to Drift.. A) to get out of the bit of wind that had crept up over the marsh and B) I’m trying to take leanne through that journey home as much as possible to make it less of a trauma each time..
She decided to have a walk down to the boathouse and see the whooper while I walked on around the marsh, so I gave her my D200 and 150mm lens to get some shots while I wandered off. I have to say I really liked the swan coming in to land she grabbed..
Leanne's excellent shot of a swan coming in to land
Meanwhile I was sat down the bottom corner with the Barnacle Geese and Black necked grebe again, no doubt getting the same shots I’d already got a dozen times
 Barnacle Geese |
 Black Necked Grebe |
I’d been sat on one of the bench’s filming the Grebe diving for a bit longer than I realised and the sun was dropping now behind the hillside and it was definitely getting colder again so I figured it was time to head back to the van.
Most things were doing the same and were flying up the reservoir towards the boathouse obviously it was getting near feeding time
Mallard Flyby
Sure enough as I got to the top of the hill, the food was being put out at the house for the mallards, dave called out to me and asked me to help get the sacks of feed from his car into the garage.. thankfully they weren’t that heavy and I lifted them in for him and he kindly gave me an A3 Print of the Long tailed Tits from his garden for Leanne that his daughter had taken, which I thought was really nice of him.
I thanked him and made my way to the van and we headed off ome without too much trauma for Leanne.. its definitely getting easier for her, mind you there were no other cars on the road and that can make all the difference.. still time’s a healer, speaking of which I’ve a physio appointment to get to so I’ll bid adieu for now and catch up with you later after the days events..
Mel ^