Good Friday?

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last visit to the Vale and after a lot of driving recently it was nice to spend a relaxing morning close to home...
There was definitely a very nice feeling of spring on my arrival, with bright sunshine and bird song all around.

It was relatively quiet as well early on, which came as a little bit of a surprise because I was half expecting to be endlessly avoiding the bane of nature photographers the world over...The dog walker!

Don't get me wrong, I love dogs and I'm rather fond of people too...It's just that over the years I've lost count of the times that a good photo opportunity has been lost because of a dog jumping into a river, barking very loudly or simply chasing my target away.

Actually, I'm being slightly unfair...The dog owners can be far worse!

To me, a man carrying a camera on a tripod with a very large lens in the countryside can in most cases be safely regarded as a wildlife photographer...It's hardly rocket science.

So why is it that so many dog walkers feel the need to noisily stride up to the prime location you've just spent 20 minutes quietly and stealthily securing and ask you what you're doing?

"Well actually mate I was just about to photograph that beautiful (insert species) over there...See it? Oh no it's gone!"

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes I was at the Vale ...

Pretty nice light early on as well and although not quite as close as I'd like to be, I managed to fire a few frames of a female Goosander before she decided that the water at the very camera unfriendly far side of the Mill Pond was much better for swimming in.

You do have to get down to the Vale early to catch the more desirable species and a early start always means good numbers of Cormorant...

Elsewhere on the water, it was business as usual with the normal array of common birds including this rather boisterous Mallard...

Away from the water and a little bit of spring colour was starting to show around the woodland and the hedgerows were very lively with plentiful House Sparrows...

Finally, it is Easter and a time when we should be reflecting on the life of a man that could walk on water, so I thought it was only apt to end with this shot of a Coot...