Coot At Sunrise

Obviously not taken recently, due to the lack of sunshine!

It was actually taken a couple of winters ago on a frozen lake somewhere in Lancashire...

Alien Invaders

Back in June, I touched upon the problem of introduced non British species into our waterways and in particular the Terrapins at Etherow Park.

Well Etherow is just one of many local waters to contain these creatures and Reddish Vale is another.
The other day I spotted a very young Terrapin basking on a floating log in one of the ponds down the Vale...


Whether or not this youngster had been freshly dumped into the pond or is a result of successful breeding between already established Terrapins I'm not quite sure.
The other thing I'm not sure of and perhaps I'll have to do a little research on the subject is the effect that these reptiles have on the Eco system.


This particular pond is fairly small, but as a good stock of small fish which are a good source of food for the resident Kingfishers, as well as the Terrapins.
Terrapins are also known to attack young wildfowl and I wonder if the death of a young Coot I spotted on the pond a couple of days earlier was a result of these alien invaders...

The sight of another exotic species and I guess an altogether less harmful creature in the pond made me chuckle...

I was sat quietly by the pond, hoping for the Kingfishers to turn up, when a two young children with small fishing nets turned up looking for Minnows and Sticklebacks. The Kids were accompanied by their parents and the four threw pieces of bread into the water hoping to attract the small fish.

After about 30 minutes or so, the father declared that "The pond was polluted and there were definitely no fish in there". Now of course, I knew that this wasn't true and the presence of Kingfishers and Terrapins on the Pond is proof enough of good fishing. The family then walked off the wooden jetty where they had been looking for fish and left the pond rather disappointed.

Less than a minute after they had left and from beneath the jetty where they stood, a huge Koi Carp came to the surface!

Very Much So Ugly Ducklings!

One thing I noticed yesterday when waiting for the Mute Swan family to emerge was how much the young Coots have developed in the few short weeks since they entered the world.

Now less face it, if there was ever a contest to decide the least cutest bird on the planet, then the Coot chick would be pretty close to the top of most peoples list...Although I must admit I kind of like them!

Actually, I love them!
They really are funny little alien-like creatures when newborn, with their bald heads and blood red markings...Not at all too dissimilar to their close relations in the Rail family the Moorhen.

Ugly? Well yes, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the Coots unsightly beginnings do give way to one of the most interesting transformations in the bird kingdom...

From this...

In a few short weeks to this...

And finally to this fine looking bird...

Coots are boring!

Well that is the opinion of many, but I whole heartily disagree!

OK, they may be very common and I suppose that you would be right in saying that they aren't exactly the most challenging species to photograph, but out of all the birds you're likely to come across at your local lake the Coot must surely be the most entertaining.

Coots never seem to keep still for very long and always seem to be looking for some kind of stimulation.

When they're not diving underwater for food, they seem to spend most of the time constantly chasing each and every other bird that has the audacity to enter their patch of water...With sometimes very comical and sometimes not very pleasant results.

Yes, I find it hard to think of a more naturally aggressive bird than the highly strung Coot.

All birds can become aggressive when they feel threatened or if there is food at stake, but the Coot seems to revel in it's aggression...A real rebel without a cause.

The Coots loutish behaviour starts very early as well and I've witnessed birds of only a couple of weeks or so old happily chasing Mallards and Geese around ponds!

They make for very demanding juveniles as well and even when well developed, they still bully and harass their long suffering parents to feed them.

This youngster was happily diving and feeding himself yesterday, until he decided it might be easier just to steal the bread that someone had just fed to his mother...

So there you have it, the Coot...Nature's original juvenile delinquent!

New Life

Yesterday, feeling a lot better after the cold from hell, I decided to visit a couple of locations close to home and take in some sunshine on what was the warmest day of the year so far...

First stop was Brabyns Park in Marple where on the small pond, the Moorhen family seemed to be getting on very well and I'm glad to say that the young have escaped the attention of the Grey Heron that was stalking them a couple of weeks back...

The pond is now almost entirely covered in Lilly pads and I shall return in a couple of weeks when the Lilly's are in bloom.

Next I visited another location close to home and I was very pleased to see a new family of Greylag Geese, including this little cutie...

The young Coots are doing well also and they really are funny looking creatures when they reach this stage in their development, with their tiny heads, tiny wings and huge feet...

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...

Pennington Flash

Somebody must of forgot to tell Pennington Flash about 'the big thaw'!
On my first visit of 2010 it wasn't exactly a winter wonderland but the paths were treacherous...Thick with ice and I feared for myself and my equipment.

On my arrival, a great deal of the Flash was frozen and the Wildfowl were close to the embankment eager for feed.

It was still quite early and a strong cold wind was blowing...If he could talk this Coot might of been able to tell you more about it!

After a short bread chucking session I headed off towards Horrocks Hide where I was treated to the glorious sight of a Kingfisher in perfect light on a branch only a few yards away from me.
I slowly and quietly aimed my camera and in the split second it took to focus, a loud cry of "Kingfisher" went up and the bird was flushed by two buffoons bounding towards it!
Words failed me, but I think the look I gave them probably said it all!

Anyway, there were quite a few Bullfinch about as usual...

To be honest, I don't know of a better spot in the whole country for close up views of these beautifully coloured little creatures although the light wasn't brilliant and I had to shoot at ISO 1000 and still only managed 1/50 s!

After a couple of hours mooching, I headed back towards the car park and the main Flash, where thankfully the ice had started to melt a little, but perhaps not quite quick enough for all...