On display.

I bumped into Sam while walking the Killy waggonways last week and while chatting he mentioned that one of the Great Crested Grebes had returned to Killingworth Lakes. I called past this morning and was more than happy to discover that a second Grebe was there but not only that they were displaying, crests raised and mirroring each other. Spring is definitely on the cards ! They were always distant, keeping to the centre of the larger lake so the following image is heavily cropped. Also of note at Killy the returning pair of Oystercatchers were seen and 9 Goosanders on the smaller lake. At one point i had a pair of displaying Goldeneye getting close to the GCGs but sadly not close enough to get them in the same shot.

After lunch i headed up to West Hartford and on approach to the pool had the pleasent sight of 80+ birds on the water. I then spied a fox hunting in the rough grassland directly behind the birds. Brilliant. Within seconds everything lifted in a panic as a dog came bounding towards them. Halfway across the pool the dog came to a stop realising there was nothing left to chase and turned and returned to its owner who immediately put it on its lead. She was quite close by at this time and smiled and said "good afternoon". At this point i explained that it wasn't a good idea to let her dog disturb the wildlife at which she replied "It's ok, thay'll fly back" I pointed out that how did she know that there wasnt breeding or young birds out there. She appologised profusely this time saying she hadn't realised and would in future try not to let it happen again.
A small number of the birds came back including Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Teal & a few gulls. The fox however had disappeared. Shortly after a Little Egret dropped in. A pair of Stonechats were seen as i made my way to the area towards the river but i had no sighting of the Great Grey Shrike in the couple of hours i was there.
I DID HAVE A HEAT HAZE as i scanned the field at one point.
I returned to Killy Lakes after WH and bumped into Sam but the GCGs were asleep while there before the rain started.