Cormorant

11 Feb 2025

Glad rags

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Oxfordshire | 0

Since I last went to Farmoor, four weeks ago, the bird population has plummeted, because most of the overwintering adult waterbirds have left to return to their breeding grounds. It was bizarre to see the reservoir so empty, with virtually … Continued

1 Jan 2025

Disallowed

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Warwickshire | 0

Well, this wasn’t on my New Year bird list bingo card. I hadn’t expected to be going out at all today, after waking to the tail end of yesterday’s storm, but by lunchtime the gale had blown through and the … Continued

5 Nov 2024

Peevish

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Oxfordshire | 0

I was feeling jaded and peevish this morning, and I only managed to overcome an almost unconquerable desire to stay tucked up in bed all day with a good book* by throwing myself bodily into some clothes, scooping up all … Continued

13 Oct 2024

Solo

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Worcestershire | 0

I was still lounging about in my jammies, reading an extremely poorly plotted mystery thriller, when R called to say that his walk had just taken him over the Workman Bridge in Evesham, and there were five Cormorants fishing next … Continued

13 Dec 2023

Bird on a stick

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Worcestershire | 0

This morning R and I cleaned every remaining reception room bar the snug, and decked them out in Christmas glitz. After lunch we went off to Evesham to run separate errands, meeting up afterwards in the Waitrose café, which is … Continued

2 Jan 2023

Scaly

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Worcestershire | 0

I went to Arrow Valley Lake in Redditch today, where the birding wasn’t especially exciting, but on the plus side I didn’t slip on a wooden fishing peg, go flying, and fracture a vertebra. So, swings and roundabouts. Bird of … Continued

13 Jan 2022

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Worcestershire | 0

I’ve been hearing recently that there’s a lot of otter action going on at Kemerton Lake, on the border between Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, so this afternoon I drove over to take a look. There have been periods when I’ve visited … Continued

20 Dec 2021

Bookends

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Wales | 0

Photographing distant birds with a 100mm macro lens is clearly a fool’s errand, and if I’d expected to be walking along the bank of the River Taff this afternoon I’d have taken a decent sized lens with me when I … Continued

2 Oct 2019

Cormorant

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Gloucestershire | 0

I didn’t quite nail this capture, but in my defence I only spotted the cormorant a split second before it took off, and because I was set up for ducks swimming on a lake and not for flying things, I … Continued

10 Dec 2018

Advanced Pilates

by JDO | posted in: Birds, Buckinghamshire | 0

The aim of this exercise is to stand on a step and place your chin on the riser below you, while stretching your arms straight back behind you – ideally without falling on your head. Note that this position is … Continued