Don’t be fooled by flatterers…
A quiet week at Tophill Low. The Red Fox family continue to delight with their sunset strolls. The Fox and the Crow is one of my favourite images of this year to date. I wasn’t even aware of the famous Aesop’s fable either. A pair of Coots have a new family and the male is even more pugnacious than usual. Roe Deer can be seen at any time of the day. One even surprised me last Saturday morning when it suddenly appeared not more than twenty feet away from where I was stood; having swam across the drain and negotiated the steep bank. I don’t know who was most startled!
The local Barn Owl has been keeping his distance for most of the week. However, I was delighted to get a reasonable sequence of pictures of a Kestrel—just as the sun was setting and its wings were aglow with warm light. The Kestrel picture at the head of this post is from this sequence. As usual, please double click on any image to view a larger version in Flickr.
I was also very pleased to witness a great battle between a Grey Heron and a Black-headed gull. The gull dive-bombed the Heron for almost five minutes before it finally flew south pursued for a while, by the gull.
I loaned my spare D300 camera and 300 mm lens to budding wildlife photographer, Rory a few days ago. He has already made some stunning images with his new combination. Well worth taking a look at Rory’s Blog.
Sorry, Rory! but I need my gear back next week. You’re getting far too good! 😉
Tony McLean's East Yorkshire Wildlife Diary 
Darn it! I might make an escape to Wales and Hide at Gigrin Farm, to photograph the kites!