Teal

just not what a good shot should be but the light was 100%

Avocet family

less of a nuisance now they are well fledged

last brood of harriers

now that this late brood has fledged it will be another 6 months before my harrier vigils start again with the exception of the winter roosts of course! when these juvs were still in the nest some other local juveniles have been gone for 4 weeks and may well be well south in Europe now

Black tailed Godwits in the rain

light thunder showers forecast for this afternoon turned into torrential rain for about 4 hours -- nice forecast -- these were in the dull and wet

Kentish Plover Rimac

amazingly seems to be the first in Lincs since 1996 -- juveniles are rather like females but the fine and neat pale fringes to all the upperparts confirm that this is a juvenile; this is the 4th bird I have seen on this beach following birds in 1980. 1981 and 1996 -- the same bit of beach of course hosted a female Lesser Sand Plover in May 2002 --now it must be due a Mongolian

juvenile Ringed Plovers

Knot and Whimbrel

Common Buzzard juvenile

a lucky early morning break taken from the vehicle; seeing it was going to take off I got 3 images shown here in order but which is best?

Christian asked how I get close to raptors so often; well I don't photograph captive / falconer's birds they are all wild and all taken in the wild; I spend a lot of hours watching my local raptors and studying their habits and behaviour, where they perch and hunt and the areas they favour and then I try to get into a position where I am invisible! I also use a vehicle which acts as a mobile hide and also use permanent hides  that are in good locations for raptors (not many) but at the final call it is often just as much down to luck and the birds accepting your presence rather than flying away on first sight -- there are a lot of days when I never get close to anything!

spotty juvenile Marsh Harrier

when Marsh Harrier first nested on my patch in 1997 the brood contained two heavily white spotted juveniles out of five, both males, the following year there was one but since then I have not seen any locally until this bird popped up this afternoon while I was looking for a Sheppey wing-tagged bird seen the previous day -- as birds are dispersing widely it may not be a local juvenile -- the white feather tips are weaker than the darker parts and thus quickly wear and break off leaving birds looking rather ragged unlike the normal pristine appearance of juveniles at this time of the year