Common Tern and Black-headed Gull

 although they nest on the same rafts not the best of neighbours 

Grey Wagtail male in summer

cracking bird almost as bright as a Myrtle Warbler

 

First Hobby photo encounter of 21

and still not close so nothing startling with the new R6 - still find it struggles to locate birds even against an open sky but when it does focus it generally sticks as long as there are no background distractions - hoping to nail feeding Hobbies was one of the main reasons I bought this camera and I am not over confident yet but need to get some real action to do a proper test 

Raptor images

 still uploading images to our 2017 September trip to Tarifa area, southern Spain - Short-toed Eagles, Montagu's Harriers and Black Kites recently added  - click this link to go to the images on my web site -  Tarifa 2017

female Marsh Harrier at 12fps

 one advantage of the 12 frame per second of the R6 is getting a sequence of wing positions on a rapidly manoeuvring raptor - if you can get it to focus in-the first place!

and a fly-by Garganey

 added Cuckoo, Tree Pipit and a fly-by drake Garganey to the patch year list yesterday with 3 Spoonbills heading west as well it was almost a decent day 

different angle on a Little Egret

 

at last a Cuckoo

when it starts to look like a patch Cuckoo may be a thing of the past a male pops up albeit not at close range - once a common sight and sound yet another summer migrant that is crashing to local extinction 

 

Otters

 finally saw some local Otters yesterday - three together just chilling around 

Ferruginous Duck on Waters Edge

 in the dull and wet a nice female Ferruginous Duck associating with Tufted Ducks on Waters Edge this afternoon and on the water it looks fine - but flight shots revealed a green plastic ring on its right leg so a fence jumper but how many rare wildfowl are seen well enough to get both legs checked assuming that is that all rare wildfowl in captivity are ringed which they are not - so the long wait for another genuine Lincs Ferruginous Duck goes on -- the last local bird was a drake on Waters Edge in February - April 2001

Swift test

 back at last in small numbers and a real test for the new Canon R6 - initial impressions are it struggles to find Swifts but when it does it works - but a long way to go on the testing front 

Goldeneye

 a few shots from a couple of weeks ago that I had lost on a memory card but luckily rebound before I deleted them

Grasshopper Warbler

 it has been a very slow spring to say the least but warblers are now finding their way in and their voice during sunny spells but the severe cold at night has certainly dulled the dawn chorus; Grasshopper Warbler here in habitat 

Whimbrel

 my best ever images of a species I have always found difficult to get close to -- the Auto focus on the R6 certainly stuck on this once it found it