Martyn Pitt

Female Brambling would have orange on it Steve

The Ohio Players version is worth looking out for on Compass

Turn the speakers off

It's great watching these wonderful creatures take off

This time a Pied Wagtail from yesterday

Ice baby It was -2° first thing yesterday morning, there was a thin ice on the water around the margins.

A Grey Wagtail walking on water, well the ice that had formed at the margins, good job I was wrapped up warm

We think there were 4 or 5 about today, (they come up from the nearby canal). The guys that do the bird ringing at Belvide have ringed 11 Kingfisher this year, so they have obviously had a good breeding season.

I had 15 sightings of Kingfishers, most of which were flying along the ditch that runs alongside the footpath around the reservoir. How they were going to see any fish in there was beyond me as it was the colour of cocoa. Never had that many sightings of them before, shame I could not get one to pose for me We also now have 3 Little Egret visiting us, managed to get this one in flight

Russell, there are various designs of bird feeders available. In fact putting out the feed in those nets is asking for trouble, always a danger the smaller birds will get their claws tangled in them.

Cheers Ady I though he was, but thought I would check.

Is this the same Fred Hughes that recorded on Vee Jay ?

The reed bed is right in front of a hide, there were two Reed Buntings about 10m out from the hide, they were not easy to spot, the movement of the reed stem was the thing that gave their position away, indeed excellent camouflage. Snipe are tricky, I once watched one fly in towards the shoreline in front of me, all the way through the air, the moment it landed by some reeds and stood still I lost sight of it, until it moved. Owls are unbelievable, great bird bird, stands on a branch at the junction with the trunk and disappears from view

I managed some shots of a female Reed Bunting munching on the Phragmites reeds

It was early this morning, sun was low, sky was clear ... and it was freezing cold

Saw a few ducks as well, some Gadwall & Shoveller

I was watching a Blackbird eating berries today

Steve the camera's sensor has been fooled, you need to be adding +EV 1 or 2 stops. Do you have any image processing software at all?

Talking of fish eating birds, this Cormorant had caught a small pike, which was proving a bit of a challenge to get down, it was at it for ages trying to eat it, eventually it gave up and flew off. Unfortunately it was all taking place on the far side of the reservoir so was a hell of a crop on the images, but you get the idea, just wish it had been closer to us so I could have got some better shots.

We have a couple of Little Egret up at the reservoir, managed to get a few shots of this one

No Dave ... I shall keep a look out for that now

A nice pair of Goosander fly past ... a gentleman and his lady

First met Tony in the early 90's always had a laugh and a joke with him, great guy, sad news indeed. Rest in peace old friend Martyn

We got a Smew drop in, the regular birders reckoned there had not been many reported in the UK as yet, and this was probably the earliest we had had one at the reservoir. Trouble is they are easily spooked ... even by good looking Gloucestershire lads, so I only managed a quick backlit shot as it flew off to the middle of the reservoir. This was basically ground the tripod and camera and get one shot