All quiet on the Big Waters front

A quiet friday at the hide, the garden birds were out in force fighting over the seeds left out by Alan and the cheeky grey squirrels were playing and stealing the bird food, but there were breaks of beautiful light and a relaxing atmosphere.

The weather was windy and mixed bright sunshine and clouds with a light sprinkle of rain.

The female tree sparrow feeding its chick was lovely to watch, it seemed to have an insatiable appetite. Throughout the morning, visitors included the woodpecker adult male, pheasant, a beautiful young bullfinch and two naughty squirrels.

A naughty Grey Squirrel walks the tight rope to steal bird food.

The lakeside was a buzz with ducks and the occasional visit from a common sandpiper but apart from that life ticked over at a leisurely pace interrupted by fly pasts by the noisy Canada Geese.

Young Blackbird perched in the trees

Photographically it wasnt an epic day unlike some people had (Barry and his Little Owl capture), but none the less very relaxing and a welcome break from image editing and chasing invoices.

Adult Great Spotted Woodpecker briefly popped in

Even the sparrowhawk was nowhere to be seen today, I'm determined to get more shots of it in action although as yet I haven't seen it get anything despite many attempts.

I think I'm going to add in a few more locations to increase my chances of witnessing and capturing natural behaviour in addition to my time at Big Waters. You never know I may be able to capture something as lovely as Barry's Little Owl shots.