by John Baldwin

Hopefully you are all keeping safe and well and have taken the appropriate inoculation-taking precautions to remain that way. Congratulations to those of you who have done so and, hopefully, the rest will follow suit, as soon as possible, to end the worldwide suffering it has caused. Nature, fortunately, doesn’t seem to have the same problem as us, and still continues on with its everyday life.

The birds are still doing their “thing”, and so, on a drizzly miserable day earlier this week, I returned to see if the Ospreys and other birds were still visible. Well, just to prove my statement from last week about them having left their nest, the Osprey chicks were back in residence, side by side, what a lovely sight to see! I sat for quite a while watching through my car window, ignoring the wetness and keeping my lens dry in my efforts to capture the occasion. Soon after my arrival, one of them vacated the nest and left its sibling alone in the wet. This one I waited for to take-off, so that I could get a picture.

It didn’t disappoint me, and I got one as it dropped from its lofty position and flew a very short distance to perch on a bare branch. I was able to see it more clearly when I left my car and found refuge under a tree, which gave me some sort of shelter from the rain, without soaking my camera. I was able to get some nice shots of it and, again, some of it flying when it made a return flight back to its nest.

Prior to watching the Ospreys, on my way into the park, I spotted a number of birds flitting to and fro above me, taking off and landing on a cable. I stopped and grabbed my camera and watched the flock, which I later could identify, from my pictures, as Barn Swallows. Because of the wet conditions, the light wasn’t too good to get really good shots of them, but that’s the way it goes! Later in the week I returned and was able to get an unrestricted view of a Turkey Vulture circling in search of roadkill, so got some in-flight pictures of it.

Really quite an exciting bird week for me, and I hope you are experiencing the same thing, either in your garden, or on your travels. Remember to keep your eyes open, they are all there to see!

Stay safe and well,
Cheers,
John Baldwin

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