HERON TODAY GONE TOMORROW (27/07/10)

I’m sorry about the title, a truly awful pun, more Mail than Telegraph. After a week here I have only just noticed a Heronry. Not generally a bird that is easy to miss…. An achievement that I'm, perversely, quite proud of. Tomorrow we leave here for Barnard Castle. It’s just as well as I photographed two roosting Rooks whilst under the impression they were Cormorants. New specs, more falling down water or less ‘E’ numbers in my diet. Barring the problem being dementia I promise to solve this small hiccup in service.

It may be more complex than at first I thought…………………………..

One of my Cormorants is not a Rook but a Carrion Crow and the other is………………………………….

   A Wood Pigeon. Ah well!….. Suggestions? Only on a postcard. Please!!

At last a semblance of normality……………A Grey Heron one of four.

  Two of four.

   Three of four, I suspect this is a juvenile as though it can fly it tends to sit waiting for the others to return. I did hang around but failed to see them feeding it.

   Four of four…….OK I cheated this is the same bird as number three and for that matter two but I did count four individual birds.

Non of the above are cropped, hardly worth it. All are shot with a 500mm lens on a monopod at 800 ISO. This gives a crop factor of 2x, so equivalent to 1000mm on full frame. Yes they are a hell of a long way off.

It is not the worlds best designed nature reserve from a birders perspective. Digi-Scoping is the answer here as I suspect when the migratory and over wintering birds arrive then some serious entertainment could be had.

   This was an enforced stop the MOT station is virtually next door and the farm I’ve been storing the van at is only a few miles. Thanks for the storage, very much appreciated. I have enjoyed myself.

It is time to move on, not far but move on. We are lucky enough to live in such a varied and diverse country that one doesn’t have to move more than a mile or so for a complete change in both scenery and ambience…. Just as well the price of fuel!

This is a good place to visit, so if you are around have a look at Portrack Marsh. it occupies a bend in the Tees river which was straightened by Navvies so it is, if not a natural ox bow, it appears to be so.

That’s all from Stockton on Tees. See you tomorrow. Hopefully in Barnard Castle but who knows after today's senior moments.