Yesterday I finally managed to get on to the reserve and have a look at the juvenile Black Tern, it has been present since Tuesday when it was found by Dave Morrison, so it only took me four days to get there! A passage species passing through they are normally encountered on the river, so actually having one on the reserve and favouring Aveley pools was quite a treat.
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| Black Tern |
I struggled trying to photograph this bird, the light was good, possibly too good bright sunshine, the auto focus on my Nikon D7200 was trying to focus on everything but the bird, so I switched to manual focus which was still pretty tricky as the tern dipped, twisted and stalled in flight as it was plucking food from the water's surface. Anyway my best efforts are here, but the real highlight was being able to sit and watch it actively feeding.
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| Black Tern |
It was also interesting to see how the light changed the appearance of the bird from looking quite washed out on the upperparts to a more natural browner colouration.
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| I liked this one with the Visitor Centre in the background! |
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| Black Tern |
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| Black Tern |
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| Black Tern |
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| Volucella zonaria This is a hornet mimic and is one of our largest and most spectacular hoverflies. |
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| female Migrant Hawker |
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| Hobby |
