I have mentioned before that I would like to see a kingfisher. I know these beautiful birds are around here, but I have only had a brief glimpse of one. Most of the time I am by the river I am running without a good camera on me. @papilloncharity gets some great wildlife pictures in South Africa and has been telling me I need to get out specifically to capture nature.
I headed out on a walk with my bridge camera this morning. It has turned a little cooler and may rain, so there were not very many people about. I walked through the village to the common to follow the River Hiz towards the station. On the common are lots of horses who have had foals this year. I assume this in a fairly young one that still looked a little unsteady.
Some of the others were taking it easy.
I took advantage of the zoom lens to snap these jackdaws.
On the river I saw what looked like a family of mallard ducks.
However I do not think those were the parents as I also saw some moorhens and I think the mostly black chicks belong to them.
Further along I spotted some ducklings. Their mother was hiding, but I got this nice close-up.
There were lots of these yellow iris flowers around.
The river is a chalk stream and runs very clear. At this point it transitions from a stony bed to mud very abruptly. Someone has cut paths through the nettles at various points along the bank. There has been a lot of rubbish in there at times, but it was looking tidy today.
The thistle flowers would looking nice, but watch out for the prickles.
The place I saw a kingfisher before is by the weir that is the site of an old water mill. I did not find any at all today. There are lots of holes in the banks where they may nest.
This mallard was just out on his own.
This is by the station where the bypass crosses the river. This is a fairly new bridge that was built when the old one was found to have structural issues. Originally the road ran over the little bridge I was on with a level crossing over the tracks. Beyond the bridge the river flows past the Henlow fishing lakes. I think I have heard of there being otters around there. There were lots of birds around, but they were too quick for me to get pictures. I also saw some fish jump.
From there I crossed the station footbridge as the Peterborough train departed.
I walked home through the village keeping an eye out for wildlife. The churchyard sometimes has squirrels, but not today. Just a few pigeons.
So my quest was not totally successful, but enjoyable nonetheless. I will try to get out again soon and try some different locations. I will keep an eye out for flashes of blue and orange.
This is my camera, a Fujifilm FinePix S8650. I expect there are newer models now. It was fairly cheap, but suits my needs. It has lots of modes, but I mostly leave it on automatic.
