I Was High As A Kite ....

.... about my wildlife togging luck today. :)

Jazzy and I saw a member of the muntjac deer family that lives in No8 disused glasshouse this morning in the area between that and a hedge that I call Butterfly Alley. I got some great pics. I got shots of Jenny Wren too.

After lunch I went to Amwell Nature Reserve. As I was getting my gear out of the boot  I spotted a red kite. I've got decent pics of these in the past in the Chilterns but 2015 is the first year that I've seen them in our area. They're magnificent birds, I'm looking forward to capturing them locally in 2016. My Blip is not a great pic but the shape and that tail is unmistakeable.

I stood by the Dragonfly Trail and got Kes. Trying to get a better pic from the path, I toppled over the edge. A gallant passing birder held out his hand to rescue me. I declined and crawled back up. On the way to the James hide I shot long-tailed-tits and a pair of mallards in flight. From the hide I got reed buntings, blue and great tits. I was photographing a robin on the ground when it was photobombed by a cute little wood mouse. A lovely pied woodpecker, as I call them, visited and I got a decent shot of that.

On the way back to the car I met two young girls with Molly a Staffie and Hunter a blue-eyed Husky who were swimming in the lake. Poor Molly was a bit rubbish at doggy-paddle as she has such short legs. She loved it though and had a huge smile on her face. Her young mistress took a pic off the back of my camera with her phone.