Oare Marshes 5th August

Greetings from Steve & Mick. We had another trip to Oare Marshes today., what a gorgeous sunny day it was as well. First stop was by the front of the lake near the roadway. Unfortunately the tide was out so there was not many waders up close. We watched a Ruff for a while looking for any tit bits in the silt. Pickings seemed to be poor though so the Ruff did not stay too long

In front of the lake is the small river, here we watched several young Coots playing. They have grown fast since we last saw them. Their little bald heads are now crowned by a gloss of new feathers and the young Coots proudly posed on the river bank to show them off to us.

Brother Mick looked on with a touch of jealousy as his thatch of hair has been shrinking for a long while now!. Still he seemed to be enjoying the sunshine as much as the Coots were and he was also getting a bit of colour to his shiny noodle!




I was not so brave. I just kept my hat on to keep the sun at bay, whilst pretending that I too had a thick thatch of hair under it!




In the small lake behind us, we spotted a swan sleeping in the sunshine. As we crossed the road for a closer look she gave a stretch and raised her elegant neck to see who was approaching. We were far to far away to disturb her, so with a slow rotate of that long neck she checked out her domain before lowering it down and settling back to sleep




In the lake though was a Snipe. He was wading along using that enormous bill to plunge repeatedly into the mud below foraging for food. They say that a Snipe resembles a sewing machine when they eat, and this certainly seems true, his head was bobbing up and down repeatedly, with only a pause now and then to have a quick peek about.



It was such a lovely day that a walk around the lake was just irresistible. So we put away our monopods, slung our cameras across our shoulders and set off. And what a sight greeted us. The wild flowers are still in bloom and the butterflies were out in abundance. We watched them flitting from one flower to another, just dancing with sheer joy at the beauty of each one they land on. And you can see just how eager they are as they settle on to a flower, only to espy another even more tempting one nearby that they just have to flutter off to.


A loud croaking coaxed us to look down into the river bank, a few big Frogs splashed into the water disturbing a grass snake. The Snake slithered around in the cool water for a while before grabbing a tasty looking water fly and disappearing into the reeds to enjoy his meal



We finished the walk and arrived back at the lake front. The Greylag Geese we had seen a few weeks back were back down for a drink and we spotted our old friend the Bar Headed Goose as he sat on the bank preening himself in the sunshine



It had been a good days outing and packing away our gear we started to make to make our way home, but the late sunshine was basking the nearby fields in golden glow turning all the hard work the farmers made in their hay fields into a picturesque masterpiece. We just had to stop and take a few last pictures of them before departing home.

We hope that you enjoyed our excursion. Further pictures can be seen in the nature galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk
Steve & Mick