A Morning at Oare 4th November

There was a definite winter chill to the air today, but the sun was shining so brightly that we decided a morning visit to Oare was in order. However, when we arrived it all appeared to be very quiet with only a few resident Mallards about, who swam over to greet us as we got out of the car.


We stood there enjoying the peaceful quiet for a while, when across the lake flying towards us we spotted a Gray Heron. We watched with delight as he flew closer, closer and yet closer still until he was flying just yards away.


And then he decided to land on the bank by the small stream only a few tens of yards away. What an amazing bit of good fortune, we have been trying to get a good picture of a Heron for a long time now, so this was turning out to be a super morning.


The Heron continued to delight us by walking back and forth across the bank, stopping every now and then to pose for us so that we could take his picture. Eventually tiring of showing off he strode away across the bank to hide in the nearby reeds.


Brother Mick was extremely happy with his good fortune, and cosily wrapped against the chill, took picture after picture of the Heron.


A loud honking to our left revealed a flock of Greylag Geese flying off from the lake and heading by the looks towards the Elmley reserve flapping their wings with gusto as they tried to keep themselves in nice formation.


The Ducks were not impressed at all by this display and quickly took off to fly by us showing just how much better they were at formation flying. We must admit, it was a very impressive display.


After the display, it was was all quiet again, so standing with our hands warming in our pockets we patiently waited to see what other delights the morning would reveal.


And it took the form of a little Pied Wagtail, playing on the embankment. He was having great fun hopping about in the Autumn sunshine and stopped every now and then to wag his tail in greeting to us.


We would have loved to have stayed longer, but another engagement in the afternoon meant that we could only spend the morning here. So with a last backward glance at the tranquil scene, we packed up and went off home for some lunch.

We hope that you enjoyed our morning out. More pictures of the Heron and his friends can be found in our gallery at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick