Voinapics Photography: After the winds and rain 20th January 2007

We have had strong winds and heavy rains for several days now, Saturday the winds had died down and the sun looked like it was trying to peek through the clouds so off to Elmley we went. Unfortunately when we got there is started to rain again so we sheltered ourselves hoping that it would blow over. Mr Blackbird had the same idea, as we spotted him sheltering in the bushes away from the rain

The wind picked up a bit and blew the rain clouds across the marshlands. You can see that the residence across from the River Swale are now getting a good drenching

Once the rain clouds had passed the sun re-appeared to bathe the marshland in a warm glow. You can see that the little streams running through Elmley are nicely full now and the ground is starting to get back to it’s normal soaked state after the summer drought.

Mick took advantage of the unexpected sunshine to get a bit of colour to his shiny head

I was not so brave. Although the sun was out the air was still chilly and the wind was picking up again. A sure sign that the rain would soon be back.

Meanwhile we joined the little Sparrows and enjoyed the sunshine. There are several feeders near the RSPB house and there is always a nice collection of well fed Sparrows singing to each other in the nearby bushes

The Coots were also enjoying the high water line and warm sunshine; they were so happy that they did not object to use watching them at all. Most unusual as they normally hide in the reeds

This young coot swam quite close to say hello, and if you look closely you can see that he almost seems to be smiling.

We walked a little ways into the reserve. You can only stay on the roadway so as not to disturb the birds on the Marshes. But if you use binoculars you can see the birds resting out near the streams. In this picture, you can also see one of the pipes that the RSPB was using to help flood the marshlands from the River during the drought.

As we watched, the flock of birds was startled by something and took off en mass. At first we were not sure what was going on as we were far to far away for them to even notice us.

Then the flock formed itself into a ball. Now we knew what was going on. A bird of prey was flying low skimming the plains and the birds were forming themselves into a protective ball. The Bird of prey rocketed upwards through the ball but was not successful in a kill. The flock scattered and the bird of prey flew off. We are sorry to say though that we were watching this all too intently and it happened so fast that we did not have time to take any more pictures