Spoonbill

 It was a cold, damp,wintry morning and we were on our way back home from the weekly grocery-       shopping.when my wife Caz ,says~ I wonder if any new birds have arrived on the marsh after last night's storm".

 What a great idea that was,because as we approached the track on the marsh we noticed 3 unusual -looking large white wading-birds feeding in the margins.At first glance we thought they were the usual noisy Little egrets who are there everyday feeding, along with a couple of Great egrets.

But no ,these were different.Just then they decided to take flight straight over our heads.What a great suprise,I had been waiting 7 years for some of these birds to arrive;they were Spoonbills.

Spoonbill preening in the sun

The next few days were spent trying to get as near to these graceful wading -birds as possible. Trying to get a good photograph of them was not  going  to be easy.They were feeding way -out in the bay most of the time;even at roosting time they decided to fly way over into the newly-sown corn -fields so they could see anything or anyone approaching.

On the second day the wind had dropped slightly but it still was'nt the best of conditions,crawling through the soggy, wet reedbeds ,edging as near as I dare without flushing them.

The shots I got are not the best in the world but they will have to do for the time being,at least until the weather changes; and hopefully these great birds will decide to stay a while.

                                                         Feeding out in the bay away from all the other waders 

                               Resting up after their long windy journey in from the Balkans.