· Wirral ·
Another visit to RSPB Burton Mere en route to Dad’s. Too hot and sunny for my liking. It felt as if the birds agreed: there seemed to be fewer of them around this week.
As I approached the Marsh Covert hide, a kestrel flew past with a dead wader chick in its talons. From the hide itself, I managed to get a nice shot of a reed warbler perched on an eponymous reed. Farther down, by the screen, a bolshie black-headed gull was dive-bombing birders. Quite amusing to watch, until it turned its sights on me. A great white egret was standing next to a few little egrets at the water’s edge. When you see them side-by-side, the size difference is very noticeable.
Back at the reception hide, I photographed a young grey heron being dive-bombed by another bolshie black-headed gull. The heron retaliated with raised-daggers beak. A short while later, I photographed it catching a fish.
As I headed up to bed at Dad’s, I glanced out the window to see the moon in partial eclipse, low to the south, fifty years to the day since Apollo 11 blasted off.
