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Saturday, December 20, 2014

6 days on and still Great Northern Diver


    More sub standard pics in terrible conditions





Has anyone ever been to Mixenden reservoir in decent weather because I have,nt.
Got back early from town today so set off for Mixenden at 1445 hrs with decent light , blue sky and fine , perfect to get some good images of the GND, WRONG ! As I approached Mixenden I could see I was heading straight into a depression with dark skies and heavy drizzle.
Once on the banking the sky closed in and down came the rain with a non photographic friendly sky, which soon turned to heavy drizzle but calm.
I could just make out the diver as usual, at the far end of the water diving regular and always coming up in a different spot.
After about 3 laps of the res I,d got a few distant photos and by now the light was fading.
The reason became clear why it has stopped so long, after talking to a fisherman sat in the NW corner he said the diver had been within 6 ft of him several times and he had watched it dive and come up with Roach about 8 times. He says the reservoir is well stocked with fish although the only one catching today was the diver,

Also present was a Little Grebe which flew the length of the water before settling under the trees.
On the way back walking the west banking knee deep in mud a flock of around 17 Long Tailed Tits were present in the conifers by the water along with a little group of 5 Goldcrests.
Who would have believed this diver would stop so long ,its  probably eaten that many fish now its too heavy to take off.

Just received these shots of a Kingfisher by blog watcher Jack taken at Rodley nature reserve
Thanks for those Jack.

               Female Kingfisher, photos courtesy
                          Jack Ibbetson and Cynthia.

BS