A day birdwatching in Pensthorpe, UK!

I had an amazing day on Sunday at Pensthorpe wildlife centre with my family. There were eight of us there including a five year old and a two year old which meant birdwatching and photography was done in between watching and entertaining the kids.

Pensthorpe is an excellent nature reserve hosting some good conservation initiatives. They have some unusual birdlife there in their aviaries and lakes including many introduced semi wild birds.

The top image is of a Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata). There are in my opinion one of the most beautiful duck species. They are not naturally found in the UK and come from East Asia but nonetheless it is a great pleasure to see them here.

One of their aviaries was closed, probably due the recent outbreaks of avian influenza, but another was still open and gave me an opertunity to get close to the lovely corncrake (Crex crex). These guys went pretty much extinct in the UK back in the nineties. They live in grass crop fields and their chick's will refuse to cross open ground to escape so when the fields get mowed and harvested the chicks get killed by the machines. The corncrakes here are part of a project to reintroduce the birds to reserves here in Norfolk.

Another bird they had in this aviary was the iconic avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta). This bird with its strange beak is the 'mascot' of the royal society for the protection of birds (RSPB). It was chosen after it's successful reintroduction in the UK after being extinct for over a hundred years.

Outside, in the open we had some great sightings of dozens of species of waterbirds, including the lovely male Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) pictured below. I was also very supprised to see a white stork flying high on the sky above us - it's an impressively large bird for this country! This one was probably an escapee.

Another large bird that they have here in captivity are the elegant sand cranes (Antigone canadensis). These guys were very photogenic and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of them. I'm playing around with my new lense the M. Zuiko 300mm f4 :) so hopefully you guys following me will see some improvement in my bird photography as I try to master this new bit of kit!

I was quite pleased with this picture of a jackdaw (Coloeus monedula). These highly intelligent birds are known for their interesting social hierarchy. People also believe that they steal shinny objects although I'm not sure there is any scientific proof of this.

Later we went for a walk around the reserve and at one of the feeding stations we had some excellent views of a nuthatch (Sitta europaea) and greater spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major).

There where plenty of other birds around including this great tit (Parus major) and chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) as well as lazy grey squirrels stealing food from bird's feeders.

It was a great day out, probably the best weather we have had so far this year, and couldn't think of better place to test my new lens. Lots more to come! ;-) enjoy!