Archives for March 2021

A beautiful balletic courtship dance by a pair of swans between Oundle and Cotterstock this morning. I couldn’t resist putting some music with it when I got home, so if you want to hear it don’t forget to put the sound up a little.
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A kingfisher among the twigs and branches this morning. A split second later it took off, circled twice showing the blue of its back then the orange of its belly as it banked, then whizzed of upstream at full speed. It looked like it wouldn’t land again till it got to the bridge a few hundred yards away.

Lovely to see a kingfisher this afternoon against the backdrop of Oundle’s beautiful stone bridge. It was perched opposite the town boat club and I was further along the cut towards the river, so the house in the background is right back in King’s Road.

Greater Spotted Woodpecker at work by the river between Oundle and Cotterstock this morning. I saw a Red Kite take a fish from the river just after videoing this. I looked it up when I got home because I didn’t quite believe what I was seeing, and they do feed on dead or dying fish. It was certainly a first for me!

I always look for a kingfisher in this small dead tree by the river, so a bright patch of red that shapeshifted into a Greater Spotted Woodpecker was a nice surprise this morning! Really unusual not to be craning my neck when I see one – this was at head height.