The warm sunny April sunshine continued today as Ian and I arrived at Marshide to photograph avocets and black-tailed godwits. Althought the light was hazy, it was still too bright to shoot anything before mid-afternoon, so we headed off to nearby Martin Mere, a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve to try for some images of wildfowl chicks. The reserve was already heaving with the public when I arrived but it didn’t really hamper us and after an uncomfortable session of lying on our bellies on the rough concrete paths we had snagged some really nice portraits of both adult birds and their chicks. The sunshine was creating some awesome colour reflections in the water from the verdant greens of the spring leaf on the trees! The first shot of the female goldeneye is straight out of the camera and has only been resized and sharpened for the blog – the colours really were like that!

After a brief period at Martin Mere we headed back to Marshside where we spent the rest of the day trying to capture some of the action and interaction of avocets and godwits but I have to say, it was somewhat quieter than when I was there last week. Far fewer godwits in front of the hide though there were plenty around. The avocets are now sitting on eggs and so again less agression between rival pairs but when it does kick off, its worth the wait! A couple of black-tailed godwits also put on a good show for us briefly and by the end of the session I’d come away with images of around 5 species but with some shots I’m really pleased with.