Introduction
You may notice that, in some years, the Lake & Grounds area has relatively few posts or gaps in the record. However, the photographic record was maintained and you can expect new material to be added when time is found. This means the new posts may appear anywhere on the site and not just in the current year's page. The best way to ensure you miss nothing is to visit the What's New page where you can find how you can subscribe to our newsletter.
2024
28 December 2024 - Swans Visit Again
Just before 09:30 we see our resident pair of swans again. It's hard to believe that the lone swan seen yesterday isn't one of these. Increasingly we are wondering whether these will nest here. We've had a couple of years gap since swans raised young in the lake. We suspect our old resident pair died in the Avian Flu outbreak, and that was why there has been a break in breeding.
27 December 2024 - Swans Visit Again
It's 14:51 and a Friday and a lone swan glides in with a pair of Mallard, from the cottage's side of the lake. We often don't see a second bird and which leaves a lack of certainty about whether this is one of the pair that visit, and we saw Last Week. We couldn't tell the reason the swan turned through 180° and approached the decking. Most often swans will approach the other side of the bay behind the house as that's where any duckweed or other flotsam tends to accumulate and provides them with food.
23 December 2024 - Muntjac On Peter's Field
It's the Monday before Christmas and 11:28 I photograph a Muntjac next door on "Peter's Field". It's a better image than some that I take, and one that's largely taken as a record rather than for any other reason. Most of the time I don't even bother to take them. We really are seeing them daily, if not several times daily at the moment.
21 December 2024 - Swans Visit Again
Just after 16:23 on the Saturday afternoon before Christmas and we have our "resident" swans back in the lake again. I take a picture as a simple record of the sighting, rather than for any other reason.
19 December 2024 - Muntjac Move To Peter's Field
It's Thursday and a couple of minutes after the BBC Lunchtime News had started we see three Muntjac deer on our neighbour's land through or through our patio doors. I zoom in on the deer still on the rough ground close to our lake to see that it's a male. The group stay for quite a while and are still to be seen as 14:44.
14 December 2024 - Swans Leave The Lake
It's 15:42 and a pair of swans make their way from the lake to the dyke. We're beginning to refer to "our swans" and "resident pair" as we are getting repeated visits from them, We assume it is the same couple. It's the time of year when sunset comes early and tonight as the sun sets at around 16:00 there's a particular cloud formation that seems to focus on a point over the horizon that emanates from the sun.
11 December 2024 - Half Way Through Leaf Clearing
Looking back, it seems I haven't reported on the annual autumn period of leaf clearance. It wasn't until I mentioned compost on my Mastondon account and doubled my followers overnight that it occurred to me people might be interested in the topic. At this point we are more than half way through the clearance season, although last year everything was very late, presumably because of the very wet season that kept the leaves on the trees for much longer than usual.
6 December 2024 - Muntjac Deer And A Swan Are Seen
It was a Friday and I suspect I had only just opened the curtains when I took the first photograph of a pair of Muntjac Deer. A minute later I had realised that it was a family group I was watching. We saw a Muntjac on Peter's Field again around lunch time and got several shots of what may have been the youngster seen in the morning. Later, I spot a swan emerging from the boundary dyke and manage to get a number of shots as it makes its way towards the neighbouring holiday cottages.
3 December 2024 - Mallard, A Kingfisher And Muntjac)
Almost like a bad penny, that Kingfisher is back again. I'm not sure when the group of mallard arrived, but my BBC Weather Watcher upload taken just before 09:00 did not show them. I wonder if it was me, opening the patio doors to get a better shot of them, that caused the entire group to take flight moments later. Both the pictures of Muntjac were taken within a minute of each other at 15:03. I'd been concentrating so much on the pair close together that I failed to realise a third was present, or had appeared from the other side of the dyke.
30 November 2024 - The Kingfisher is Constantly Visiting
Kingfishers are iconic birds and many people never see them, but there comes a time, when yet another Kingfisher photograph looks much the same as another and I just get bored taking them. At the time I have in mind that at some point I'll be asking when did this or that start or stop to try to work out whether the limits of the seasons are changing.
29 November 2024 - Muntjac and Kingfisher Again
It was 09:20 when I managed to make out a pair of Muntjac almost entirely obscured by the reeds. My next picture was taken at 12:57, when I was just about to watch the lunchtime news. A kingfisher was on the decking behind the lounge. You'll note that the decking is bone dry at this point. Bt the time of my next photo, at 13:11, the bird had moved to the reeds outside our Music Room.
28 November 2024 - Most Impressive Otter Visit Yet!
It was a little early, for me, but I drew the curtains a little before 08:00 to see an otter in the lake below me. I managed to get one photograph of it before it swam round the decking and on out of sight behind the cottages. At around 09:30 it became clear there was a family group still on site and I took a walk onto the island and round the back of the lake to discover there were two adults and two young at play.
24 November 2024 - The Kingfisher Returns Again!
It seems there is a season for everything. Often you'll find that a bird or some other creature will appear. You'll photograph it and a few days, or a week, later you find you have an opportunity to take a similar shot again. This seems to be one of those seasons. This time, at just before 09:00 I managed to get one shot off before the bird flew away.
22 November 2024 - The Kingfisher On The Decking
It was some seven weeks earlier that I last photographed a kingfisher. This time it appeared on the decking outside our lounge at 09:18, quickly moving to the area at the end of the lawn where the lamp standard and model of Jeremy Fisher is. Jeremy The photographs below were all taken within two minutes of each other but are displayed here in a different order to show context and then more of the bird itself.
1 October 2024 - A Kingfisher Visits
I must have been thinking about lunch and passing through the lounge to get to the kitchen to have seen this kingfisher then perched in the reeds close to the house. It was just after 12:05 when I took the first image! It was quickly followed by a second which showed the head in profile. That was enough for me. It took off for the bridge shortly after that.
30 September 2024 - A Heron Takes A Walk
For a change, the heron comes calling shortly after 15:50. I spot it from our lounge and take a first shot while it is still hidden by the reeds. Even as I press the shutter button the heron is on the move, but very slowly! It takes almost five minutes before I take the new shot. By this time it has come out of its cover and is seen more clearly on the bank beyond the bridge.
16 September 2024 - A Heron Changes Position
Just before 08:30 and I drew the curtains to see a heron on the bank. When I first picked up my camera and took a shot it looked as if it was about to take flight. I zoomed out my camera not know in which direction it might go and managed to catch it immediately after take off. It settled on the far balustrade of the bridge.
12 September 2024 - First Visit Of A Sandpiper
It was the first time I had seen this bird in our grounds so I picked up my camera and took a couple of shots. then it was a matter of looking it up. I think I have identified it correctly as a Sandpiper. It was around 09:05 when I took a first shot to show the general environment. You can see the bird is light enough to walk on the lilies. A few seconds later I zoomed in, in an attempt to get a more detailed shot to help with the identification.
26 May 2024 - Cormorant, Heron And Muntjac
It was just after 09:00 and the sun seemed to spotlight the heron on the bank beyond the bridge to the island. It was then that the cormorant emerged from the lake perched on the balustrade and spread its wings to dry out its feathers. We don't often see both birds together. Just before 17:05 I got the camera out to take a photo of a Muntjac. Five minutes later, I realised there was a second deer but that was only after they had moved onto Peter's field.
