My dog walk yesterday turned out to be a bit of a surprise.  The weather wasn’t great, a bit damp, cool but there was a little bit of sun being filtered through light cloud.  So it was light enough to warrant carrying my camera.  It started nicely when we, well the dog, decided to take the route to the lake.  As we wandered down the ‘beach’ (it is sandy) to the water’s edge I could see a little egret preening on the island a little offshore.  Too far for decent photos but good to watch.  Then a grey heron swooped onto the same wooded island.  The island is a small heronry and I say there was another heron already there hidden in the tree tops.  It is of course early January now and I realised that these two were the start of the reoccupation of the nest sites for the forthcoming breeding season.  

I’d have been happy with that but just at the point the dog was becoming bored, a kingfisher flashed across from the island and turned sharp right around some reeds in front of me and, in an instance, disappeared up the small stream that enters the lake at the beach.  This time is wasn’t the normal flash of electric blue I saw but the punchy orange rust of its underside as  it banked through the turn.  Not a bad start but no chances of any photos. 

We ambled away from the lake through the woodland to appear out on the the meadows which we will typically circumnavigate.  As we emerged onto the rough grassland a bird flying high caught my eye.  Yes, it was a kestrel.  After a long gap not seeing one here for several months, it seems to be back.  The light was watery but we (well that’s ‘I’ really, the dog was happy just sniffing about near me) spent an hour quietly following this bird around the field, usually watching it from over 100m.  There is no point in trying to get closer as it will be disturbed and head off and I don’t want to interrupt its hunting; it’s tough enough for thee birds at this time of year.  Occasionally though, it may fly closer to me and that sometimes gives the opportunity for some shots.  Today, I get a few but nothing really notable.  But… patience pays off in different ways.  While watching, another kestrel appears and hunts on the same field.  Two birds, perhaps they will become a breeding pair in the spring.  Then, I see the original kestrel do the characteristic three step descent from its quartering hover.  It drops, hovers, drops, hovers, repeats again until - now close to the ground - dives into the short grass.  It doesn’t reappear immediately (a good sign) then, after about 20 - 30 seconds, I spot it again.  This time it doesn’t resume its quartering flight but flies quite low and purposely toward the trees that fringe the meadow.  I snatch a couple of frames from my position of probably 300m distance.  It’s too to see anything properly by eye or even binoculars really but quickly zooming right in on the frame, I can see there is something being held in the kestrel’s talons.  I see the kestrel take flight again and head into the woodland.  That will be it for the day, it will feed and rest.  I begin the walk back.  

One of the kestrels resting between hunting forays in the top of a bare oak tree.

As we head off, I see another raptor flash out some way ahead of me low from the trees on my left.  By reflex I grab a couple of frames, not really expecting much but hoping to check my identification; that flight wasn’t quite kestrel like.  Indeed it wasn’t and my suspicions are right.  The photo shows it to be a sparrowhawk!  Bonus.  

The sparrowhawk flying fast and low across the meadow.  A grabbed shot that shows this typical flight of this ambush predator just a few inches from the ground.

We head back to the car.  As we get to the edge of the woods and get into the car and turn around to pull away, I see a grey squirrel huddling down to keep warm in the fork of a low tree branch next to me.  I open the passenger window and take a series of photos.  I really don’t take enough notice of these animals.  Yes they are a bit of a pest but they are engaging.  

Finishing with the grey squirrel.  Difficult to pass by when you see them like this.

As we drive home, I spot a red kite turning and searching above the town.  We are right on the edge of their current range but we are seeing more and more of these magnificent birds here.  The day just kept on giving.  Quite a surprise for a walk that didn’t really look that promising.  

Gear: All photos shot with Nikon D500 using a 300mm f/4E PF lens with TC-14e III teleconverter (i.e. 420mm equivalent).  This is a really light, high quality set up that is easy to carry while dog walking and being opportunistic…