Young Swallows

Glossy Ibis at Frampton Marsh RSPB

This Glossy Ibis has been present at Frampton for what seems an absolute age now, but I hadn't got around to visiting for one reason and another. The other weekend there was a report of a Lesser Yellowlegs at the site which gave me some impetus to go. The Yellowlegs gave us the run around for a bit, but was duly seen and then I decided to try and photograph the obliging Glossy Ibis. I am afraid that I went a bit mad, taking far too many photos, but digital photography is a marvellous thing enabling me to delete two-thirds of the rubbish, leaving not quite as bad rubbish!

And last, but not least, an obliging juvenile Swallow,

Swallow

A few digiscoped shots of a couple of confiding Swallows from my recent visit to Frampton in Lincolnshire. These two birds were perched on the visitors centre and didn`t seem to mind the comings and goings of various binocular wearing and tripod clad birders.

Swallow still feeding

The Swallows at one of my places of work are still feeding a brood of 4, which is their second brood this year (the first had 5 successfully fledge). I only hope that they manage to fledge in time and build up their fat reserves for their long trip to South Africa. The young do look pretty ready to fly the nest, they just seem a bit reluctant to make that final leap!

I took the shots below through a gap at the top of a door, so I wouldn`t disturb the birds. I only intended to get a shot of the nest, but as you can see from the first photo I got lucky with one of the adults flying in to feed the young. It`s a shame that the adults tail is a bit wonky, or is that me just being picky?!

Hand-held using Canon Powershot A640

Gulp!

An old joke that my Dad is fond of saying is, `What sound does the Swallow make? Gulp!`, the reason for this posts title. As I have said to Dad before, don`t give up the day job Pops!

The Swallow, or to give it the `proper` name of Barn Swallow is a bird that most of us are familiar with. The bird comes to this country from South Africa in the summer months to breed and I am fairly sure that most people have seen one.

The photo`s above were taken at a site that holds breeding House Martins, Sand Martins and these Swallows and is where I work on a Wednesday. Some of us are lucky enough to work in places such as this and being a gardener I have my fair share.