Oystercatchers

This morning we headed towards Anglesey where we will spend a long weekend at the HPB site, Henllys near Beaumaris. 
When we left it was RAINING! We haven't seen rain for weeks, so were a bit peeved to say the least, but we needn't have worried. By the time we'd travelled for 90 minutes it had all cleared up and we were at the Spinnies Nature Reserve. 
We've not been there before but I'd been told it was a nice little reserve and worth a visit. It had two hides - the first one overlooked a lagoon and it was very dark. We saw a few birds - woodland ones on the feeders, a couple of white egrets, moorhens and lots of ducks, but nothing really special, so after less than half an hour we left. 
The second hide was bigger and looked out over the same lagoon from the other side but also across the estuary of the Menai Straights. The tide was very high when we got there but we could see quite a few groups of birds out there - there was a pair of shelducks with 27, yes 27 chicks! I just about managed to capture them all in one shot but it wasn't very sharp, so I have put it in extras. There were also a load of what I think were goosanders, but they were so far away, I didn't manage to get a clear enough shot. Also there were lots of swans and gulls. When the tide started to go out, which it did quite quickly, it brought in a whole load more birds, including this flock of noisy oystercatchers which is my main blip. Not the best shot, but I liked it. 

On the other side of the hide was the lagoon and we were treated to 7 white egrets who were feeding a lot, some nice views of the woodland birds on the feeders - robins, chaffinches, baby blue and great tits, dunnocks, sparrows and a couple of quite brave young nuthatches. 
But the star of the show for me, if one ever shows up, has to be the beautiful kingfisher. The light was poor and he was quite far away so the shots were not great, and as I've blipped them twice in the last few days, I couldn't justify another less than good shot as my blip, so I added it in extras for anyone that likes to see them. 

I am now sat watching the end of the first of the men's semi-finals at Wimbledon, which has been going on for over 5 and a half hours and is currently 16-16 in the fifth set!!! I hope they finish soon as we are off out for dinner soon!