Spoonbill #61

Hubby was working today so I decided to take a trip to RSPB Burton Mere. I don't normally do too well with photography here as the birds are quite far away. But I'd seen some shots online of the 3 spoonbills that have taken up residence there and thought I might get lucky. 
From the visitor centre I added another bird to this year's list - the white winged black tern. You could see it reasonably well with binoculars but it was well out of reach for photographs. 

The guy at reception said the spoonbills had been showing from Marsh Covert hide, but not normally until the afternoon, so my plan was to walk to Inner Marsh Farm and catch them on the way back. As I walked past the first hide another photographer told me that they were showing well at the Bridge pool screen, so I quickened my pace. And sure enough, there they were in all their glory! I've only seen them a couple of times before and never so close so this was a real thrill. I took tons of shots with all different settings to try and get something reasonable as I'm not so good when it comes to white birds. I liked this one of them squabbling, but also the bad hair day one in extras. Neither are as sharp as I'd like, but it's a learning curve that I'm not catching onto so quickly. 

Also today I had good views of a greenshank, male garganey, reed warblers and whitethroats so it was a good day. 

Tomorrow is not looking so nice, so it might be a quick trip to Spike Island after the rain disappears(I hope).