Spoonbills at RSPB Burton Mere

 Hi everyone, in today's post we will look at some photos I took the other day at RSPB Burton Mere. 

When we got there we were told that there were about 12 -13 spoonbills at the border hide, the furthest hide from the entrance. The entrance looks over the whole reserve and we briefly saw them take off and settle back down again near the hide. Spoonbills are a very rare bird (in the UK) I had never seen before and were high on the list of ones I wanted to tick off. I didn't actually expect them to be there as that particular flock had been reported at another reserve further away over the last week or so. 

I speed walked ahead and after about 15 minutes got to the hide. Thankfully they were still there and I got some brilliant pictures of a bird I have always wanted to see:

You can see why they are called spoonbills. 

They weren't the only bird that I saw for the first time as on the other side of the pool there was a pair of green sandpipers. The photos aren't great as they were a long way away:

In the distance I spotted a (what I think was a juvenile) marsh harrier which then flew over and scared a few birds off the pool. It was super quick and was difficult to get good photos. I got one half decent one:

Here is another:

Here are some other photos I got from the border hide. They are of avocets and a little egret:

As we walked back we stopped off at some other hides but there wasn't much. However, while watching a great egret through the reedbed screen, I quickly saw a kingfisher dive in and out of the water. I managed to locate it on top of some reeds and got some brilliant photos. 

I can't decide what's better - the one in devon or these pictures. 

That's all for today's post. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading.