Happy New Year

Aquila Bird Tours would like to wish a Happy New year to all our readers.   Between Christmas and New Year we spent some time in Mid-Wales and spent some time photographing Red Kites. 

Pleasure birding seems to have taken a back seat over the last few months as we have been busy setting up a new branch of Aquila - ABT Ecology.  Although there has been a lot to do and it is a big step to take, we felt the time was right to branch out offering environmental consultancy services along with the birding/wildlife tours, having spent the last three years working extensively within the industry.  

Rarities were indeed just that during the festive period, despite some being on offer in the form of Brunnich's Guillemot, work prevented any trips. With this in mind it was pleasant to see a scarcity close to home in the form of a drake Green-winged Teal that was reported at Neumanns Flash, Northwich. Arriving on site I decided to turn left from the car park, this was a good move, as within minutes of being in the hide, I had found the bird. Good views of the bird were had varying on distant and light conditions. Unfortunately these conditions were not particularly conducive to photography, I did however manage a record shot clearly showing the vertical, opposed to horizontal wing flash. 

In the field the head pattern plumage subtleties were also noted.

 Red Kite

 Red Kite

 Red Kite

 Red Kite

 Grey Heron

 Long-tailed Tit

 Mistle Thrush

Green-winged Teal