Well, its taken its time coming but Spring is finally here. After what seems like months of grey, cold and wet weather, we have finally had some sunshine that has made it worthwhile going out with the camera.

This week, the tides and weather was right for a couple of sessions on the Humber, and then I thought I would move on to Kilnsea Wetlands and Long Bank.

On Tuesday, everything was perfect. High tide was around 6am and the sun was due to rise at around 6.45. I made my way to Skeffling and no sooner as I popped my head over the bank I was greeted by two hunting barn owls. I was happy with my images as they clearly show them hunting before sunrise in their most natural environment.

I then had the great dilema of choosing whether to shoot into the sun, or shoot with the sun on my back. There was a procession of subjects which included curlew, brent geese, dunlin, pintail and marsh harrier.

Not long after the sun had risen and the tide started to ebb, I made my way to Kilnsea. I looked on Kilnsea Wetlands but favoured Long Bank more. Again I wasn’t disappointed.

The star of the show was a ringtail hen harrier, with an excellent supporting cast of marsh harrier, peregrine falcon, another barn owl as well as more curlew, redshank, knot and displaying skylark.

A pair of inquisitive roe deer came quite close to the hide as did a rather soggy hare.

Whilst there wasn’t much in terms of rare stuff, what was there gave more than ample opportunities for photography. In a couple of visits I took over 10k photos!

The great light and orientation of the hide was also a great help.

I popped on to Kilnsea wetlands and managed a distant view of the black brant amongst hundreds of brent geese.

Until next time, thanks for reading.