A trip to Blashford Lakes in search of Kingfishers in August started off in one of the hides with a nice close up of a Lapwing:

Followed by the arrival of a Heron, gliding in over the waves to a stand situated out in the lake.

A baby Crested Grebe was also paddling along with its Mother/Father:

By which point the Heron seemed to have noticed me in the hide - they sure do have sharp eyes!

But it was Kingfishers I had come to see. Nothing on the North Lake, so I moved to a hide on the South Lake.

After a long time waited, there was a flash of blue. Could it be...? YES IT WAS! Quick, out with the 2x teleconverter giving me a 1200mm focal length, snap snap snap snap...

Well, chuffed to bits. I had finally seen a Kingfisher, after many many tries, and journeying around locations.

To calm down, I headed back into the woodland hide to see the tits attracted to the feeders they have there.

One hide left on the south lake hide, which was empty, so I sat down to enjoy a spot of well earned lunch. Mid-sandwich, look up, and what is sitting not 10 feet from my window....

Well I could not believe my luck! Right there, in close up glory! A passing couple of gulls, and it was time to head home after my most successful bird watching trip.