Female Tufted Duck and Dabchick/Little Grebe

 Another late evening picture in poor light but beautiful to see none the less!

Female Tufty

Female Dabchick

Barn Owl & Kingfisher (BOGOF) - Two for the price of one!

Popped out to the pond for a last walk around as the sun was slowly making its way to bed.  I got to the bottom of the garden and saw what I thought were two Kingfishers at the top of the pond, I quickly walked back to the house to grab the camera as I had never seen two kingfishers on the pond at the same time and wanted a picture to mark the occasion.  As I walked back up to the top of the pond, a Kingfisher perched on the jetty and then jumped off to sit on the edge of the boat. The light was fading, but I took a few pictures anyway. At this stage I'm now convinced that there was only one bird and I had imagined the second... 

As I crouched by the reeds watching the Kingfisher, a Barn owl swept across the pond from the meadow and dropped right onto the log and branch pile that  I had built by the pond last year. The owl could clearly see me, I was sitting just a few meters away; I'm certain it could hear the  'click-click-click' of my Nikon, she seemed unphased and posed for me for several minutes before making her exit. 

Quality Alert ;-( Images are cropped and rather grainy due to low light and higher than optimal ISO settings but I'm still pleased to have recorded the event. - Click images for larger views. 

Here are the pictures of the Owl and Kingfisher who went to sea on a beautiful pea green boat.

Time to go... amazing just how long Barn owl legs are!

...and equipped with those menacing talons!

and the Kingfisher that I originally went out to see. Now pretty sure there was only one.