Scozmo's Photery

We lived in Caerphilly in South Wales for 12 years, after moving there for work. Our house was right next to a fabulous pond, great for walking the dog and photography.

I spent a lot of time wandering round this pond 🙂

Plenty of Moorhens.

One bird became a bit of an obsession …. Kingfishers

One of them actually flew into our bedroom window and fell onto the hut tub below, it sat stunned while Jo shouted me down but, it was off, fit and well. I’d often stand by the pond, tripod set up, watching, waiting and most often, nothing happened.

I really enjoyed photographing the Black-headed gulls, noisy but gorgeous wee birds.

We got quite a few Goosander visiting, the pond was stocked with fish and managed by the local angling club, who weren’t that keen on them when they arrived en masse, along with the odd Cormorant!

A selection of female Goosander photos.

As you can see above, the males and females look quite different.

There were almost always Heron visiting, which was nice for me, not so much for the fish!

There was also an ever growing number of Coots & Moorhens! Surely there’s a limit? 🙂

Coot youngsters! Bless them, they look like 60’s Einsteins!

We got Canada geese on a regular basis and one pair nested every year, driving any and all competition away!

Someone even released three Cayuga Ducks onto the pond.

One of them was found on the pond side, looks like a fox maybe got it.

Remember I mentioned the Black-headed gulls?

Look at the shape of those wings!

We also got some seasonal and unusual visitors.

A Little Grebe would turn up now and again.

This young Shelduck would arrive for a few days then disappear, I did see one on the moat around Caerphilly castle so it may have been the same bird?

This Teal male turned up and called for a week or so, then wasn’t seen again, in my time.

Rather than add another set of images, I’m going to link to a set I took when a heron caught a Koi Carp on the pond. Note – There is harm to the fish in these. The Heron and the Koi

I will add this one favourite shot of mine. This bird stood in the pond right opposite me and preened for ages!