The photographic highlight of our weekend in the New Forest area was a visit on Saturday to Blashford Lakes, a lovely reserve with a good variety of birds. We were lucky enough to have a pair of Little Ringed Plovers nesting within four or five metres of one of the hides, and the weather made for excellent lighting conditions. I got some reasonable shots of other waders and water birds too, including a nesting Little Grebe. Conditions in the woods were as always far more difficult, and the results of birds at feeders lacked sharpness. However, it's not every day that you get the opportunity to photograph Siskin, for example, at close quarters - and the Jackdaw was having a good scoff at the feeder too.
