More Local Wanderings

I always consider myself lucky to have such a great variety of bird habitat on my doorstep, which gives me plenty of different birds to go and photograph. My only wish was that my back garden was of a bigger size and better location to attract a wider variety of birds. The main stay of the visitors are the constantly squabbling Goldfinch which are a welcome and colourful addition to the garden.I have been recently concentrating on some warblers, although the grasshopper warbler have remained elusive. The warblers present a real challenge to photograph mainly due to their preference for lurking deep in vegetation. Here are a few recent photos.

Sedge warbler

Reed warbler, unsurprisngly in some reeds!!Common whitethroat

and Willow Warbler at first lightI am still coming across the occasional migrant wheatear on passage. For this bird I was lying in full camo gear on top of a limestone outcrop close to where a few of these nervous birds were feeding. Fortune shined when one came and landed on a rock right next me.

To finish off this post I found a treecreeper nest the other day. This is a species I have not photographed much so was not going to pass up the opportunity of photographing the birds on their approach into the nest site with beaks full on insects.

Local Little Egret

One of these birds seems to have taken up residence on the shore close to my home. I have been paying it an occasional visit when my time there coincided with the right tidals conditions.

It has taken up home on the mud and sand banks of the estuary and tends to forage along the gulley areas at low water.Those yellow feet don't stay that way for long when wading through estuary mud.

Moving in for the killAn elegant bird in flight.

Day Break on the Marshes

I recently took a visit at first light to some local marshes. This site usually offers some good potential to encounter some spring migrants. The first bird I encountered was a Northern Wheatear, back lit by the early light. Glad to see I am not the only one who looks ruffled when they first wake up!!!

This meadow pipit was also half asleep
A reed warbler kept me busy for quite a while in a small patch of reeds, as it was playing hard to get a clear shot amongst he reed stems.

A few swallows were buzzing around collecting nesting material. Amongst them I spotted a distinctly different looking bird which had a bright orange breast, compared to the normal cream colouration. This was either a well coloured bird or possibly one from the eastern Mediterranean which show this type of colouration.The search for the elusive yellow wagtail? Well I managed to find one and to get one in front of the camera which is a start but still not have achieved the photo that I am after.

and collecting nesting material

Whinchat

I have a large list of birds that I have yet to photograph and some of these are seasonal especially the passage spring migrants. This gives a limited window of time in which to get some photos. Two species that I have on this years target list are Whinchat and Yellow Wagtail. Both species have proved elusive to me with only tantilising glimpses of these birds at distance. I was out on my local patch yesterday and six Whinchat arrived. What I had not appreciated until recently was how difficult to photograph these birds are. They are highly mobile and have a knack of seeming to disappear and also seem to have a strong aversion to human presence. However, I perserved with the six birds and managed to get my first photographs of this species in their beautiful spring plumage.

Just need to find some yellow wagtails now!!

Supercharged Mini-Predator

I was out the other day looking for some birds to photograph and it was fairly quiet with little showing. The corner of my eye caught some movement in some rocks that had been used to make a sea defence wall. That movment was an actively hunting weasel. My encounters with weasel in the past have always been without a camera in hand and been a brief glimpse as one has shot across a road like a hotdog sausage strapped to a rocket. This too was a fairly short meeting and the speed of this hunting animal was quiet remarkable and coupled with the terrain, made for some difficult photography.

Don't let this 'happy face' and their small size fool you as this is one very efficient and active predator. As they have such a high metabloic rate, which is well reflected in their movements, they have to eat a lot of prey in a day to prevent rapid starvation.

Local Wanderings

I have spent some time recently on my local patch photographing the local residents and some of the migrants as they are arriving. Male kestrels always seem to avoid me so I was pleased when this one decided to hover near by before it made a low and close fly-by.

I constantly find myself drawn back to the skylarks. It is such a pleasant experience just to watch these birds when lying in some grass close-by and observing their behaviour. I have had some birds within 10ft.Some pre-flight checks and getting ready for take-offBefore fluttering upwards for several hundred feet in song (in this case towards the sun)whilst being watched by your competitiors on the ground below.Linnet are such difficult birds to approach and photograph and usually disappear long before you can anyhere close to them. Spring seems to offer some of the best opportunities to get any shots as they perch on the coastal gorse.

Good numbers of Northern Wheatear are continuing to pass through and offer the occasional photo opportunity.Reedbeds are always worth looking over at this time of the year, although never easy to get photos especially if there is a breeze blowing the stems around. The reed bunting are looking at their best and the numbers of warblers are increasing.

Sedge warbler

Avocets and Godwits

I dropped into Marshside while passing the other day. There was a reasonable amount of bird activity in front of the hide but the light was not at its best. I was hoping there would be numbers of Black-tailed godwit there but the most numerous birds were avocets. Avocets are entertaining to watch and if they are not squabbling amongst themselves or with other birds, they tend to be mating!!

The prelude to mating.Shortly followed by.......

In a brief moment of sunshine

A Common Snadpiper also put in a brief appearance. A difficult bird to photograph as they never seem to stop in their foraging along the water's edge.

A couple of Black-tailed godwits were present and keeping a good distance between each other. Superb looking birds in their summer plumage.