First Light Birding

It was a struggle to drag myself out of bed this morning for an early start, especially as the light outside was not looking too good. I headed up to a local small reedbed on the coast at Red Rocks which is quite a good spot for migrants passing through. I spent a short while there without much success. So decided to explore a new area further down the Dee estuary. Shortly after arriving I received a text alert on my mobile that a Black Redstart had been spotted from where I had just left and so headed back.

I couldn't find the Black Redstart but did find a Chiffchaff which is either chiffing or chaffing in this photo.

While photographing the chiffchaff which was taking a regular route around a number of bushes, I noticed a wren kept popping up onto a nearby post and bursting into song. This is a species of which, for some reason despite them being very common, I do not seem to have many photographs. So I settled by the post and waited for the bird to appear which it eventually did and ran off a lot of shots of which these are a very small selection.and a close up of the head to finish this post.I did spot the Black Redstart on the way back to the car but there was no opportunity to get in close enough for a photograph. It was good to see one all the same, as the last I saw was in Austria a couple of years ago.

Back on Home Turf

I enjoyed the trip to Cornwall but its always good to be back on home turf. I headed out at the weekend and decided to try a new local site I have had my eye on for a while. It was a fairly brief session but the area looks promising. I managed to find a chiffchaff during this recce visit.

There were also a number of the very similar looking Willow warbler present which gave me a hard time trying to get a clear shot as they hopped around in dense vegetation.

Up on the coastal strip at the north end of the Wirral I found a male wheatear which was fairly accomodating. Here using a mole hill as a look out post.

Also along the fence line a perched Skylark at the moment before lift off for that ascending song flight.

The main rush of spring migrants still does not seem to have occured which may be due to the cold weather and northerly winds we have been experiencing. Certainly the local vegetation is a lot less advanced than it was last year, although April 2007 was unusually warm.

Cornish Birds

The lack of posts to the blog over the last week has been due to my being away on holiday in North Cornwall. We rented a house known as South Forda House near Kirkhampton which has a mature two acre garden with three ponds and a stream and provides a good variety of bird habitat which was reflected in the 31 species I spotted during my stay. I setup a mini feeding station in the garden which I will discuss in my next post but will for this one just show some of the birds I found in front of my camera during my travels around North Cornwall. So this post will be a rather random collection of species.

We took a walk around the Upper Tamar lake one day which was close to the house but rather devoid of birds except for the occasional Chif Chaf. Just before leaving I spotted a pair of pied wagtail in the car park.

We took a day trip to Padstow and after wondering round the town, headed back out with the camera after lunch and found this bathing Turnstone.

The coastal bushes had numerous dunnocks singing.Together with those inquisitive jackdaws and an unusually friendly rook. Its not until you get really close to a rook that you appreciate the hints of dark blues and purple hues in that 'black' plumage.

I encountered numerous recently arrived chiffchaff on my travels but as usual getting a clear photo of one at a low level proved difficult.

On the way back from Padstow, we called in a Port Isaac which is a typical Cornish fishing village set within a cove surrounded by high cliffs. Numerous Herring gull were present on the cliffs

I was also pleased to find one of my favourite sea birds and master's of flight, the fulmar, skirting along the cliff tops providing some opportunity for flight shots. This is my favourite image of those taken.

Local birds

Stayed local during last weekend to see what birds were about and if any spring migrants were showing. I came across a couple of grasshopper warbler on my travels but they were staying well hidden in reedbeds. A male linnet, for achange as they are usually very difficult to get close to one foot was more obliging.

I have many stonechat photographs but its still difficult to avoid a male bird in such great condition.
and a Spring migrant in the shape of the Chiffchaff which are easy to locate but can be quite frustrating when trying to get a clear shot of them at a low level.