A Few from Spring

With it being foggy and murky grey outside all day, it was a good time to catch up with a bit of the photo processing backlog. So I turned my thoughts back to Spring which is such a contrast to the view out of the window today. Early mornings filled with bird song, migrants arriving in waves, the birds looking bright and immaculate and the freshness of the new growth bursting forth from the plants. Such a vibrant time of year and always a pleasure to be out at first light and soaking it all in.

So for this post I just thought I would take a few of the bird images from last Spring and put them together. What could say Spring more than a bird on some willow catkins. In this case a colourful Goldfinch.

Living by the coast there is a reasonable number of gorse bushes and normally good flocks of Linnet. I always associated one with the other as the males often use the top of these vibrant yellow flowered bushes to advertise their territory in song.

A bird that is particularly noticeable in the Spring is the Meadow Pipit.  Huge numbers migrate and on certain days it seems they are everywhere. Of course these are a favoured 'victim' of cuckoos who time their migration to arrive when other birds are beginning to lay eggs.  

Many birds look at their best at this time of year as the males feathers finally wear into their fresh breeding plumage. This male Reed Bunting is nearly there with just a few tawny coloured feather ends to change before the transformation is complete. 

One of the earliest migrant arrivals is the Northern Wheatear with the birds typically arriving locally from their long flight up from Africa around mid-March. They bring with them a real injection of striking colour and contrast into what is still a generally drab landscape in the early Spring with the remnants of winter still evident. Often these arriving birds are very flighty and have an annoying habitat of tending to stay just out of camera range, displaying a flash of white rump as they keep their distance ahead of you.

Into April and migration is in full swing with the arrival of warblers and Whinchat. These birds look amazing when they arrive although the orange colours of the breast and flanks seems to quickly fade once they have been here a short while. From a photography point of view they are definitely a bird to try and catch as they arrive.

 Of course Spring is not just about sights, it is also about sounds. Unfortunately I did not get much time to photograph warblers this year with the exception of the Willow Warbler. This bird's song of descending notes I know very well, having had one singing all through the 'night' outside my bedroom when I stayed in Arctic Norway. The songster did not help with me struggling to get to sleep with the perpetual daylight outside.

Well having done this post and reminisced over Spring the grey murk outside suddenly looks a bit brighter. Also it has got me thinking that I should start thinking about and planning my trip abroad for next year. North, South, East or West...decisions...decisions.

Roaming in Romania - Day 6: The Macin Mountains

Another very early alarm call pushed me out of the bed. It was quite strange to hear the sound of occasional traffic outside rather than a chorus of frogs.  After a brief bit of stumbling around my room to gather my belongings I headed down to the hotel reception, where I had chance to grab a quick coffee before boarding the minibus with the other three photographers. Our destination today was the Macin Mountains. After about an hour we turned off the main road and headed up a dusty dirt track across a patchwork of flat farmland to finally come to a stop at the lower slopes of the mountains.

Our plan for the next two day was that we would split into two groups with two sessions in a drinking pool hide, the only fixed hide of the whole holiday, and two sessions going round the farm tracks seeing what birds we could find. Hans and Michael took the first hide session while Rene and I headed off in the minibus with Zoltan.

As we travelled down the dirt track away from the hide, the occasional Corn Bunting could be seen flitting between song perches and Isabelline Wheatear dashed on to the track to grab an insect. I noted there were a few puddles on the track from recent rainfall. The first bird we managed to put in front of the lens was a Short-toed lark quietly calling from a large boulder in the early sunlight.

We carried on along the dust track for a while before we heard the ubiquitous cuckoo call and decided to stop for a while as Rene was keen to get some photos of the three birds that were preoccupied  chasing each other around.

By the time we had finished with the cuckoos the sun was well and skyward with the light becoming increasing harsh. However, more importantly and has been my experience of photographing on farmland previously, a heat  and water vapour haze was very quickly developing. Heat haze is a major cause of people thinking  their camera has malfunctioned as the wobbling air can make it very difficult to produce sharp images. This was well demonstrated as we came across a perched European Roller but the images all went in the trash. There are only two approaches for these conditions which are to pack up or to get very close to the birds to reduce the amount of wobbling air between you and them. Even if you can get very close there is still a need to take a lot of images as a good proportion of them will not be sharp.

The next bird which we managed to get very close to was the familiar sight of a Goldfinch which was busy pulling apart a globe thistle seed head.

Onwards down the track and we came to a small section  that was relatively busy with birds including Tawny Pipit and a new species for me, the Crested Lark. The latter is very similar in an appearance to a Skylark but with a permanently erect head crest.

Conditions were getting more and more difficult and after a failed attempt to find an Ortolan Bunting we finished the session with a close encounter with a singing Corn Bunting
.

The dry dusty farmland with its assortment of sandy coloured birds was a stark contrast to the lush vibrancy of the Delta that we had recently left. We returned to the hide to collect Michael and Hans who reported a very slow morning with only a Turtle Dove and out of condition Hawfinch showing up. The drinking pool hide at Macin can be very productive particularly during prolonged hot and dry conditions. However, the puddles on the tracks were a sign of recent rainfall providing the birds with other places to find essential water.

We all headed off into Macin to check in to another hotel where we would fortunately only be staying for one night. To say the hotel was very grim is an understatement. My door lock was hanging on by a single screw having obviously been forced open on several occasions. Certainly somewhere to sleep on top of the bed covers with your boots on to prevent being eaten alive by the mattress wildlife and also allow a quick exit if needed. Everyone quickly decided it was not the place to leave any camera equipment which would now stay with us for the rest of the time in Macin.

We had a pasta lunch outside of a roadside restaurant before heading back to the farmland and hide. Rene and I were dropped off for our afternoon session. For those of you not familiar with a drinking pool hide it is basically an infinity pool for birds with a hide at one end. The design of the pool tends to force the birds to visit the far end and the low set hide allows photography near water level.

As we sat and waited in what felt like a mini-sauna, there were sounds around would have been a delight to any bird lover's ears. In the tree behind the incessant calling of cuckoo and gentle purring of Turtle Dove, to the left the metallic jangle of a Corn Bunting, in the large distant tree ahead the flute-like calls of Golden Oriole and in the bush to the right the scratchy warbles of a Red-backed Shrike. In front of us to photograph....nothing. Eventually a bird appeared in the shape of a male Ortolan Bunting, a promising start. The attractive bunting stayed for a while on a small perch before deciding it was safe to bathe.

Another hour past with no signs of birds except the occasional flash of a male Golden Oriole chasing away a cuckoo. The next arrival was a Corn Bunting which paused briefly before getting down to the important business of cleaning its feather.

 

After the bird departed we were forced into a prolonged wait once more. We sat there hoping that a Golden Oriole might come in to bathe but it never happened. The arrival of the next bird did jolt us from our late afternoon lull, a stunning male Red-backed Shrike which has been there the whole afternoon just out of sight in the bush to our right. For me this was definitely bird of the day.

A Jay was the next visitor. When these birds decided to get a bath they don't mess around and soon the bird was completely soaked.

The final bird to arrive was a Turtle Dove. These are such beautiful birds but under so much pressure across Europe from intensive farming and hunting pressures. In the UK, this once common bird, is very sadly rapidly heading towards extinction as a breeding species. Efforts are being made to try and help the species in the UK but I wonder if the external pressures are too great and it is too little and too late to save this attractive dove.

That was the last bird which visited and we soon heard the rattle of the white minibus returning to collect us. Overall it had been a reasonable day but fairly slow, particularly in the hide where long periods of inactivity were punctuated by the occasional bird. We went straight for a meal before heading back to the 'roach motel'  where I quickly fell asleep on top of the bed still wearing my boots.

New Plot Visitors

In one of those rare moments of sunshine in one of the worst winters of weather I can remember for photography, I decided to make a visit to the new feeding station known as 'the Plot'. It has kept me busy keeping the variety of feeders constantly filled, as high numbers of birds have been visiting and eating their way through large quantities of seed, fat-balls and peanuts. On this particular morning it seemed fairly quiet in terms of numbers of birds arriving, the cause of which would be revealed later in the session.

The first birds returning to the feeders, after the minor disturbance of setting up the pop-up hide, were the Blue Tits as usual. Despite being a very common bird, which could be easily overlooked, when their plumage is in good condition they do look superb.

The tits were very quickly joined by a small flock of Goldfinch. This is one species that appears to have really benefited from the feed that people put out in their gardens, and what once was a fairly unusual sight is now common. The birds glowed in their beautiful colours in the early morning sun.

I decided to introduce a new perch taken from my garden which was already showing the first shoots of spring under the mild winter weather.

Another photograph taken later in the session, when one side of the photography area is plunged in to shade by a bush, giving dark backgrounds to the photos. I quite like these dark background photographs as they really show off the colours of the birds.

Next species to muscle in on the feeders were the larger Greenfinch. When these boisterous birds arrive all the other tends to be pushed out the way until they have had their fill.

A new species arrived in the shape of a small flock of Chaffinch. These birds don not tend to land so much on the perches but appear more content with picking up the fallen seed on the ground below the feeders. This is a male bird looking is great condition. It appears the birds are benefiting from their new food supply.

Joining in with the mopping up of seed from the ground was the arrival of six pheasants. A female bird peaking over from behind one of the logs.

Now you may be thinking that there was a lot of bird activity but compared to the numbers coming in to the feeders when I make my visits to refill, it was fairly quiet. The reason soon became apparent with a sudden burst of alarm calls from the scattering small song birds and rushing of air sound from above the hide resulted in a stunning male Sparrowhawk landing on the perch in front of me. As I was so close to perch to photograph the small birds, all I could fit into the frame was a head portrait. I managed to take about six photos before this predator with its highly tuned senses realised I was there and disappeared low and fast over the hedge. It was inevitable that so much bird activity would eventually attract a predator.

I am already looking forward to my next session at the Plot and to see what will turn up next.

The Plot

A couple of months back I managed to secure the use of private site to set up a new bird feeding station for photography. This site is now known as 'The Plot' and is in an interesting location with a good potential to attract migrant birds. It has taken some work to get the site suitable for bird photography and I have shared the efforts of setting up and feeding with a couple of friends.

December has not been a good for my photography, mainly due to me feeling unwell with some lergy at the start of the month and my energy levels only returning to some normality this week. The weather and light have also been consistently poor, so even if I had been healthy enough to venture out, I don't many photographs would have been had.

A couple of days back a morning of rare sunlight was forecast and having returned to the world of the living, I finally got round to my first session at the Plot. Its is good to end the year with the start of a new project. Conditions were not ideal with a strong 30mph wind blowing in off the sea and the clouds racing across the sky causing very variable light conditions.

The wind was a nuisance as it was causing a lot of problems with my pegged down hide flapping around and causing unwanted noise. A sparrowhawk swooping through occasionally also didn't help put the birds at ease.

It is always interesting when you start photographing at a new feeding station, not only to see which birds are turning up, but also you start to get a feel for the subtleties of how the light changes across the the set up and influences the background colours. This is quite nicely demonstrated in the two Goldfinch photos above and below.

The main bird species arriving at the free food supply were a range of tit species and finches such as this Great Tit.

I was particularly happy to see good numbers of Greenfinch turning up which are beautiful birds.

A party of around ten Long-tailed tits were also doing the rounds and coming through en mass on an hourly cycle. A species that is always such fun to photograph and I look forward to more encounters with them over the coming months.

There were several other species visiting the Plot at the moment but they can wait to future sessions. The final species photographed during my brief session was a bold male Great spotted Woodpecker which seems to have taken a strong liking to one of the upright perches.

So that really brings this year to a close. 2011 has been an enjoyable year with around 110 bird and 5 mammal species photographed including quite a good number that I have not put in front of the camera previously. I have so many incredible memories but some highlights would include the Stone Curlew and Balearic Warblers of Mallorca in the Spring, the Whinchat and Corn Bunting in the Summer and Water Rails in the Autumn. I think my strongest memory will be spending the three hours following a group of hunting stoat which was such a unique and privileged experience.

What will 2012 bring? Well who can say but I already have quite a few plans including a week booked away oversea. I am looking forward to 2012 already and will end this post by wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Wildlife filled New Year.

A Few Along the Way

With my photography I do try and concentrate on sessions aimed at a particular species. Inevitably whilst waiting around or during my wanderings a few other species tend to appear in the viewfinder. Often you may just get one of two photos of these chance encounters and therefore as the year progresses I tend to end up with a small collection of bonus images that I can use for a compilation blog post which is exactly what this one will be.

I will start of with spring and whilst walking down to a small reed bed to try and photograph reed warbler, a male Blackcap poked out of a bush and launched in to its loud blackbird like warbling song. I quite liked bird partially obscured by vegetation in this image as this a good representation of a typical view.

I live on the road which has the tidal River Mersey at the bottom and whilst walking down the hill to look for some wading birds on the beach, I cut through the park where there are some very approachable Mistle Thrush. Fortunately the maintenance people leave some areas of longer grass to allow some interesting low angle photos to be taken

During a session looking for some hares I came across a large clump of thistle which the local Goldfinches were doing their best to strip of all it seeds.

Another bird encounter during my search from hares, a Jay in the process of taking on board an acorn to go and bury somewhere for the winter.

I occasionally visit a graveyard where there is usually a relatively 'friendly' female Kestrel. On this occasion there was no sign of 'Mavis' as she is fondly known, but I did manage to get a couple of images of a male bird in some late in the day light.

Perched on a gravestone

Hovering low looking for worms and voles.

I also keep an eye on one of the local duck ponds as sometimes something more unusal the the flocks of mallard will arrive. A Shelduck unexpectedly 'crash' landing.

I try and keep my camera by my side as often as possible for unexpected moments. While driving to work one morning, I spotted a young Black-tail Godwit feeding on the fields behind the local promenade. Well it would have been a crime to drive by with out taking a few photos. It is fortunate I always tend to leave early for my trip to the office in case of such events.

Obviously these are just a few of the 'extras' I have encountered during this year but each one has been a welcome and special moment.