The Seven Year Itch for 'Storm Bats'

Regular readers will have noticed I have not updated this blog for a while. There has been a couple of reasons for this. Firstly I thought I needed to have a break to recharge the 'blogging batteries'. After all I have been writing this journal now continuously for 11 years. Secondly I have effectively 'lost' the first 5 years or so of photographs from my musings which as you can imagine I was none to impressed with. This came about as for a period when producing the blog in the early years, I started hosting images on here through Photobucket. Unfortunately, Photobucket has now started charging for 3rd party site hosting and frankly I am not prepared to pay the $400 per year they are now charging that would bring the images back. I could go back through and re-enter all the post images but as you can imagine for a 5 year period this is no small undertaking and probably something I may actually never get round to.

Anyway, I have decided to start blogging once more, and in my 7 month absence have had some wonderful wildlife experiences which I look forward to sharing with you. I will start with the most recent which took place only this week.

I am fortunate to live at the end of the Wirral Peninsula which is probably one of the few and best places in the UK to photograph Leach's Storm Petrel from the shore when the conditions are right. The ideal conditions are strong north-westerly gales for a period of two to three days, ideally couple with some large tides around the middle to end of September. The last time this occurred and big numbers of Leach's Petrel were blown into the shore was way back in 2010. Every September since, I have carefully watched weather and tide conditions hoping and waiting for a repeat performance but it has just not developed. It seemed that every September that came round was accompanied by settled conditions with a lack of the necessary storms. People often ask me how long did you have to wait to get a particular photograph? Often it is not as long as you would imagine but for the Leach's Petrels, the 7 year wait has felt like a very long time.

At the end of last week, I was on my usual September weather watch and it appeared that all the right conditions were suddenly going to converge to bring in goods numbers of Leach's Petrel into the local shore. The winds were right, the tide heights and times were all looking good. Before I get on to some images I will take a few moments to describe why these are such challenging birds to photograph from the shore beyond the waiting for all the right conditions to come together. The Leach's Petrel is a small bird  about the size of a starling and tend to be very erratic in their moments in the onshore gales. To me they often resemble a large bat which is why I call them 'Storm Bats'. The conditions that bring them into shore makes for some tough photography. They require use of long lens that usually need to be handheld to try and keep on the birds, the strong winds buffet both camera and photograph and also this is accompanied by a constant sea spray off the raging sea. The birds appear and disappear within the rolling breakers and twist and turn as they try and battle their way back out to sea. You have to admire these birds that appear so small and delicate but apparently totally fearless in these conditions as they characteristically patter across the turbulent water surface. Below are a couple of images to give you an idea of the conditions that birds and photographers are battling with.

So on to the session itself, I left home at lunchtime on Monday and after a couple of minutes drive and I was at the mouth of the River Mersey. Groups of birdwatchers were parked up or huddled in groups against the Perch Rock Fort out of the pummelling wind looking for these elusive birds. A chat with a couple of them confirmed that the Leach's Petrel were appearing. This meant they would slowly make their way along the north coast of the Wirral as the tide dropped. I moved on further along the coast to park at the top of an embankment where I spotted around a few birds struggling their way through the waves, however too distant for photography. However, if the birds were here it should mean they would hit the shore at my favourite spot which is where I headed to next. My friend Steve arrived quickly followed by a sharp downpour of rain which was whipped horizontally by the onshore winds. However, the skies then cleared and we started to get some good light as the first of the Leach's Petrel made it way along the edge. Over the next 2.5 hours we had around 20 birds pass close to where we were stood, sometimes too close, allowing us both to make some of our favourite Leach's Petrel images to date. The will be many images below as all my previous images of these wonderful birds from back in 2010 have currently disappeared in the Photobucket 'black hole'.

So will I have to wait another 7 years before the next petrels to appear? Well possibly not. With the series of hurricanes currently battering the east coast of the USA it may be possible that remnants of these storms may wind their way across the North Atlantic bringing more birds into shore. As usual during the rest of September, I will be keep a close eye on the weather with the hope of another encounter with these wonderful ocean wanderers.

Storm Walkers

I always think I am very fortunate where I live to have such a wealth of bird photography potential on my doorstep. The anticipation increases in late September and the start of October when during prolonged periods of north-west gales, the Wirral peninsula is one of the best places in the UK to see Leach's Storm Petrels. This small enigmatic pelagic species is swept in to Liverpool Bay and a number usually end up lingering in the mouth of the River Mersey, before making their way eastward along the top of the peninsula on the ebbing tide. All the conditions have to be right, good sized tides and a very strong north westerly wind for several days. On some years the number of birds sighted can be counted on one hand however, during this last week they were driven in by the 100s by the pummelling winds.

Photographing the petrels is very difficult. I will try and paint the scene for those who have not experienced it. Basically you are stood facing the full force of the elements that includes a face full of gale force sand-laden winds and salt spray from the raging sea.

What are you are looking for is a small dark coloured bird about the size of a small thrush battling in a bat like fluttering flight through the crashing waves.

A significant problem faced is the difficulty focusing on the rapidly erratic flying object in the severe conditions.

It never ceases to amaze me how such a tiny bird can battle against such harsh conditions.

I was fortunate to have one bird temporarily pause in front of me to feed on some seaweed.

The birds as they struggle across the rocking sea show the delightful behaviour of walking across the water.

My brief after work sessions were a memorable experience that will stay with me for a long time. Hopefully we will get some further gales very soon which will let try and meet the challenge of photographing these wonderful birds once more.

As an aside and for those who may be interested in seeing the face behind the camera, I am due to appear on BBC Countryfile tomorrow (Sunday 19th) on BBC 1 at 6:30pm as I was involved in the long-listing of entries to their photographic competition this year.

Autumn Storm Birds

I am fortunate to live in one of the few places in the country where the pelagic Leach's Storm Petrel can be blown into the shore with strong westerly or north westerly winds during the autumn. This is a bird I have not photographed before and during some recent strong winds some arrived, the first decent number of birds for a couple of years. They are very difficult birds to photograph, being about the size of a starling, and also due to the fact that you are trying to hold a camera steady during a raging onshore gale. Being dark birds they also really need the sun on them to show them at their best, which did not occur in my attempt for them but at least I managed to get some shots (although there is room for improvement but that will probably have to wait to next autumn now).

Its amazing to watch these tiny birds battling their way through ferocious winds and seas as they patter their way across the surface.

A couple of birds ended up being blown onto the beach briefly as they powered their way back out to sea.Hopefully the sun will shine when they hit the shore again and this brief encounter has provided me with useful experience for next time.