Spring Selection

Firstly apologies for not posting for a while, it has been a busy time for me. Having been made redundant from my job at the end of March, I decided to set up myself up in business offering lake design and rehabilitation consultancy services which has taken up a lot of time to get  up and running. Also at the end of April I managed to fall over, causing damage to both my camera and lens and so that was out of action for a while being repaired. Despite all these time constraints, I have still managed to  squeeze in quite a few short sessions although have not had much time to go through the images.

I do love Spring and how everything bursts into life after the long winter days and the air is once again filled with bird song. This year we had a fairly cold period during April with northerly winds blowing from the north keeping the temperatures unseasonally low.  This certainly seemed to put a temporary hiatus on bird migration northwards with many summer visiting migrant species being delayed in their arrival.

Anyway enough of my ramblings lets get on to some photographs......

I spent quite a bit of time this Spring photographing Black Grouse but I intend to dedicate a post to them so will just give you hint of what is to come with this photo of a male bird calling at sunrise.

I had a meeting up in Newcastle and as usual when I head in that direction, took the scenic route home to take in some moorland and red grouse.

Some time has been spent with the resident birds of the coastal strip that runs along the top of the Wirral Peninsula. The coastal gorse looked amazing this year in flower with swathes of bright yellow and it seemed a good opportunity to try and get some birds perched on it where possible. Skylark, Linnet, Wren and Stonechat were the main species  photographed.

While driving round one morning I suddenly remembered a report from a couple of years back of Mandarin Duck that used a small pond to pair up before breeding. The ducks are only present on the pond for a very short period so I was lucky to find them there when I went to check it out.

Of course one of the great parts of Spring is the passage and arrival of migrant birds. This spring I saw a report of a drake Garganey being present on a local lake and decided to go straight there. It was fortunate that I did as the bird had left and continued on its passage the next day. It is a while since I have put a Garganey in front of the camera so it was a pleasure to photograph one of these beautiful waterfowl, even though conditions and access at the lake present numerous challenges.

I am always amazed at the small migrants birds and think about the epic journey they have made from the south. For example the Wheatear coming up from Africa.

This is particularly the case for warblers and the long distances covered by these tiny birds weighing a few grams. Below are a selection of these travellers including Chiffchaff, Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat filling their air with their varied songs.

I also managed to find one of my favourite summer visiting warblers, the Wood Warbler that fills the woodlands with its amazing electric song.

I will finish off the photographs of this post with one last species which is the Whinchat. The males when they first arrive look amazing but the colour often quickly seems to fade so it is always best to try and catch them early. Photographs of the female and male birds are below.

In two days time, I am heading north on my annual overseas trip. This years sees me returning to Arctic Finland and Norway with the majority of the time being spent on the Varanger Peninsula. Exciting prospects ahead and it will be good to return after my previous visit 6 years ago. Hoping the unpredictable weather is kind and that there will be plenty of photographs to share with you on my return.

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.

Temporary Feeding Station

I decided I would take a feeder, some sun flower hearts and fatballs on my trip to Cornwall just in case there was some possibilities to set-up a mini feeding station in the garden. On arrival I noticed an existing nut feeder located outside the kitchen window by the front door. So I added a couple of fallen branches out of the garden to attach my offerings next to it, as the birds were already coming into this area. This allowed me to then take photos through the front door while sitting in the house which was probably just as well as we experienced all four seasons of weather during the week's stay. In hindsight my only regret was that I did not spend more time wandering around the garden or setting up another feeder elsewhere and on the last day realised I had missed out on a chance of getting some Marsh tit and Siskin photos. I did not spend a great deal of time photographing the birds, as that was not really the purpose of the holiday, and it was usually either a short session in the morning or after a day out exploring North Cornwall. I have posted a small selection of shots from the temporary feeding station.

Blue tits

and in some April snowFemale and Male Greenfinch

Female House sparrowMale Chaffinch

Goldfinchand Nuthatch

Wandering around the garden I also just about managed a photo of this willow warbler which refused to allow me a completely clear shot as it moved through some low branches.

and one of the resident wrens

They always amaze me that such a small bird can produce such a loud song.