Holiday Snaps

I have been thinking about booking a holiday so I thought I would sort through some of last years holdiay photographs to make a compilation. First up was a trip to the NE of Mallorca in April.

Hoopoe in the garden!!!

On the local beach Audouin's Gull

The star for me of the local marshes, the Black-winged Stilt.

Mid-summer found me in Austria. Black Redstart where common around the hotel. Together with their young.

In the alpine meadows there were no shortage of Goldfinch and Serin.

and up on the local summit, Alpine chough

Birthday Tour

I had the day off yesterday as it was my birthday and decided to go over to Bingley in West Yorkshire to see if I could find the American Robin that has been reported there for a couple of weeks. The bird showed briefly on my arrival and managed to get a few shots. Good bird to see and saved a Trans-Atlantic plane fare!!!!!

While I was there I went to see if the reported Firecrest was still around but failed to find it. However, there was a great looking wild Mandarin Drake on the nearby canal.

Decided to head back towards home but took a small detour to see if there were any Barn owls about and managed to get just the one shot.

The Long Search For the Gull is Over

For months I have kept stopping at flocks of Black-headed Gull trying to find a Mediterranean Gull and failed miserably. I decided to pop out briefly on Sunday morning despite the fog to see what was around along New Brighton sea front. I thought if nothing else I will take a couple of shots of Common Gull. Fortunately the fog was clear just along the front and sunlight was occasionally managing to get through.

Common gull

Earlier I had spotted a Mediterranean Gull out in the middle of the Marine Lake, out of range. I then drove up to a large group of Black-headed Gulls and suddenly realised the one at the front didn't look quite the same. Found what I had been looking for after looking at all those thousands of sea gulls over the weeks.

Farmland Pheasant

I was out looking for more owls the other day but they were not playing the game and were only at long distance. While I waited a couple of pheasant came up the side of field. One in regular colouring the other the dark morph. It was the latter I really want to get some shots of but it had other plans so I settled for the regular colour oned which was in great condition and beautifully coloured. The diffuse light was great for showing of that array of colours.

This was the moment it realised that all was not as it should be up ahead, with me being there.

Daylight Owls II

The other species of owl I have been fortunate enough to photograph recently is the Barn Owl. I first found two birds at the end of a sunny winter afternoon and just managed a few shots before the light disappeared.

A sight to make any bird photographer happy, an owl heading straight towards the lens

and one last shot before the sun completely disappeared.

I returned to find a solitary bird out hunting voles along the fringes of a field.

Daylight Owls

I have been forunate in the last couple of months in getting the opportunity to photograph both Short-eared owl and Barn owl. They are both beautiful species and facinating to watch and photograph.

For this Post I will just concentrate on the Short-eared owl shots.

and some flight shots

The birds also have some interesting mid-air terratorial disputes

Woodland Birds

Whilst photographing the squirrels at Formby Point I became easily distracted by the abundant bird life in the woods.

A Treecreeper

Coal tit

The tiny Goldcrest which are always tricky to photograph.

and Song Thrush

Red Mammal Day

Took a trip out the other day to photograph some of the red squirrels at Formby Point. I had heard some Grey squirrels had appeared in the area so thought I would get some more shots of the reds just in case they are impacted by the Greys.

During my visit I was also rewarded with a lovely close encounter with a fox.

Howling Winds

Its been a difficult week for bird photography with the UK being battered with high winds. Up until Sunday the week had been lean with only the dipper in the last post to show for my efforts. I went back out on Sunday morning and ended up at Crosby Marine Park as I had some reports of some unseasonal Litle Gull being present. I really wanted some flight shots but that was not going to happen in the raging winds.

However, I did manage to get a flight shot of a passing cormorant.

I went for a wander towards the dunes to see if there was anything there and nearly stepped on a Grey Partridge and managed to get my first shot of one before it rapidly disappeared.

Walking back to the car I noticed that one of the Goldeneye drake, that were so elusive the week before was close in. So using a litter bin for cover I managed to get some shots on the rough water,

First Dipper of the Year

Hopefully the first of many. The bird was photographed on a flooded North Wales stream flowing through some private land which I have recently got permission to use. The bird was photographed by open stalking using a bankside tree as cover to conceal the approach. The encounter was brief but enjoyable.