Dunlin Everywhere

I recently had an enjoyable but relatively short session with a large flock of Dunlin. The numbers of these birds seemed to have started building early this year with good numbers around locally already. It was a well a well timed visit as the ebbing tide had just exposed a mud bank and the birds were busy feeding on it. As usual with waders the usual approach of sitting away and still at distance and hoping they will come to you work well, and at one point I had several birds feeding with a few feet of my position.

Some of the birds still showed remnants of their summer plumage.

These birds never stay still for a moment when they are feeding and given their small size makes them quite a tricky target.

Looking around for food in the small puddles left on the shore.

If that approach doesn't work then its time for them to get the beak muddy......

.....with the occasional stop to clean off the excess

As a bonus there were a couple of Ringed Plover mixed in amongst the chaos of the Dunlin flock and I was fortunate to have this one pause briefly close by.

Return of the Turnstones

Over the last three or four weeks the Turnstones have start returning from their northern breeding grounds. It seems to be quite an early a return to me but may be its something I have just not really noticed in previous years. From a photography point of view the early returning birds offer an opportunity to capture some birds in their attractive summer plumage. One point of note is that I have found these early returners to be much less approachable than the usually fairly confiding turnstones I encounter through the winter. Here are a small selection of photos taken on the local coast since their return.

When I first spotted this bird at distance I could not quite work out what species it was from the pale colouring but on closer inspection it turned out to be a young bird.

and one more of these technicolour beachcombers..

Of course the turnstones are not the only waders that have been heading back here with good numbers of dunlin and redshank starting to arrive but that can they wait until the next post.

Grey and White

I had a brief session down on the local coast recently in a rare moment of summer sunshine. The jet stream slipping south this year has in the last few weeks made for some less than idea photo conditions with streams of clouds coming in from the west and only brief glimpses of sunlight coinciding with my free time.

The peninsula where I live is subject to a very large tidal range which can be up to about 10 metres. The accompanying currents carve channels through the shifting sand beds. These channels create good hunting grounds for herons and more recently Little egrets on an ebbing tide. Neither of these birds are particularly easy to approach in the absence of cover and so I decided to quietly settle in amongst the rocks of a groyne to see what came my way.

First visitor was a grey heron flying in across the sand banks.

Photographing the birds coming in across the sand has some advantages as the reflected light provides some under lighting to the subject.

Another bird coming into land. The pools can on occasions attract quite large numbers of herons.

I did have one bird coming up close stalking fish along the edge and I was waiting to move to the right of my position to get a better angle to the light but a group of kids with parents appeared putting all the birds to flight and the session to an end. However, before this one of three Little Egrets present came strolling purposely past me.

As usual on the look out for an easy fish meal

My last view of the egrets as they too where sent scattering skyward by the arrival of the paddling kids.

Taking Terns

I could never get bored of photographing terns. They are very interesting birds that form some great postures when stood and always graceful and elegant in flight. Earlier this year I joined up to a local nature reserve which provides a temporary summer home to large numbers of terns particularly Common Terns.

So I recently paid a couple of visits to the reserve with the specific goal of photographing some of the birds before they dispersed southward.

It really is an excellent place for photographing the birds as the opportunities to puts birds in front of the lens from one of the hides is so numerous. They form some interesting postures when they land in display to other passing birds.

What I was really after was some good flight photos but was this required a morning visit with a south-easterly to get the birds coming in the right direction which never really happened. The sun was also typically fleeting as it has been recently. I still managed some flight photos but not the image I have in my head. I admit I messed quite a few flight photos up with ends of wings out of the frame. Then again when you see the length of the wings that comes as no great surprise!

However, a few flight photos did come my way...

The birds are already starting to disperse from the reserve so I will probably leave them for now but am already planning for a mini-project with them next year although hopefully on a day when conditions are perfect.

Supporting Cast

When I head out the front door with the camera I am usually going to target a particular species as I find it much more productive to go out with a specific plan rather to just see what comes my way. Of course while out and about I am often presented with opportunities for other species that just need to be taken. So I have gathered together a collection of birds that have been encountered on some of my wanderings this year. I have pulled together quite a number so this will be a fairly long post, at least in term of number of photos.

Earlier in the year I went out looking for dippers, on a stream local to my office, during my lunch hours. This was not wholly successful but on one trip I came across this grey wagtail unusually perched in the tree rather than hopping between boulders in the stream.

The early mornings out looking for hares produced the next three in the shape of a female Blackbird, a Song Thrush and more recently a Mistle Thrush eating some Rowan berries.

At the beginning of the year I heard about a couple of Barnacle Geese that had appeared on a local park lake. Probably 'feral' birds but a species which I had not photographed before.

During my sessions photographing avocets in the spring, one of the best looking Shelduck I have seen swam into view and so the mad antics of the avocets were quickly forgotten for a few moments.

There was some good late light illuminating the local pond on the way home one evening so I stopped briefly for this Mute Swan.

During a session looking for skylarks along the local coast I came across this male StoneChat in the dunes and a Robin along a footpath.

and to finish off a Little Egret on the local coast. I do not usually take back views of birds but thought I would make an exception for this one coming in to land.

Glorious Gulls

I really enjoy photographing sea gulls especially in that soft late in the day light. The gulls have recently been returning from their summer nesting grounds so I took the opportunity to photograph some while still in their summer plumage. They usually lose this plumage very quickly on return.

Starting straight off with a couple of portraits of a Black-headed Gull and Common Gull.

They also make for some great flight subjects with this set taken in a short session one evening after work.

To finish this set a young Lesser Black-Backed Gull in some evening light

The waders are now returning from the north so it is time to switch my attentions.

Seabird Safari - Part 4

This is my final installment of my recent trip to the Farne Islands. Before I describe the fun that was had on the last stop of the tour on Inner Farne Island, I thought I would post a photograph of a passing Shag so I could devote the rest of this post to my target species on the island.

I had a clear plan for Inner Farne Island , I was not to be distracted by the puffins, and had the 24-70mm wide lens fixed to the camera before my foot had touched the jetty. As you land on Inner Farne the path from the landing area takes you up through an Arctic Tern colony. They tend to take exception to people and constantly attack the visitors who usually tend to quickly pass through the colony. Those without a hat usually come off worse and sometimes there is even some blood shed. The onslaught of the birds is relentless and it is a fairly uncomfortable experience to endue for any length of time. I decided I would try put up with the attacks for a while in order to try and get some photos of the birds in flight with a wide angle lens. Arctic Terns really are stunningly beautiful and elegant birds in flight with their translucent wings and long tail feathers. That is of course if you can get beyond them trying to do a woodpecker impression on your head with a very sharp bill. Interestingly this year they semmed to have developed a new tactic of attacking exposed ears rather than just the head. Some of the photos from this bombardment of birds are shown below:

This photo was taken with the lens at 24mm. The birds come at your so quickly and so close that the camera autofocus has little chance. Getting photos at this distance and with the weaving flight of the birds proved very tricky.

I suppose there is room for just one photograph to bring the trip to the Farnes to a close.

Overall an enjoyable and productive day out on the islands with some very fortunate weather conditions. Unfortunately the following day the planned trip to the Gannets of Bass Rock was cancelled due to the wind blowing up a sea swell. The planning for next years June excursion is already under way and is going to hopefully take me much further a field and northwards.