Birdies and Bunnies

What a wonderful weekend this has been. As I write this blog on sunday afternoon I cannot believe that its been so nice. I have divided my time between Herefordshire and Powys.

Saturday morning saw an early start for me and my son, Lee. We were at the Elan valley just before 7am. The weather was absolutely stunning although there was a biting wind. Our first sighting was a group of three Red Kite, I managed a distant shot over a hedge.

We saw quite a few Kite during the morning but none came close enough for a better shot. For those who know where the Kites normally nest in the Elan it appears that they are not this year.

The next thing we saw and heard were Skylarks, lots of them singing and one or two on the ground.

There were the usual amount of Meadow Pipits. Although they were surprisingly jittery and we couldnt get too close to them

We saw Pied Flycatcher also which was nice. Didn't get a shot though. Wheatear were seen, as was a lovely Kestrel. No Stonechat, whinchat, or Grasshopper Warbler, which is really surprising.

We decided to shoot over to Gilfach Nature reserve, its the worst kept secret in the photography world. It started with just a few photographers going there year or three ago, but now its innundated every weekend.
we got there just after 9.30 and there were already half a dozen photographists there. Amongst them was a chap I've met before called Steve Seal. I have seen Steve's pics on BG regularly and he is a great photographer. Pip and his wife were there as you would expect and even though Its been over 12 months since I've been there Pip recognised me immediately and gave me a top that I had left there on my previous visit, washed and ironed I might add. Pip was his usual informative self and was supplying mealworm for those who hadn't brought any. The redstart don't appear to have chicks yet so the visits to the food were few and far between. I didnt get a shot. I did get Pied flycatchers though at the Otter hide as well as at the centre.

 





















I also got my best shot of a Lesser Redpoll. I am most pleased with this.

So that was the trip to Powys, very enjoyable and hopefully to be repeated again soon.

This morning I treated myself to a slight lie in, I was up at 6.30am and at the gravel pits outside of Hereford before 8.00am I was concerned by my first sight at the reserve,

This is a Mute Swans nest, the two swans were some 100 yards or so away from it and did not seem to be at all concerned about it. You cannot see it from this shot but a close up shows the eggs all wet, I presume covered in dew. Unfortunately when I walked back to my car about 2 hours later the nest was still not being sat on. I remember last week when I was there that there was another swan on the pond and two of the birds were chasing each other all over the place, I wonder if it was a take over by a rogue male?
I hope the nest has not been deserted.

Nearby was this Dunnock, have you ever listened to Dunnocks singing? Its a beautiful sound, as good as any other song bird. they take a good photo as well.

There were a large number of Sedge Warblers around also singing their heads off.

and Common Whitethroat.

The stars of the day though were these little beauties. I sat and watched these for a few minutes, cursing that there was a bramble branch casting a shadow on them.

The reserve is recovering from flooding, I saw one pair of Canada Geese on a nest, so they are trying again.
The Willow Warblers were there and flitting around all over the place.

All in all 2 fabulous days of birding and photography, following on from an evening earlier in the week when I saw three different types of Owl. Shortie, Barn, and Little. Finally here is a pic of the little.























Thanks for looking and click for bigger pics.

A Gap in the rain.

A two day gap in the rain saw me out and about with the camera for most of the daylight hours. Day one was macro day. I really enjoy macro stuff and am continually trying to improve my ability and showcase even more stuff.

I went out armed with my 1D and 100mm lens to the wood where I walk Roxy. Have you ever seen those horrible looking black flies that seem to swarm and fly with their legs hanging down? They are called Saint Marks Fly. I wanted to get some shots of them. I think I acheived what I set out to do.

What I did notice though was that some of them had something strange happening on their backs, I dont know what this is but I am currently trying to research it. It looks like some kind of growth.

Quite a few of them were displaying the "growth". and on one or two it seems to be appearing from under the black dome rather than growing on it.

There were one or two other subjects that I got, the first is a common House Fly.

I'm quite pleased with this.
Next I got one of the critters that make my skin crawl when I see them, The Earwig.

I have no idea what this one is called, looks a bit like a soldier beetle but is a different colour.

I did a few Bluebell shots too, I'm not sure about them though. What do you think?

The macro stuff is lovely, I think I prefer it to bird photography, although birding will always be my first love. I really enjoy birding and the following day reminded me why.

With the weather holding out on day two I decided to swap to bird stuff. I went to a site just outside of Hereford, the one where I got the LRP shots. I was gutted to see that the rain had meant that the level of water on the main lake was such that a number of nests must have been destroyed. I know that at least two Canada Goose nests had been flooded, I can only hope that the eggs had hatched, but there was no sign of any young chicks.

The Rabbit population were out in force but I was upset to see that a number had the dreaded Myxi that I hate.

I couldn't get the right side of him so he's backlit. Its such a horrible disease.

There were a good number of Whitethroats at the site, I managed to get this common variety.

I also spent 45 minutes waiting for a Sedge Warbler to come into view. I could hear him chattering in amongst the undergrowth, but he just would not come up. I got the shot of the Whitethroat and the Rabbit whilst waiting for it to show.

I know its not brilliant but I am glad I saw him, along with the Whitethroat he is another addition to my yearly list.

Home for lunch and then off to another spot to do some macro, my birding having been fulfilled for the day. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up to park at the location and about 200 yards to my front I could see what I initially believed was a Barn Owl sitting on a hedge with its back to me. I quickly realised that it wasn't a Barnie at all but a Short Eared Owl. I have never set my kit up so quickly. Unfortunately after a very brief sortie around public land it flew over some private land and landed in a tree. Fortunately for me the landowner had seen me with my kit and after a brief chat I was invited to enter the private land and position myself where I might be able to get a shot or two.

The light was really difficult, alternating between sunshine and heavy cloud, I tried my best and I am more than happy with the results.

Not brilliant but possibly the best shortie shot I have is the last is this series, the first was literally the first shot.

They are all cropped shots as I'm sure you guessed. The first shot was taken using my 600mm lens with a 2x converter on. The flight shots are all just with the 600, my 1.4 conv is knackered and only useful for stationary shots. I am really pleased with the Last shotIt was taken with the 1.4 on the 600mm.

One other shot I got just before I left was this one with the Owl flying overhead with a catch in its claws, it looks like a Vole, possibly a Short Tailed. Again its not brilliant but I like it.

Again its a crop.

I also got a shot of a Starling which I quite like as it shows a lot of the colours.

All in all two very nice days of photography. Three birds added to my yearly list, which is now at the 100 mark. and the Shortie is the first I've ever seen in Herefordshire to boot. Click on the images for a larger version.

Up High and at the Seaside.

I had to go up to Cheshire this last week to see my mum and take her to the hospital. I had planned a trip to Anglesey with my brother fishing.

On route up to Chester I stopped off at the Hills surrounding Church Stretton, Chris G and I had been up there a couple of years ago to look for Dotterel with no luck. This trip of mine was merely speculative. I only had my bag of smaller lenses with me. I whacked the 300 onto my 1D and drove up to the Glider club at the top of the hill.

Meadow Pipit were everywhere, I managed a couple of half decent shots.

I spent a little time trying to get near to a Skylark, but whenever I did the light wasn't quite right. These were the best two shots.

The birds were having to share the skies with other modes of transport, I doubt I'd have the testicular fortitude to do this.

The star of the show was a female Wheatear which was very obliging.

A lovely little diversion on route to my mothers. I indulged myself and made another at Christleton Pit, I've posted pics from there before. Its a village pond which usually has something to photograph on it.

This Black Headed Gull was looking quite nice.

I also got up close and personal with a Mallard.

The trip to Anglesey with my brother didn't bring us the fish we'd hoped for. I got two trout though. At about 3pm we decided to pack up and go to South Stack RSPB reserve. I'd had a fix of coast when I went to Cornwall to see Andy C and his lovely wife, but I was well up for another fix. I still only had my 300 with me but as we turned off the A55 I had it on my knee. I said to my brother to keep his eyes open as we were driving to South Stack, The fields leading up to the site often have Chough in them and although the weather wasnt brilliant I was hopeful. Our luck held out, about half a mile or so from the site we came across this bird in a field. He was a little way off the road so these are cropped shots but given the conditions I'm happy with them.

After a cup of Chocolate at the cafe and a chat to two of the lovely staff we set off to walk down to the cliffs, My brother suffers with vertigo so he wouldn't come too far, but he had his fuji camera with him and whilst I was snapping a Jackdaw and Herring gull at one part of the carpark I could see him snapping at what looked like a Wagtail on the fence at the top of the steps leading down to the cliffs.

I walked over to join him and we walked towards the steps, as we got to within 10 yards or so the "wagtail" still hadn't flown off, which was no surprise as it was a solid cut out in metal. He was so embarrassed bless him, but his eyesight is not brilliant. In all fairness it did look real from across the car park.

At the top of the cliffs I got a distant shot of this Stonechat.

and this shot of a Linnet.

I've never had the opportunity to photgraph the lighthouse so I got a quickie.

The last shot from this site is a Raven that was hiding along the cliff face. The sun was partially behind him but I'm happy enough.

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We then took a drive to Trearddur Bay, its a lovely little spot. I was hoping for a few beach comber birds whilst my bro wanted to get a panoramic of the bay. We were both happy, me because there were a pair of Oystercatchers running along the tide edge.

This is the last picture of the post. It was a very enjoyable trip up north all round.

To Post or not to Post.

As responsible wildlife photographers I'm sure that there have been occasions where we have had to back off from taking a shot. The welfare of the subject matter is and has to be paramount.
But what happens if, for instance, you can get a shot of a protected species, in the case of birds a Schedule 1 species, without being near a nest site in nesting season? If, for instance, the bird is adjacent to a public footpath or in a public park? Would you take the shot?

I would, I make no bones about it. If my actions are in no way endangering or disturbing the subject then I would get the best shot I could.

I, like a lot of other people, regularly view and post shots on the Birdguides Website. Birdguides is an excellent tool, it gives images, sightings, and information about birds seen all over the world. Birdguides have a code of conduct. They state they will not publish shots submitted of birds on the schedule 1 list during March to June. They state that they will not publish such shots even if the submitter allegedly has a licence to photo such birds because they do not have the resources to check. There are lots of birds on the list and they even add a few that aren't because they believe they should be.

Yet on a weekly basis shots of birds like, Red Kite, Kingfisher, Bittern and lately Black winged stilt have been submitted and posted. Today I had such an opportunity present itself to me. I had been watching Little Ringed Plover in a private site near Hereford. I was watching from a hide at a distance of 50-75 yards or more. This was the best shot I got.

I think you would agree its pretty pooh. So after almost an hour and a half of sitting watching it not come any nearer I decided to give up. Chalk it down to experience and wait for another day. I moved to a different part of the site and hoped to get better shots of Reed Buntings that I'd seen there on Friday, as I walked to the spot something flew over my head and landed at the waters edge about 20 yards from me. I didn't see what it was properly, so I just carried on walking in the direction I had been going until I got to where I thought it was and then glanced down and was so surprised to see it was the LRP. I didn't do anything other than drop my tripod off my shoulder, focus on the bird and quickly snap off a frame or two. I expected it to fly off.
It didn't, I stood still and snapped off a few dozen more shots. Still it didn't fly off, I moved slowly and deliberately to my right to get a better view and still it stayed where it was, feeding off insects or whatever at the water side. I was about 10-15 yards from it and by now I had taken the camera off the tripod and was resting it on a bag on a post. The bird knew I was there, it looked at me and ignored me, it wasn't stressed or scared it just carried on mooching for food. I eventually took 300 frames and walked away. I went to look for the Reed Bunting and failed to get close to them, I walked around another area of the site and then walked back the way I had originally come. The LRP was still there and still feeding. I used my Binos to have a good look for any sign of another bird that might be nesting and whilst I cannot be 100% sure there wasn't one I am as sure as I can be that there wasn't. I did not take any more shots I merely carried on. I was thrilled by the experience, It was amazing.
I duly got home and processed some of the shots. I submitted them to Birdguides and they didn't get past the first stage. No explanation, just the blanket statement. Who makes the rules? How do they decide? why should one bird be accepted and one refused. Fortunately I have this site to display the shots. I know what the legislation says and I am happy that I did not breach any law in obtaining the shots. I hope you will agree they are pretty nice. They have been cropped but not by a lot.

Once in a while luck comes together. I also saw a Red Kite at the site today, only the 4th I've seen in Herefordshire since I first moved here in 1985. I got one very distance record shot of it.

Thanks for looking.