Desert Wheatear

As promised a new post. I haven't much chance to get
up onto the hills in recent weeks so when news broke
of the Desert Wheatear on Titterstone I couldn't wait
to go and have a look.

I made my first visit the day it was first seen but I didn't
get there till late on, in fact it was near dark. Although
it was pretty gloomy I manage to get some pretty
good views but only managed a few record shot's
with the camera it was then I promised myself another
visit.

It wasn't until the day before it left that I managed
another visit, it took a little while to locate but eventually
I got some cracking views with the bird only a few
yards away at times.

It remained pretty mobile throughout the time I was
there and feeding extremley well considering the frost
we had. It managed to catch quiet a few earthworms
from the frozen ground, I guess getting ready for the
off.

A few photo's from the day.

New Site

Hi everyone, apologies for the lack of posts of late
I've been busy with my new site.

http://www.carldayphotography.co.uk/

Not that theres alot on there at the moment but
hopefully I'll get a few more images to put up soon.

Hope you like it.

I'll try a get and get a few posts done on here soon
as well.

Grey Phalarope

News of the Grey Phalarope at Holt soon got out
and it wasn't long before I got myself over there.
Brillant bird, really confiding.

A few shots from the evening.

Chelmarsh Artic Skua

Just a quick one. I thought I'd post a few record shots
of the Artic Skua from Chelmarsh. I managed to get out
to see tonight for a couple of hours. It remained distant
for my stay but good to see.

High Winds

I made my regular visit up on to the Malvern Hills yesterday.

I took a quick look around Chat Valley, pretty quite really

a single Wheatear was the only bird I could manage. A bit

different from in the week when I found Stonechat and Redstart

there.

Next I made way over to the Beacon but it didn't look good.

Low cloud hung onto the hill and it looked as though it was

there to stay. I made my way up anyway hoping it would soon

clear. I reached the summit and the low cloud hadn't budged.

I looked around anyway struggling to see through the cloud

but there was very little about, a single Wheatear (this one's

been here for most of the week) and a single Meadow Pipit.

I stayed for a while hoping the cloud would clear so I

could have a better look around and maybe try for a few more
shot's of the Wheatear but it didn't look good. Not wanting

to waste anymore time I headed over towards North Hill.

The Wheatear.

North Hill was pretty quite, nothing on the summit itself but
there was a few Kestrels hunting along the slopes. It was
extremely windy up there but It made good for the Kestrels.
I settled down and attempted to get a few shot's, it wasn't
easy in the high winds but I did enjoy it. While watching
I had glimpses of drifting Peregrines and two almost white
Buzzards, these remained distant though mainly hunting over
Sugarloaf Hill.

After a couple of hours with the Kestrels I made my way
down, I couldn't stick the wind any longer. It's hard enough
getting flight shot's anyway without the added wind to deal with.
On the way back I found two more Wheatear at the bottom
of the hill but that was it, pretty quite all round.

I was hoping to find something a bit special on the hills but I'm
probably a bit early yet, hopefully the coming weeks will be
better. I'll keep you posted.

Red Necked Grebe

News of the Red Necked Grebe up at Gailey was too much to resist.
I've stayed locally over the past few week's with not much about I
thought I'd concentrate my efforts on the Redstarts that have been
so obilging over the past few months.

Saturday morning came and as usual I left nice and early arriving
at Gailey for 6.30am. On arriving I had a quick scan of the lake
with the bins but couldn't locate the bird at first. I slowly made my
way around the lake trying not disturb the fisherman who were still
tucked up tight in their sleeping bags.

I continued to scan the lake but couldn't locate the bird
anywhere, I'd virtually gone full circle before I came accross
it, amazingly feeding some 15 feet off the bank. It noticed me
straight away and before I could rasie the camera it dipped
and the next time I see it, it was about thirty feet away - Boy
can they motor underwater.

I waited in the hope it would return and it did eventually. The
bird seem to have a route mapped out heading down the lake
to the island and back again. Before to long it was close again.
The light wasn't great but I managed a few shot's before it
moved off back down the lake.

I was joined later by Pete and we settled down waiting for
Grebe to reappear. It came close on occassions but the light
had gone, making for me noisey shot's. I've been quite impressed
so far with the 7D but in overcast conditions I've noticed that
you really need to step the ISO down.

That said most of the shot's I got were fairly big crops 70% and
more at times so I'm probably being a little hard on the camera
really. I do try a keep as low as I can when photographying my
birds and today was no different using the bank as much as I
could. Mind you, you do have to hold your nose sometimes - It
can be a little smelly especially lakes.

The only other problem with lying on the bank is bugs and there
were plenty crawling around at Gailey, Including a Wasp that took
a fancy to me, so much so it decided to give me a kiss - Bloody
thing!

A few shot's from the trip.

No Wheatears

With reports of Wheatear on the Malverns
during last week I thought I'd go a take a
look. I popped up on Thursday and found
a total of six. It was good mixture of adult
and juvenile all looking in good condition
and feeding quite well.

I did try for a few photo's but there was
very little light in the evening. The whole
was more or less in full shade. I thought I'd
leave it till the weekend.

Saturday morning came and I tried again.

I made a good search around the valley but

all to no avail. The only thing I could find

was a flock of Linnet. The Wheatear had

obviously moved on, I thought back to the

previous year and I could remember a

good amount of Wheatear beening around
for most of August. Hopefully this won't be
the only chance I get.

I moved on to where the Redstarts have
been for the past few months breeding not
really expecting to see them, thinking they
may have already moved on, but to my 

surprise they were still a few in the area.

I settled down and waited in my usually

place and like previous times before the 
first bird on the scene was a Robin.

After a few mouthfuls of mealworm the 
Robin disappeared. It was long after the
first Redstart appeared - A female.

She only made a quick visit. She picked

up as much as could in her beak and

retreated quickly to the nearby bushes.

It wasn't long before she returned making

the most of my free offerings.

I stayed for few hours watching and waiting

for more to arrive but none did. They were

around, I could see juvenile males, at least

two in the vicinity and an adult male but

they kept away, obviously got better things

to do or maybe just sick of Mealworm.

Hopefully I might just squeeze another trip

in before they leave for on their long journey.

Blacktoft Sands and Far Ings

The plan was a trip to Blacktoft first for the Marsh
Sandpiper and hopefully the Marsh Harrier then onto
Far Ings in the afternoon.

Richard, Ron and Alan picked me up at 5.15am
on Sunday morning and we set off for Blacktoft
Sands.

On arriving we got ourselves setup and made our
way up the path towards the Singleton Hide.
The Singleton Hide is located at the far right of the
reserve and this is where the Marsh Sand had been
seen. It didn't take us long to locate it although
distant we had some relatively good views at
times as feed along the near bank.

Photographing the Marsh Sandpiper was difficult
though, no matter what way I tried I couldn't get a
sharp shot. Record shot's was going be it...

Apart from the Marsh Sand there were good

numbers of Greenshank, Ruff and Black Tailed

Godwit. The Marsh Harriers remained distant

for most of our stay with the odd one drifting

accross occasionaly.

 

With a few shot's in the bag we made our way

onto Far Ings. For anyone that's not been there

it can sometimes offer very close views of Marsh

Harrier and this was what we were after.

To cut a long story short the Marsh Harriers

didn't show, at least for the few hours we 

were there. Although no Marsh Harriers

we did get a visit from a Kingfisher.

 

Spotted Flycatchers

I thought I'd put a few photo's up of the
Spotted Flycatchers I took a couple of
weeks ago in Leominster Cemetary. It
seems like an age ago now. These are
the very first shot's with my new toy.

Although a bit of a grey day, when the
showers finally stopped I managed a
couple of hours photographing these
beautiful little birds.

The young were high up in the canopy
of the trees and didn't really show
thereselves at all, only popping out when
mum or dad turned up with a meal.

The adults were constantly back and
forth with food which gave me a few
opportunitys to get some shots.

Even though the weather wasn't great
I thought the shot's came out quite
well.

Redstart's again!!

I didn't go looking for Redstarts initially. It was

a early Wheatear I was after. I made a good

search of the hills but couldn't locate any, I'll

have to give it another go in a couple of weeks.

I decided to go on to the Redstarts. I thought

they may have moved out of the area by now

but they were there better than ever. There

were quite alot of juvenile birds around including

Blue Tit's, Great Tit's, Mistle Thrush and Robins

which was great to see.

It didn't take long before the first male Redstart

turned up and as usual he was extremely
confiding.

 

For Sale!

Well...I've took the plunge and ordered myself
a Canon 500, all I need to do now is sell my
Canon 400 5.6L to pay for all the other bit's
that I need to go with it.

All the photo's on this site have been taken
with this lens so you can see it's nice and sharp.
Any test welcome, I can send a few photo's
of the lens if required. The lens itself comes
with a camoflague cover, it's own case and I still
have the oringinal box somewhere for it.

Email me for further detail's or If you wish to view
let me know.

carlday555@btinternet.com

Local Rarity

It's not very often you get local rarities but when

you do there's nothing better, you don't have to

travel far for one and you get to spend more time

with them.

This occasion it was a first summer female Red

Footed Falcon that turned up on a local cricket

pitch in Ledbury. Reported on Tuesday 7th June

initially but it is thought that the bird has been

present for up to two weeks after speaking with

the local dog walkers.

I made my visit on Wednesday evening. I've seen

these birds before and was expecting the bird to

be a small dot in the distance when I got there but

I was wrong so wrong. The bird was hawking

insects on my arrival only twenty or so feet from
a local birder who was watching through a scope.

I couldn't believe it. I watched it move from post

to post as it hawked it's prey. The distance it was

spotting very small insects was quiet something

sometimes some thirty or forty feet away, incrediable
vision.

I waited until the birder left and I was on my
own. I sat quietly and waited, it didn't seemed
to be bothered by my presence allowing within
thirty feet of it as it feed, giving me an opportunity
for a few shot's.

I was later joined by Jim Almond, the Shropshire
birder who also managed to get a few shot's.
(You can view these by clicking the link at the
side of this page)
The bird gaves us some superb views at times
passing over our heads and landing very close.
A joy to watch, it's was almost like watching

a falonary display, terrific stuff.

We stayed until after nine o'clock hanging onto

to those last few rays of light before we left, a

great evening with good company and a terrific

bird.

Time Spent

And it's paid off...Time with the Redstarts.

Here's just a few shot's from this mornings
outing, miserable weather but well worth it.

Cleys Shorelark

A couple of shot's of the long staying
Shorelark at Cley.

I went looking for this bird a couple of
times eventually tracking it down on my
last day, cracking bird.