Spring time Curlew

 

The curlew is one of the u.k's 4 wetland birds flagged as being at most risk. Thankfully in my area (the south coast) they are making a massive comeback, not that this is based on hard evidence, purely the fact I see several every trip whereas I used to be lucky to glimpse one. This is the first bird I every photographed, and at the time I had no idea what the bird was or how to use my camera in that fact. It was nice to get a photo I am happy with today after about 3 years of trying and practice.

 

 

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Morning Blackbird

 

 

 

Took a trip down to good old Pagham harbour this morning, and tried out the new lens I got for my 21st birthday. Saw some amazing things as this time of year the Brent Geese are here for winter from Siberia. However, as it turns out the photo I was most happy with was this photo of a foraging blackbird (geese photos will appear soon).

 

f/5.6

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ISO - 1000

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Captive Barn Owl

This photo was taken whilst on a walk around Pagham harbor nature reserve in West Sussex. We were lucky enough to bump into a man who was using the wide open spaces to fly his much loved and majestic looking Barn Owl, Charlie as he does apparently every day. 

f/7.1

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Finally ! A kingfisher !

Having spotted the kingfisher on a few early morning outings i was aware that one was around. So yesterday afternoon as i was rather excitedly trying (and failing) to get a good photograph of the notoriously hard to spot Snipe, i heard their unmistakable call. So, i positioned myself where i could see several posts (possible perches for fishing) and waited. After about an hour i saw a flash of blue, and was able to see this little guy for about 30 seconds. Then he was gone. I would say is worth it, i have never seen such intense colour on any animal.

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Guess the bird reveal !!!!!!

Today is tuesday, so as promised here is the photo of the mystery bird. A jay ! Some people did guess correctly so well done if you did :).

f/8

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Starling

Having dislocated my knee again recently i have been photographing a lot of wildlife in my garden. This is another example of garden wildlife. I was able to set up my camera in a prime position and wait in comfort which was a nice change :D. 

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Curlew

When i got my first Digital SLR and new very little about photography i went down to my local nature reserve and by chance photographed a bizarre bird flying past (quite badly photographed). A couple of years on and i realise that that sighting was very lucky and for it to be the first bird i ever photographed was even more so. So it was nice the other day to get a photograph of this rare and impressive bird, the Curlew.

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Guess the bird !

Seeing as though the more interactive posts seem to be what people enjoy i have another one to keep you all guessing for a little while. This photo was taken in my back garden. Its not a particularly great image but it is perfect for a guessing game of this kind :). This is purely for fun, so unfortunately no prizes. I wll reveal the answer this time next week. Feel free to comment and discuss with others but if you comment with your guess i wont tell you if you are correct or not, you will just have to be patient :). Good luck.

f/8

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Photography competition

Sony launched a photography competition a few years ago and being that part of it is free i decided to enter three photos in the nature category. This is one of them that i took on holiday.

f/6.3

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ISO - 250

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Green Woodpecker

In the last few months we have been hearing the sounds of woodpeckers around our garden. Finally, we got a visit from one of the noisy neighbors today. He jumped around the garden for a good half an hour eating ants in the ground (which is why green woodpeckers are not often seen in woodlands and found more often in open grassland).

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Black tailed Godwit

Another photo from my time at pagham yesterday. Things like this can often surprise you. Pagham has godwits such as this one all over the reserve, all in places that are hard to reach and get close enough to take a photo. However on my way home after three hours in what i thought was a good spot i saw this little guy relatively close and was able to get this photo.

f/8

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IS0 - 320

500mm

Little Egret

Today i cycled down to pagam harbor nature reserve at about 6:00 am. It was worth the early start as whilst there i saw Redshank's, Lapwing's, Curlews, Godwits and even my best ever view of a kingfisher. So more than happy with the sightings any "good" photos would be a plus.

When i arrived home i was very pleased to find that i had managed to take a photo of a white subject without over exposing it and ruining the image (something  had been trying to do for at least a year). This was the end result (Plenty more photos to come from my morning at pagham).

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Turnstone

Another turnstone photo. This particular one was taken in Brixham harbor. I was very happy with this one as it had some lovely bokeh and i managed to get eye contact and a catch-light in the little guys eye :).

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Turnstone in the drizzle

Whilst staying in south Devon on holiday i spotted a small group of Turnstones (this particular one was getting a little wet in the drizzle) making use of wasteful tourists and collecting dropped or discarded food. Usually a job reserved for animals that get a bad press such as rats, pigeons, gulls or foxes. But these little guys seemed to be welcomed. Probably because a lot of the tourists would never have seen a Turnstone before, and they are quite striking. Whatever the reason it was nice to see wildlife being welcomed into an otherwise human dominated environment.

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Ringed plover on the sand

On my day off from work i got up at 4:40 am so i could get to see some of the local wildlife at Pagham harbor before it was disturbed by holiday makers and walkers. I was well rewarded with this Ringed Plover.

f/13

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Meadow Pipit.

This is another photo taken in Scotland. It was taken after the whole class walked up the hill (that felt like a mountain and wasn't too far off) behind the hostel we were staying in. At the top were these bids (we think they were meadow pipits) doing what is called parachuting... don't worry i hadn't heard of it either :). Parachuting (in bird terms) is a display of strength, they fly up high then drift down with their wings rigid, calling. This is apparently meant to intimidate their rivals... i just thought it looked comical if anything :).

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Common tern

Seeing as though my course in wildlife conservation and countryside management is now complete me and a few friends took a trip down to studland for a day on the beach. Whilst waiting for the ferry i spotted a few terns fly by and of course had my camera with me so i took a few photos :).

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Low and fast!

It took me quite a few attempts and i do have photos where the swallow is closer but i like this one the most as it is looking straight down the camera. When on the study tour in Scotland we were watching dolphins in the distance when this little guy kept coming very close whilst feeding on the insects just above the surface of the water, because he (or she) kept using the same flight path i was able to get my eye it and get a rough idea of where to manually focus.

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Razorbill

When taking the boat out with Ecoventures to see dolphins i got to see a wide variety of sea birds including razorbills like this one.

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Flying sandpiper

On one of the loch's in Scotland this little guy was constantly calling and flying past which meant i was able to take a few shots and learn his flight path before getting this shot :).

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