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My blog will predominantly feature a selection of photographs and reports of recent wildlife photographic trips, mainly in the UK
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An RSPB SE Herts Group coach trip to the Norfolk coast nearly ended in disaster as the coach broke down half way there! After a wait we did get on our way again, but I kept having images of the Only & Horses episode "Jolly Boys Outing". The weather was beautiful however, and just after the Visitor Centre I had great views of a male Bearded Reedling before it flew off.    With less time than expected, I decided to head straight down to the beach, but still scanning the freshwater and saltwater marshes, and the various muddy creeks. The more common waders were soon seen including this group of Turnstone.  With a lone Dunlin.  I did manage to see one of the Curlew Sandpipers but it was distant and kept disappearing. This Redshank was far more confiding.    A large flock of around 200 Golden Plover were a splendid sight coming in to settle on the freshwater marsh. These pictures don't really do them justice.   Titchwell is also a good place for Curlew and here are a couple of shots, including one bird on the beach.   Another wader to be relied on is Black-tailed Godwit. Some images of one feeding close in and one flying in from the beach.       Up to ten Spoonbill had been reported, but I only saw one bird, actively feeding.   But one of the best birds of the day was this Purple Sandpiper. At high tide it frequents the ruined structure on the beach, but at low tide comes inland a little to the pool just before the beach. It spent a lot of time asleep, but did wake up to preen and look around at one point.       Sea watching on the day was excellent! Skeins of Pink-footed Geese were passing overhead at intervals with their distinctive calls.   There were some great birds on the sea that gave good scope views but too distant for meaningful pictures. There included Great Crested Grebes, Red-throated Diver, Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser and Eiders! A small bird briefly dropped in on the shoreline which I initially thought was a Tern. As I managed to get a bit nearer it became apparent it was actually a juvenile Little Gull. When it flew off the distinctive pattern on the back confirmed the ID as did its Tern like flight. Just the one record shot.  A final treat was one, perhaps two Arctic Skua's. At first sight they are like very dark Gulls but much more agile. They are know as the pirates of the sea due to their habit of chasing other birds, harassing them to give up food they have caught. The first images show them doing just that with some Sandwich Terns.    And a few solo shots.     A really super afternoon with good company, fantastic weather, and some amazing birds!
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Not long to go before the RSPB pull out of Rye Meads on the 1st November. At the time of writing, Thames Water, who own the site have pledged to keep it open to the public, but details as to how this will work are still not clear. So, with a free morning, time for a quick visit. At least five Green Sandpipers were present as for a brief time, was this Common Snipe.  Teal numbers are increasing and this male Shoveler was coming back into his finery after eclipse.  Another "regular" at the Draper hide are Little Grebe and this one as usual, was quite obliging.  At the Kingfisher Hub, a female Kingfisher (probably the one that bred this year) was present, but mostly at the back, though she did fly in to the bushes, nearer to the hide for a while. I didn't take any shots as she was too distant, or obscured by twigs. The Grey Heron that flew in looked good in the softer Autumn light.  However, it was back at the Draper hide where the resident male Kingfisher was favouring a perch in front of the hide. It caught a small fish, shown here.  After finishing its meal it dived in, to clean itself. As it flew back up to the perch I managed to get some shots. Not the best quality as the perch is quite a distance from the hide.    It then remained for a good 30 minutes or so, resting and preening.    A really good couple of hours!
A couple of Temminck's Stints had been reported at Dernford Reservoir in Cambridgeshire which is a really good site for passage waders if there is mud showing. With the hot weather we have experienced, that was not a problem! Indeed, levels were the lowest I have ever seen there. The landowner uses the reservoir to irrigate his fields.  Also present were Common, Green and one Wood Sandpiper as well as a single Ruff, but all too distant for shots. However, there were a number of Yellow Wagtails that were more obliging.     Luckily, the Temminck's Stints were really close in when I arrived. They Winter mostly in Africa and breed in the high Tundra and Taiga regions. We generally get a few passing through the UK in May and August. The same size as a Little Stint, but much less common. About the same size as a Wagtail as you can see from these shots, where there was a certain amount of interaction.      And a few shots of them on their own.       A great couple of hours and good to meet Jonathan Nasir as well as Alan Reynolds and Alan Ford.
A coach trip to Frampton with the RSPB SE Herts Group. Obviously planned well ahead, so no one was aware that the majority of England was in the middle of probably our worst drought ever! The water levels were very low, just some in the main reedbed scrape and none in the other three. After a warm welcome from the site manager people set off on different routes with some even venturing to the river mouth. We went straight to the Reedbed Hide seeing two Greenshank, Snipe, a few Pintail and an eclipse plumage Garganey which quickly flew off. The first image is of Boston Stump which dominates the flat landscape.  Spoonbills are regular at Frampton and today there were about 20 loafing on the lagoon, together with large numbers of Black-tailed Godwits.  One of the Godwit's ventured a bit closer.  And a passing Buzzard spooked the flock, making them wheel around for a while, before settling again. Can you spot the lone Avocet in one of the images?   Next up was a clockwise walk around the sea wall. Recent tides I believe have been quite high so there was water here, and we saw our first Yellow Wagtail.  One group had a Whinchat and we had one Wheatear, Curlew, at least three Whimbrel and a Hawker Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby!  Pressing on, we spied Mike's group scanning the salt marsh. Not sure what they found, but the local Frampton cattle came along to join them!  We wandered up towards the raptor viewpoint, and this was the view over the saltmarsh.  This area was good for Redshank, Dunlin and this Lapwing that was close in.  And a lone Ruff.  But the highlight was a small number of Golden Plover on either side of the sea wall, still in their breeding plumage. This one came close enough for a few shots.       A really good day in the end and across the group we racked up around 80 species of bird with other good finds including Clouded Yellow butterfly, Water Shrew and Grass Snake. Big thanks to Paul Ballantyne for organising and as always, great service and support from all of the staff and volunteers at the reserve. Hope you get lots of rain in the coming weeks!
The hard working Kingfisher pair are now on to their third brood of the year and the young had hatched a couple of days ago. Time therefore, to pay a visit and see how they are getting on. The local Sparrowhawks have also raised a brood and two of them were hanging around on the pylon.     Later in the day, one of the juveniles made an attempt to intercept the male Kingfisher as it returned with a fish, but luckily (for the Kingfisher) missed! When I arrived, the female was sitting out on the bushes on the left allowing for some good shots with a decent background.      She heard the male returning and called out to attract its attention.    They both did a great job of bringing in a number of fish, some quite large.    Even having time for a quick discussion!  Here is a useful size comparison with a young Carrion Crow.  As some of the pond had cleared, I was able to attempt a few dipping shots as they cleaned themselves after being in the nest bank. It is essential to keep the feathers in top condition.     A great couple of hours and good to see some friendly faces including Kevin Garrett and Mark O'Dell.  I have had some lovely trips to Fowlmere this year, mainly for the Water Voles and Marsh Harriers. The juvenile Marsh Harriers have now appeared to have moved away and I did have views of possibly a new bird which looked like a young adult male. Entering the reserve, I could hear Spotted Flycatchers but could not locate one, so it was on to the Spring hide. A juvenile Cuckoo had been seen there for a couple of days, being fed by its "foster" parents, a pair of Reed Warblers. As I entered, I had brief views before it disappeared for a good while. After walking up to the Reedbed hide and back, it thankfully had returned and stayed in the same area for a good hour. Here are a few shots.            From time to time it would make short flights before landing and demanding to be fed with constant calls. I am sure at this stage it could find its own food, but the chance of a free meal is not to be sneezed at! Of course its parents will now both be back in Africa, probably a good 4 to 6 weeks ago. I managed a couple of shots of it stretching it's wings. Come September it will be ready to head off, on its own to Africa.   The biggest challenge was trying to get images of the Reed Warblers feeding it, as reeds or twigs always seemed to be in the way. The vegetation also gave the images a green cast, as shown here. I managed to remove some in processing, but still a problem.  It did however move position allowing for a few clearer shots.     An amazing experience and whilst I have seen juvenile Cuckoo's before I have never witnessed one being fed! Those Reed Warblers certainly had their work cut out. Reed Warblers are the main host bird for Cuckoo's but Dunnock are also used, and on moorland, Meadow Pipit is the preferred host. The young birds when ready to breed, will only use the same host bird to lay their eggs with. One final shot to end.  Good to see some familiar faces in the hide, including Chris Kenyon and Mark O'Dell, as well as some other friendly souls.
A Long-tailed Shrike had been reported at Eastleach Martin, just south of Burford on the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire border. It looked settled, so despite yet another hot, sunny day I decided to take a trip down there, braving the M25. It was so hot, it seemed to affect the Sat Nav, but the site was reasonably easy to find, down some single track roads. The local farmer had done a great job of providing safe parking and we readily donated to his chosen charity. This was the view from the car. In the distance is the hedge line where the Shrike is residing.  The bird breeds in Central and Eastern Asia so is an extreme rarity here, indeed there have only been three UK records and this was the first one in England. There were a few other birders present and after initially viewing it distantly, we were able to get closer, though still keeping a good distance away.     It appears to be moulting, hence why it has stayed for a while. At one point, doing some feather maintenance.   Every so often, it would drop down from the bush onto the path looking for prey, mainly bugs and insects though small mammals would also be on the menu. It was difficult getting shots due both to the position of the sun and the heat haze. The next sequence show the bird just after it had caught something.    Despite the initial impression of a barren landscape, there were a number of smaller birds including Yellowhammer, Linnets, Wheatear, Common Redstart and Whinchat. A brilliant bird to see, so one last shot to end with.  With the hot, sunny weather continuing, it was a perfect time to visit Panshanger Park and try and get some shots of Dragonflies. That being said, I will start off with a Purple Hairstreak which came down from an Oak tree to get some moisture, near one of the ponds.   There were good numbers of the commoner Damselflies and I managed a shot of a Small Red-eyed Damselfly. Once very scarce, they are a species that are increasing their range.  However, the star Damselfly was this Emerald Damselfly. It is a species that is limited to just a few sites in Hertfordshire.      Some of the commoner, larger Dragonfly species were in evidence including this Four-spotted Chaser.  And a male Broad-bodied Chaser.  There were a couple of Brown Hawkers, though I was unable to get a shot of this species as they seldom land and are very erratic in flight. I did however get some images of our largest species - the Emperor. This is a female egg laying.    This shot shows the Emperor with a Small Red-eyed Damselfly!  The Darters were well represented including this pair of Ruddy Darter.  Resting Common Darter.   And some flight shots.   One of my favourite species is the Southern Hawker. They are very inquisitive and will hover right in front of you, usually too close for images. With a bit of patience, I managed these shots of a male.     But the surprise was at least two male Southern Migrant Hawkers, another fairly new species which is expanding its range in the South East. Tricky to get flight shots against a distracting background, but managed a couple.    Such amazing creatures to watch and photograph! Big thanks to Allan & Tracey Burrows for lending their expertise and sharing their time - greatly appreciated as always.
So the plan was to have a birding day out to try and see a Caspian Tern that was reported the previous day at Abberton. As we drove in that direction there was no further news so we decided to continue on to the Essex/Suffolk border for a Hudsonian Godwit. This bird had been around for a few days and in appearance is much like a Black-tailed Godwit, though it is a resident of North America and quite a rarity here. It spends a lot of time on the river, but when we arrived it had relocated to North Marsh and we soon spotted some local birders who had found it again. We had some good if distant scope views, but way too far for a picture. I am therefore deeply indebted to Marcus Nash for allowing me to use his brilliant image when the bird was showing a lot closer.  It was extremely hot, so rather than wait a couple of hours in the hope it flew back to the river we decided to head to Abberton. The Caspian Tern was not relocated and we failed to find the female Ring-necked Duck. From the Layer de la Haye causeway, these Common Terns showed well.    At the Layer Breton causeway it was very quiet. Distant Spoonbills and Great Egrets, but good to get this little group of Cattle Egrets.  A few Yellow Wagtails were feeding on the floating vegetation, including this juvenile bird.  And there were obviously some feeding opportunities for this Great Crested Grebe.    Not a great day for photography, but great to get a lifer in the shape of the Hudsonian Godwit!
An afternoon visit to Rye Meads to see how the juvenile Kestrels and the Kingfishers were getting on. Still in the grip of very hot weather, so it was nice to sit in the Draper hide. At least one Green Sandpiper had returned from breeding and a couple of Common Terns were fishing in front of the hide.      The Kingfisher Hub was relatively quiet so plenty of space for all. The juvenile Kestrels seemed to like using their nest box as a base, despite fledging some time ago. All three were showing and the adult male also put in an appearance. Here are two together, a youngster and I believe the adult female on the left.  One of the youngsters had caught a vole or mouse and was a bit unsure what to do with it. At one stage it regurgitated a pellet.  And a few more shots.     While I was there in the afternoon I did not see the female Kingfisher who remained with the chicks in the nest hole. They are probably due to fledge in 2 to 3 days and the male was bringing in a number of fish of reasonable size. After dropping off a fish he would disappear to bathe behind the bushes as the pond has quite a cover of algae. On the way in however, he would pause on the central perch.    And taking the time to lighten the load!  No chance of diving shots today, but I did manage a short take off sequence.    A great three hours and lovely to meet David Gowing as well as Sue and young photographer Alastair and his Mum.
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