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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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The churchyard at Wallington has always been a good place for Spotted Flycatchers, a sadly declining species in the UK. The church is worth a shot of its own.  Swifts, Buzzards and Red Kites were overhead and Blackcaps calling in the bushes. I was hoping one of the Flycatchers might perch on one of the gravestones, but had to settle for this Robin.   Grey Squirrels seemed to like the barn in the garden next door!   But more unusual in North Herts, especially around Hitchin are a black version of the Grey Squirrel. I managed to get some shots of one individual. It is worth looking them up on-line.     The Spotted Flycatchers mainly showed in the conifer trees in the garden adjoining the churchyard.   The next two shots show one perched at the top, eyeing up an insect, and then intercepting it!   One came a bit closer, landing on the roof of the barn.  And finally, venturing into the churchyard.   Always a lovely place to visit. An interesting footnote is that George Orwell lived in the village for a while and wrote "Animal Farm" there in 1944!
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A lovely sunny day and a planned trip to RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk. It's a bit of a journey, so big thanks to Chris Gibson for driving. The first thing you see after passing through the Visitor Centre is the sandy bank which was buzzing with Sand Martins. Always tricky to photograph them, so just the one shot.  There were lots of Butterflies on the wing, including Painted Lady.  And Small Copper.  After the North hide, where we heard, but didn't see Nightingale, we walked down to the beach with Sedge and Reed Warblers everywhere. A couple of Common Terns flew over to try their luck fishing in one of the small pools.    There is a small population of feral Barnacle Geese at Minsmere, mostly on the scrape, but also flying in, sometimes with the Greylag Geese.    A few of the commoner duck species were on the scrape including a number of Shelduck.  However, a real surprise was a pair of Garganey. We spotted them from the beach lookout but got slightly closer views at the South hide. Still fairly distant, so just a couple of record shots.   Waders were ins short supply but included Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwing and three Bar-tailed Godwits, pictured here.  And of course, a couple of shots of the many Avocets!   To complete the wader round up, a couple of Redshanks. It was amazing to see the male displaying, and then mating. Here is a sequence of images which captures the event.             After all of that excitement it was time to head off for the Bittern and Island Mere hides after a quick stop for coffee and cake at the cafe. We saw a few Hobbies over the reed bed and some fleeting views of Bearded Tits. This female Marsh Harrier came in quite close at one point.   But the star of the show was this Bittern which was showing as we entered the aptly named Bittern hide. I believe it's a male as it has a hint of blue on the bill. Probably the best views of one I have had at Minsmere, so please excuse the photo overload.               What a great way to end the day!
A walk around King's Meads, but the Wood Sandpipers had moved off on their journey North. Warblers were calling everywhere and this Greater Whitethroat was singing loudly and showed off well against the blossom and the blue sky.     The Cuckoo was calling again, but I couldn't spot him today. However, I did take a picture of Lady's Smock, which is otherwise known as Cuckoo Flower as it blooms as Cuckoo's arrive in the country.  My target today was trying to find the male Mandarin Duck that has taken up residence on the Lea Navigation. An introduced species, they now have a healthy breeding population in England. Their exotic appearance somewhat different to our usual wildfowl! I tracked him down under the A10 viaduct where the reflections on the water from the graffiti on the bridge made for some interesting shots.        What a stunning bird! Keep an eye out for him when walking along the river. Good to bump into Joe Aggio, keeping watch over the swans.
It had been a while since I had made the short trip to Coopers Green GP on the edge of Hatfield and the process of turning the gravel pit back to farmland is rapidly progressing. Sadly, this will limit the number and variety of birds present, but it still attracts some good birds. The first of these was this male Wheatear, probably the Greenland race which arrive a bit later.  The many posts and wires make ideal perches, firstly for this Greater Whitethroat.   And of course the Skylarks!   The birds I had really come to see and photograph were Yellow Wagtails and there were probably six birds chasing each other and setting up territories. At first they were distant as this shot shows, which also gives an idea of the amount of work that has been done.  This female was more confiding, perching up high, more traditionally.   And then on a gate!  This super looking male choose barbed wire instead.       Always great to have these birds back for the Summer and good to have a chat with patch birders Rupert Evershed and Steven Pearce.
After a morning at Rye Meads news broke of a Hoopoe in the grounds of the old Briggens Hall Hotel just off the A414. A 15 minute drive later and a short walk soon had me there where already a few familiar faces had gathered. The bird was on a lawn in front of Briggens Lodge and we were able to observe it from the public footpath. It was feeding happily, flying into a tree when a delivery van turned up.  This was my 2nd Hertfordshire Hoopoe (after the Hinxworth bird) and fourth in the UK. Despite seeing lots in Spain and Portugal they are a real treat here. A few more shots taken from the footpath.      A great way to finish the day and special thanks to Laurence Drummond for his excellent directions!
Five Wood Sandpipers had been reported on the flood on King's Meads late on the 28th. As they are one of my favourite waders I popped down at 5.50am to see if they were still there. Luckily they were, and feeding up before moving on to their breeding grounds in Scandinavia. There were actually six birds present which increased to eight the following day. The most I had ever seen before together was two. The record for Hertfordshire is 13! Apologies for the photo overload!              What fantastic birds! But while waiting, this Sedge Warbler was very showy.     A grasshopper Warbler was reeling behind me and this female Reed Bunting put in a brief appearance.  A pair of Gadwall were expected.  But more of a surprise was the long staying female Goosander which flew over, heading for the river.  And the final treat of the morning was a Cuckoo passing overhead.    It's so good to have this precious place on my doorstep!
Just a brief blog following an RSPB SE Herts Group coach trip to Stodmarsh. Great weather but the heat haze made photography very difficult so not too many pictures! We had some good birds including singing Nightingales, Cattle Egret and two Greenshanks. The air was filled with the sound of love sick Marsh frogs as well. I did have my first Hobbies of the year though.   A distant Common Tern was another year tick and it was good to capture the often overlooked Mallards flying in.     There were quite a few Marsh Harriers on site and here are a few shots of one of the males.    A great reserve at this time of year.
A beautiful morning so a quick stroll down the hill for a look around the Meads. A few Orange Tip butterflies were showing and this male landed for a few seconds.    It was also good to see that the Swifts had returned and 7 or 8 were feeding over Park Mead.    One of the birds seemed to have a patch on its back and I am not sure if this was due to preening, ticks or a tracking device. The jury is out!  Merlin did pick up a fly over Yellow Wagtail but I could not see it. Sedge and Reed Warblers were calling everywhere as were Blackcap and Chiffchaff. I also managed to get a shot of this Greater Whitethroat.  And a common bird now, but often very difficult to photograph due to their skulking nature - Cetti's Warbler. This one sang out in the open for a few seconds.   And finally, a Reed Warbler which broke cover and instead of skulking in the Reeds, sat up low in a small tree.    A great couple of hours within walking distance of home, on the edge of Hertford!
A few good birds had been reported in Cambridgeshire so time to pay a visit. The first port of call was near Gamlingay where six Dotterel had been reported. However, despite an extensive search with other birders (it was good to see Ian Conn) on site we could not locate them in the vast arable landscape. Annoyingly, they kept being reported over the next few days. Undaunted, we moved on to Little Wilbraham which was a lovely village with this attractive Windmill.   The reason for coming here was to try and see Ring Ouzel on the common. This time after a brief wait we were lucky and saw both the male and a female. The male is pictured here, but not the best images due to the heat haze.    A few Garganey had been reported across the county so the next stop was Tubney Fen, a small National Trust reserve. A few Linnets were in front of the small viewing screen.  A short walk to the other end of the water body eventually revealed a pair of Garganey, loafing in the reeds. This is the male, and just the one shot as they were both distant and the heat haze still very strong.  A good day out with some great birds, but certainly difficult with the light for photography.
Just two more days to cover of the Speyside holiday and it was a very early start as we were going to a Black Grouse lek. Again, the weather was ideal but at the first site we tried, there were no birds present. A sinking feeling, but our excellent guides knew of another site about 20 minutes away. Luckily we arrived and six males were showing. It is very important not to disturb them so we viewed from the roadside, screened by the vans. These images were taken from distance, but have not come out too bad.        It really is an amazing experience and certainly one of many highlights of the break. Here is a short video of the birds. It was then time to head back to the Hotel for a well earned breakfast before heading out again to the Findhorn Valley where we saw another Golden Eagle and more Ravens. A very spectacular location.  We then headed to the coast, specifically Udale Bay. Here, a lot of birds were pushed up by the tide into a corner of the bay, so we had some good views, starting with this male Red-breasted Merganser.   Wigeon were feeding or resting and this small group flew in to join them.  We had distant views of a Slavonian Grebe and there were still a few Greater Scaup in the bay. I managed a distant shot of a few of them in flight.  There were still a lot of Pink-footed Geese in the fields as well as some large skeins flying overhead, again possibly returning to Iceland.    Quite a few waders were in evidence, including a large number of Oystercatchers.  The commonest species were Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits. They were usually resting, but every so often were spooked and took off, allowing for some flight shots.    The last picture clearly shows the difference in size with the Godwits considerably larger than the Knot. One of the reasons they were spooked was due to this Osprey which came in to fish. Fairly distant, but good to get a couple of shots.   Our next stop was Loch Ruthven for the Slavonian Grebes. We saw four birds in total but they were too distant for meaningful shots (we did visit another site the following day so don't worry). We then headed back over the Farr Road, a single track road over high moorland. I managed to grab this Wheatear shot through the window.  Ashley then spotted a Mountain Hare and we were able to pull in and watch it. It was starting to turn brown from its Winter white, but still looked very pale on the front and underside. These are the primary food source for White-tailed Eagles. Golden Eagles tend to go for Brown Hares.   Dropping back into the Findhorn Valley a few of the group had had good views of Red Squirrel and then we spent some more time scanning the Valley with views of Golden Plover. Another great day, and here is a shot of the group in action!  Our final day dawned, and it was a tad cold and windy to begin with. We headed up to Cairngorm again to look for Ring Ouzels. The weather defeated us and this view sums it up.  Lower down in the valley, the weather was kinder and we headed to Avielochen which is a small private loch attached to the hotel where we were staying. It seemed popular with these Herring Gulls.  As well as a pair of Goldeneye. The male was displaying, throwing his head back in a forlorn attempt to attract the female.    The stars of the show were no less than six Slavonian Grebes which were a lot closer than the ones on Loch Ruthven.      We headed back to the Loch Garten area but failed to find more crested Tits, though some of the group had brief views of a Common Redstart. We then had a longish walk theough the ancient woodland at Forest Lodge.   It is a tricky birding environment but we did find another Tree Pipit as well as Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch and Coal Tit.    The best bird however, was this female Scottish Crossbill which happily fed on pine cones above our heads for a good 15 minutes.       And finally on to Nethy Bridge where we had a couple of Goosander on the river.    But I have to end with one of my favourite birds - Dipper! A pair were nesting and we spent some time watching them from a safe distance.       A great way to end the day, and still some time for some "team photos".    A truly memorable holiday spent with a lovely group of people (Edde we missed you!). Special thanks to the staff at The Grant Arms for looking after us and especial thanks to Ashley & Nick from Oriole Birding. I don't think we would have seen half of those birds without you!
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