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Hampshire Dunlins

I had to get incredibly muddy to get these pictures of Dunlin at Keyahven in Hampshire. They were tucked away in the seaweed as along the tide line. I've had quite a few close encounters with Dunlin over the last year (see my post on 13th Sept 10) and, as long as you're prepared to get down into the mud, they'll be very confiding.

Garden Wagtail

Finally! The rusty bit of metal I'd stuck in the ground in the garden and repeatedly tripped over did what it was intended to do. The recent heavy snowfall had attracted the annual garden wagtails a month or two earlier than usual and they took kindly to my slighlty contrived perch. Interestingly, its actually a barbed wire stake dating back to WW2 that my dad metal detected...ok, maybe thats not that interesting!

Norfolk Seal

With the start of a new year, what better time to start posting on this blog again?

Whilst trying and failing to get close to the various waders on Titchwell beach, we came across this young Common Seal. I've seen lone young seals on the beaches of North Norfolk before and to be honest I don't know whether they're "supposed" to be there or not. They certainly have the look of a lost, disorientated animal but I've read warnings by various seal rescue charities that they are young seals waiting or the return of their mother and shouldn't be moved. Anyway, this guy's painfully cute face attracted the attention of anyone who passed him and by the sounds of it the seal rescue people had their fair share of calls about him.

He seemed glad of our company and didn't seem to mind having his picture taken.

Norfolk Olive-Backed Pipit

This Olive-Backed Pipit I saw at Stiffkey today is literally priceless...the Wilson's Phalarope I'd seen earlier in the day is currently priced at £6.70.

Arctic Dunlin

We found these Dunlin hunkered down in the shingle at Cley. We were probably the first humans they'd ever seen. An amazing expereince and a great way to round of a rarity filled weekend.

more to come!

East York's Seabirds

A great day spent photographing seabirds and ringing Tree Sparrows on the East Yorks coast.

Black and White in Beds

Grey Day

This prime example of a Grey Plover was the second Beds tick of the week and a cracking bird all round. Unfortunately he didn't come any closer than distant, hence the unflattering photo. Nice of him to stop of on his way to the Arctic though.

Frasier Cranes

Steve's call did interrupt Eastenders but I couldn't turn down a Beds tick and lifer. Once I'd set sky plus, I drove irratically to Quest pit to tick off these dog-sized birds. They're as close to Ostriches as you're gonna get in Bedfordshire!

Sunset Sedgie

Iberian ZilpZalp

Derbyshire Dippers (and Grouse)

The (in)famous Lathkill Dale proved pretty poor for photography despite amazing conditions. After walking in entirely the wrong direction we eventually came to the waterfall and were met with singing Redstarts and Grey Wags but the black and white birds were thin on the ground. We had two pretty shy individuals so we decided to cut our loses and don oxygen masks to begin the ascent to the summit/car park. We then made our way to Padley Gorge where we found a really confiding bird with an aesthetically pleasing mouthful of ex-invertebrates and a penchant for standing on cliched mossy rocks.

The birds of the day for me though were the Red Grouse. These game birds don't get much press but they really are good value for money with a bizzare call, an amazing ability to run hilariosuly and a face made for whisky. It was only when I read up on them when I got home that I found out they were endemic to the British Ilses! Long live the Red Grouse!

Ashwell's Dung

The middens between Ashwell and Dunton are again stocked full of good classic farmland birds. The stars of the show are the 4+ Wheatears that aren't shy about having their pictures taken. Well worth a re-visit, if only it was in Beds...

Broom Bewick Bonanza

The juv. Bewick's Swan at Broom today was a very welcome addition to my Beds List although I have to say it made the saddest noise I've ever heard as it paddled around with its Mute relatives. The whole sitiuation was a bit melancholy really- a bit too much like seeing Bambi lose his mum.

On the brighter side though a flyctaching Willow Warbler provided some good entertainment and there were plenty of Common Terns, Swifts and hirrundines to make it a good few hours birding in Beds.

World Wide Whimbrels

Broom, UK- April 2010
Kotu Bridge, The Gambia- March 2010

The same bird?Maybe...

The ones that got away...

The Yellow-Crowned Gonoleks were really quite common but seemed to absolute hate the sight of a camera and refused to let me stalk them.
This was a really frustrating missed oppurtunity. Its an amazing looking bird but to be quite honest I'm not really sure of it's true identity. The African Paradise Flycatcher and the Red-Bellied Flycatcher look pretty similar and commonly hybridise. I think this one may be a hybrid.
Despite these Black Kites being one of the most common birds I came across I just couldn't get them in the right light. This bird is of the Yellow-Billled variety and is the resident sub-species of Black Kite.

There were three or four Black-Crowned Tchagra around our beach hut but they always remained distant and seemed to enjoy hiding behind bushes.
I think this is a Red-Bellied Flycatcher but I gave my borrowed field guide back so I could be entirely wrong.
This Common Wattle-Eye couldn't be tempted out from the shade of a toilet block and the proximity of a cess pool quickly dampened my enthusiasm for Wattle-Eye photography.
The African Thrush above was a bit subtle lookswise and was clearly a bit shy about it! These are the reasons to revist somewhere. All the above are birds I didn't manage to get a decent picture of despite having more than ample oppurtunity! But then I really could have spent weeks playing with each species individually and then I'd never have come home.