Common Fayre

 Because of a break in the festive weather, I decided that I was best to take advantage of the bright orb burning in the sky that I dimly rembered was the sun. I phoned a friend in West Manchester who has a private hide. This is part of an old Lancastrian Moss. Since it started life as a peat bog it has become farmland, meaning farmland birds. My friend is an excellent photographer, and he knows exactly what makes a photo special. He uses some teasels as perches...

but the highlight birdwise for me without a doubt are the Tree Sparrows...

but Blue Tits are just so photogenic in the low winter's sun...





This little lady disturbed things somewhat, by hunting my subjects, in the process becoming one herself...

A lovely day out with my new Canon 50D, an impressive beast that Santa very kindly brought!

Swirling Starlings

I am fortunate to have access to a members-only nature reserve in north Cheshire. It is a huge mere with reedy edges, and each winter one can observe no less than 5 species of birds roosting there; Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Black Headed Gull, Cormerant and Starling. The last of these is a sight never to be under-estimated, they gather just before dark to swirl about the reserve and over the water in the most spectacular fashion. As individuals the Starling has appeal because of its oily black plumage, but as a group these birds become one larger being, which makes for a truly magical spectacle...

And look, i've gone all goey eyed, awww!

T'was the post before christmas...

Ah, the festive Season! Mince Pies, Snow and Turkey, right? Not, yet anyway, but I wait with baited breath! I spent a muddy Christmas eve's eve at Martin Mere in south Lancashire in drizzly rain under darkened skies with the ground soft underfoot. Lovely. This had the unexpected advantage of keeping the tourists out, but photo conditions could ouly be described as rubbish. No light to speak of coupled to the driving rain and numbing fingers made it a slightly less enjoyable day for me. Ah well, here are a couple of choice shots...

I suppose that all that remains is to wish all birders good will over Christmas and happy hunting in the new year! :)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas? Not here it ain't!

Well, i'd have liked to put up a post about how Manchester's gone all snowy and i've had a lovely time photographing Robins sitting on the nose of a Snowman whilst I ate mince pies and drunk mulled wine. However, since this is the real world, I haven't done anything of the sort. OK, I did have a mince pie! Anyhow, I headed to my local patch to photograph my favourite passerine; the Pied Wagtail. It was a dull day in the pissing rain, meaning I got wet and the camera got wet. Still, as it grew darker I ended up with some reasonable shots...

Anyway, not quite as Christmassy as i'd have liked but probably a fair representation of what Christmas will be like! (I'm a pesimist, by the way).

Short Eared Owl- Round 1

I set off from Manchester this weekend with clear skys overhead and snow crisp underfoot. I was looking for the most elusive of predators, the owl. The owls have a good year every couple of years, and this year they've exploded in terms of population, but not bodily; an exploding owl wouldn't make a brilliant shot. I headed to the usual spot in North Wales. These birds are fearless, but not stupid. If you walkup to them, they'll fly off, but if you wait they'll come closer, especially since they hunt over all the fields regularly. However, since the light was not good for photos and the birds were too far off, I left with some reasonable shots but not quite as close-up as i'd like. In the words of arnie, I'll be back...

Isle of May- Jewel of the forth

This autumn I took a new departure, migration watching on an island. I've never been one for super mega rarities, if its got feathers I'll try to get a snap of it! Don't care if its a yellow, red and blue warbler thats breeds on the moon and somehow got to the UK. However, since I was watching out for migrants that were rare I was kind of hoping for some sort 'mega'. On this front I was bitterly dissapointed. The rarest thing we had was a Wood Warbler. However, what an island that place is! Being less than 3 miles from bass rock, the place is constantly passed by Gannets, sometimes very close in...

As well as Fulmars, which even at this late stage in the year (early september) were breeding...

'The May' also has its own breed of rabbits, as years of not being predated has left them all manner of colours and shapes, although black rabbits seem more timmid, prehaps they know they're more obvious...?

Seals are common on and around the island, they breed here in the winter months (about now, in fact)...

As we were in the 'flux' period on the island, there were both summer and winter visitors about, this Purple Sandpiper being one of the latter...

and this cracking female winter is its summery counterpart, on its way south...

Of course some birds just want to be photographed, this Gannet sitting on the path was one of those. What a poser...

And of course there was that merlin from my first post. What a bird, an absolute stunner...!

I'd urge anyone with a spare week to visit this truly incredible place. Late September is best for migrants, but spring-summer is brilliant for breeding seabirds (puffins, guillemots, razorbill, etc.).

Snow Bunting II- This time its personal...

...Well, its not really that personal. They're nice birds, one turned up near Bolton on the moorland and what can I say? I'm a sucker for small, unobtrusive passerines! It was directly below the huge transmission mast on the moorland, those who know the area of which I speak. It showed down to literally a few feet, stunning bird, lovely morning with just a light dusting of snow...

This is possibly the most obliging bird i've seen of this species, a really nice morning out!

Welcome to suburbia...

Its a strike day, horray! That's a day off for me and i'm not complaining. I was hoping to photograph Owls today, but a turn of events has lead me to be unable to do this, so I resorted to the local water park where I focused on more terrestrial ambitions. I wanted to photograph the loafing ducks and Pied Wagtails, but like all the best plans it all went wrong very early on when I couldn't find any wagtails. Still, loads of ducks to choose from...

I did bring feed with me, but these buggers ate most of it...

As well as a group of Swans. They were so close I switched to a 18-55mm lens, so as to get a wide-angle perspective on them...

Before long at last I found the Pied Wags, and after judicious use of a bag of seed they soon were feeding happily on the tarmac in front of me. A good end to a nice hour!

Buntings of Snow

This weekend I found myself camera in hand on a beach in north wales. There were a couple of people walking the dogs and the sun was just rising above the industrial estate behind me. Bliss. This scene was further improved by the arrival of no less than 10 Snow Buntings. For those unfamiliar with the species, these are birds of the high arctic and northern scotland that move south for the winter, and a small division always end up at a site in North Wales. I've been reading the reports of them up and down the coast for weeks now, but at last they have settled. They feed on a dead log most of the time, kindly being fed by the locals and any birders passing. To get a good shot you need to be patient, so six hours later I was still there! Here's female pretending to be a stone...

And a cracking bird right in front of me...

A rather adventurous individual coming closer than the others...

And this little one setting me up for an artisic attempt...

A brilliant day out with some very nice birds. A word of warning, if you do know this site and choose to visit, be patient and wait for buntings to come to you, not the other way around. Also, don't forget to out some food for them!

Pearly Whites

I have limited time to do photography at the moment so an hour or so at Sale Water Park, literally across the M56 from me, was very welcome. In the past its yielded grebes of 3 varieties, sandpipers and an egret, but today there were gulls. Lots of them. I went only really to test myself with close-up fast-paced action. Problem with gulls is that they're white a lot of the time, and so its difficult to get the balance of white bird and dark background right. So its enjoyable. First up the Common Gull, not all that common in reality...

And now hovering, waiting for the bread I had in my hand...

And the headshot as it whizzed past...

And of course the Black Headed Gulls, most common of all...

Alighting on a signpost...

All in all, a very nice excursion!