SEASONS GREETINGS

I would like to thank each and everyone of you for all the support and very kind comments over the last year.
I have enjoyed looking at all your blogs, as they can be such an inspiration to see what others are doing.
I am feeling quite a bit better, but have not picked up a camera for over two weeks and not even had the inclination to turn on the computer
I do hope to get out over the Christmas period, and I will try to catch up with all your blogs over the next few days.
In the meantime I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone ................................



BE BACK SOON

JUST SPENT A WEEK CUDDLED UP WITH THE FLU BUG, MADE GREAT BEDFELLOWS, THINK HE WILL BE LEAVING SOON. SO HOPE TO GET BACK TO SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL!!

NEW BIRD ON THE BLOG.

It was the coldest morning so far this winter yesterday,drove down to Marazion and stopping the car the outside temperature was -5c and for the coast that is very unusual.

So spent some time looking over the reed beds, but very little was moving, out in the bay just got a Slavonian Grebe and a couple of Great Northern Divers.

I decided to walk along the beach to Marazion, to see if I could find one or two of the six Black Redstarts that will overwinter in the Marazion - Penzance area.
I have seen these charismatic little birds on many occassions, but do not have any decent images as their flighty nature and not settling in any one place for more than a few seconds make them difficult to photograph.

So as I arrived at the high walled area past the sailing club I immediately caught a flash of that beautiful Rusty Red tail and knew I had found my quarry.

I saw three of this species during my stay, and although I was hoping for an adult male in full plumage, and I did get a brief view of one, this little immature chap was the only one that stayed around.

So he will be the star of this post, but I will be back looking for that male, but I hope you will agree that this is a beautiful little bird.

So I give you the new bird on the blog.

THE BLACK REDSTART.



BIRDS AND PASTY'S SUN AND SNOW HAS TO BE THE WAY TO GO.

Spent a good part of yesterday wandering around Marazion and Hayle Estuary, decided to stick to the main roads as they were clear. There was still quite a bit of snow underfoot,although in the afternoon the temperature started to rise and rain moved in from the South West.

So below are a few images from the days shoot.

 

WATER RAIL.

Normally these birds are very secretive and normally give only brief views, but this one must have been desperate for food as it came right up to my Tripod legs and did not seem at all concerned. In fact it was to close for my lens to focus.

GREY HERON

This one was grabbing a bit of early morning Sun.

LITTLE EGRET.

Even this Egret looked hunched up against the cold.

LITTLE GREBE.

This Grebe seemed to find a good food supply.

RABBIT.

One way to get your feet warm, "Lick Em"

SANDERLING.

The Sanderling had to rummage through the Snow on the beach.

TEAL.

One of the Hayle overwintering Teal.

WIGEON.

I guess Wigeon on the Estuary have built up to around 1,000.

So all in all a very nice day even if it was cold, and I had a few good species which were to far away for images, namely an Eider and a raft of Common Scoter far out on Mounts Bay, and a Red Breasted Merganser briefly on Longrock Pool which flew off towards the Mount.

Add to this one of Philps of Hayle famous Cornish Pastys for lunch which was eaten in the car overlooking Copperhouse Creek, a puurfect end to a Puurfect day.

FREEZIN BITTERN.

So Monday morning and woke up to heavy snow and thunder & lightning. This has been the earliest snowfall for almost 20 years here in Cornwall, maybe we are going to have a hard winter cant say I look forward to that prospect.
Anyway went down to Marazion yesterday morning with a couple of birding pals, we were rewarded with a very nice Red-Throated Diver in the Bay and a good raft of Common Scoter.
On the marsh one of the two Bitterns in residence was out in the open on the ice giving excellent photo opportunities.
There was also a good number of Rock Pipits on the beach and around the rocks.
On the drive down the temperature was showing -5c and even the sand on the beach was frozen.
So to end here are a few shots of the Bittern , and one of the Rock Pipit.

BITTERN

BITTERN

BITTERN.

ROCK PIPIT.



HAYLE ESTUARY AND THE GREAT BIG BIRD.

Took a drive down to Hayle Estuary yesterday afternoon,to have a third search for the Greenland White Fronted Goose which has been there for a few days.

It was a beautiful afternoon with clear blue skies and lovely late Autumn sunshine,a real corker of an afternoon. The tide was at low level so everything was very far out on the mudflats except for three small waders close to the bridge area. Closer inspection revealed there were two Dunlin and the third was a Curlew Sandpiper which was a real bonus and a photo opportunity not to be missed.
I also managed to see the white fronted goose although it was to far out for images(maybe I will have to give digiscoping a try again).

Also had a nice Bar-Tailed Godwit up close and I have also included this in tonight's post.

CURLEW SANDPIPER.

CURLEW SANDPIPER.

BAR-TAILED GODWIT.

BAR-TAILED GODWIT

CURLEW SANDPIPER & TWO DUNLIN.

MASS PANIC, AND WHAT CAUSED ALL THIS COMMOTION, POSSIBLY

A PEREGRINE FALCON OR SOME OTHER BIRD OF PREY.

NO IT WAS JUST GOOD OLD 771 NAVAL AIR SQUADRON SEARCH & RESCUE FROM

ROYAL NAVAL AIR STATION HMS SEAHAWK CULDROSE UNDERTAKING

THEIR DAILY CLIFF RECONNAISSANCE ALONG THE CORNISH COAST.

Many times when fishing from the cliffs back in the 1960's an 70's these guys would sweep past see us and turn and come back and hover just offshore, you gave the winch man a thumbs up he would do the same and they would continue their patrol.

I JUST WANT TO EXPRESS THE DEPTH OF GRATITUDE WE OWE TO THESE LADS

FOR THE TREMENDOUS WORK THEY DO.



SUNRISE . ST MICHEALS MOUNT.

Spent a couple of hours at Marazion yesterday morning,and although I never managed any wildlife images a few nice birds were seen,namely Kingfisher, Black Redstart, Snow Bunting and Pale bellied Brent Geese.

I arrived just before daybreak to a lovely sunrise full of peace and tranquillity, one of those magical moments that occur every now and then.

STITHIANS RES 20/11/2010.

Have not been able to get any new images over the last week, although I have been out on occasions but the weather has been to dull for photography.
Anyway this morning I managed a couple of hours at Stithians Res, and though the water levels are still very low they are showing signs of improvement. The scrape in front of the main hide had a good level of water an attracted a few Canada Geese and Mallard, but every thing else was to far away for good images. The hide on the Southern Cutoff was crowded as members of the Cornwall Mammal Group were holding a field meeting.
So here are a few images I managed to get from this morning.

CANADA GEESE.

( SO VERY SORRY).

CANADA GEESE.

CANADA GOOSE.

MALLARD.



HAYLE ESTUARY 10/11/2010

Have not been very active over the last week, only managed to get out a couple of times and the photo opportunities were non existent due to dull weather and the lack of things to photograph.

Still this morning was very nice sunny with a few passing showers, so I drove down to Hayle Estuary for a couple of hours. After sheltering from a very heavy shower, the Sun came out and the tide was just starting to go out and birds were moving back onto the mud for feeding.
Everything has greatly increased in numbers with good flocks of Widgeon, Teal,Lapwings, Gulls and Geese.
So There will be plenty of chances for photo's over the coming winter, so below are a selection of this mornings efforts.

CURLEW.

GREY HERON.

GREYLAG GEESE.

LAPWING.

LITTLE EGRET.

OYSTERCATCHER.



"FRYDERYK CHOPIN"

Images for this post courtesy of David Plummer.


I received these images a short time ago from my Brother in Law David Plummer who lives in Falmouth, They show the Polish Tall Ship "FRYDERYK CHOPIN" which last week lost both its masts in a storm a hundred miles south west of the Isles of Scilly in the Atlantic.

This vessel had between forty and fifty teenagers aboard on a sail training adventure, I'm sure this is not what they bargained for,Gladly no one has been injured in this accident and the vessel was taken under tow and finally landed at County Wharf in Falmouth at around 10am this morning much to the relief of everyone.

These images show how we can never predict the forces of nature.



AMERICAN BITTERN

So finally got to see the "American Bittern" this morning after waiting around for 2 1/2 hours, Mark and I got to Trewey Common near Zennor just around 06.45am and there were already around 200 people there. I guess some must have been there half the night, anyway the weather was overcast but dry with a chill South South Easterly breeze,so after the wait some cattle moved into the area where the pool was located and flushed the bird I can say the humans were very well behaved.

I did manage to get a few very poor flight shots , due to the dull weather I had to use a very High ISO which produced very noisy images, also the bird was flying away from the crowd which did not help. So below are the best of a bad bunch and if it hangs around for a while will revisit and try for some better ones.

So my thoughts on the morning, This was a great lifer and a fabulous Birthday Present.

When you gotta go you gotta go.

In the last image you can make out the dark wing tips which is an identifying feature for this species.



FOXY BUSINESS THINK I'D BETTER MULLET OVER

On Friday morning took a stroll around the Gwennap area, Not to much to report just a few common woodland birds some Chiffchaffs and This Fox below going about its business.

On Saturday morning I headed west down to Hayle Estuary, A good build up of over wintering ducks is happening with good Numbers of Teal and Widgeon, also a lot of Lapwings and plenty of Gulls and common Waders. The tide was just coming in and looking over the causeway bridge saw some ripples on the water coming towards me. Upon closer inspection I saw a shoal of quite large Grey Mullet swimming into the shallows, managed to get a few shots of these lovely fish a couple of which I have included below.

GREY MULLET.

GREY MULLET.

Finally here is a record shot of one of the many Lapwing starting to build up for the winter. I then got a phone call from my mate Paul Freestone to say the American Bittern was showing again at Trewey Common. So as it was only 10 mins away I went up for a second try for this rarity, sadly it had flown again  and had been attacked by a Peregrine and took shelter in some Pine trees quite a distance away. This was my second try for this lifer, but due to the antics of a few idiots who try to get to close and keep flushing it away spoil the chance for others who would just like a reasonable view of it. This is the second day I have been to look at it only to find its been flushed by the time I got there. I can say I was amongst many unhappy birders from the comments I overheard. So my plea to everyone is.

GIVE A BIRD A CHANCE.

GIVE A BIRD SOME SPACE.

AND ENJOY IT.

NOT BIRDING AT ANY COST.



GOLDFINCH

Have not managed to get any photo's from the weekend's birding, and the best bird on offer was a very mobile Yellow-Browed Warbler at Nanquidno.

So I have posted a image of a juvenile Goldfinch taken near the feeders on Sunday afternoon.
Looking at the latest weather reports the weekend could be a bit of a washout, still fingers crossed.

GOLDFINCH.



GOOD MOON RISING

Spent a couple of hours at Stithians Res last evening (Friday) Joined the Warden Simon looking for Barn Owl and Short Eared Owl.
So were we lucky? indeed we were after a wait of about 1 1/2 hours and in the last moments of dusk we had Barn 0wl, and a few minutes later a Short Eared Owl flew in front of the hide.
So two year ticks cant be bad , although it was to dark for Photo's. But earlier we had a great view of the full moon rising over the trees at the far end of the cutoff. Managed a few pics so I will leave you with one of the images.

This photo was taken with the EOS 20D 400mm lens @ 1/125s @ f5.6.



SUMMER MEMORIES (ODDS & ENDS)

Just spent a little time over the last couple of days sorting out all the images in my Raw Conversion Folder. When images have been processed and converted from Raw they get automatically transferred into this folder as JPEG's, from here I do any extra editing and naming before I place them into their final folders. This folder can become quit large and every so often I sort through and trash images I don't want and name and file the rest.

So tonight its some of the rest from the Summer, I have not looked these up or named them, so if anyone would like to try please feel free.