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.



WHEN THE WEST IS BEST.

A few more shots from the weekend, on Sunday morning we headed down to Treen Cliffs near Porthcurno for the Barred Warbler which had turned up there. The last one I saw was at Kenidjack
Valley in 2004. So we did get some good views though it was very mobile  and just managed to get one record shot, and that's the first one in this post.

The others are again of the Snow Bunting at Sandy Cove, and were taken in much better weather conditions on Sat Morning. So I felt I would like to share some more with you.

Also sorry I have not commented on your posts But I will get to them over the next couple of days, The reason being I have been trolling through over 500 images of this bird taken over Friday and Saturday. Believe me I just could not resist it.

BARRED WARBLER.

SNOW BUNTING.

SNOW BUNTING.

SNOW BUNTING.

SNOW BUNTING.



SNOW BUNTING ,SANDY COVE NEWLYN

Just a short post before I head off out this morning, now 07.15am so here are a few pics I took on Friday of the Snow Bunting at Sandy Cove Newlyn.
I took a load mere yesterday but still have to process them, and Mark and myself are off again shortly.



CORNISH BIRDS OF PREY 4 RAPTORS.

This is part 4 of my visit to the Cornish Birds Of Prey Centre, and features images of a few of the Raptors that are on display.

I must apologise I did not make a note of the species of Eagle featured, so if any one can ID it I would be grateful.

A couple of the images have been featured before but I feel they need to be included again in this set.

EAGLE.

EAGLE.

GYR FALCON.

GYR x FALCON.

GYR x FALCON.

GYR x FALCON.

HARRIS HAWK.

PEREGRINE x SAKER FALCON.

PEREGRINE x LANNER FALCON.

RED TAILED BUZZARD.

RED TAILED BUZZARD.



HAYLE ESTUARY 10 OCT 2010

On Sunday morning took a drive down to Hayle Estuary, It all started of very dull and overcast although there was a lot of birds on Ryans Field, including 2 Little Stints,and six Sandwich Terns. It was then over to the causeway where there were 22 Brent Geese and a fly through Black Tern amongst a good build up of other species.
In the evening went to Stithians Watersports Centre where Steve Rogers gave a slide show of his birding holidays in Cyprus which had some superb bird images.
Next was a talk and slide show by Alan Davis and Ruth Miller on their biggest Twitch in which they spent a year breaking the world record for the most birds seen in a single year they managed 4,341 species in many countries around the world.
If you ever get a chance to see this talk and slide show please try as it is a fascinating account of their journey.

Finally just a few images from Sunday at Hayle Est.

ROCK PIPIT.

CURLEW.

CURLEW.

GREY PLOVER.



FROM THE LAST WEEK

Breaking away from all the melancholy of the last couple of posts, here is an update on the rest of the week.

Went up to Heligan on Thursday for the Green Heron and only managed a few seconds of view when it moved between cover. Had to get back early as Mark had to drive up to Manchester in the afternoon, got 100yds from home and it came up on the pager showing well.

Anyway a short view was better than nothing at all, so here are a few images from a visit to Marazion & Penzance earlier in the week.

LITTLE EGRET,



LITTLE EGRET

BAR-TAILED- GODWIT.

GREY HERON

GREY WAGTAIL.



AUTUMN LEAVES

This is a very melancholy time of the year when everything starts to fade towards winter,but before that nature gives us one last glorious show of colour.