SMALL WHITE

...................................................................................................

Well weather wise its been a pretty naff weekend, wind, cloud, patchy rain typical bank holiday weather.
So hence have not been doing much photography,still it did brighten up yesterday afternoon so went down to Falmouth for a look around.
The intention was to have a look around the Fish Festival that's taking place this week, when we arrived there was not a parking space to be found.
So headed out to Castle Point and managed to find a space, so spent the next hour and a half wandering around with the camera taking shots of the Maritime activities around the headland.
Don't worry I will not bore you with these images, the only other thing of note was this Small White Butterfly I found flitting around and managed to get a few shots off.
I was using my old 100-300mm f5.6 L lens which I had repaired last year and decided to try it out as I had not used it very much.
All in All I was very pleased with the results it was giving me, and hope it will help with the larger insects such as Butterflies and Dragon flies.

SMALL WHITE.

My apoligies to everyone I identified a Small White as A Wood White, so many thanks to the people who put me right. ( Good to know I'm Normal )

......................................................................................................



LARGE RED DAMSELFLY

...................................................................................................

This is another species from the visit to Tehidy Woods earlier in the week, and a new one for me.
There were very few Damselflies around but I managed to spot this one resting on a leaf by a small still pool.
The Large Red Damselfly is one of the earliest to emerge so maybe this is why there are so few others to be found.
 I find it very striking with its Red stripes, Black body and legs.

LARGE RED DAMSELFLY.



LARGE RED DAMSELFLY.

........................................................................................................

ABSTRACT ( RUNNING WATER ).

Fancied posting something a bit different for a change, took this shot of the stream running through Tehidy Woods on Tuesday.
It may not be every ones cup of tea, but I like the abstract effect it gives.



TOOK A BLOG BREAK

Been taking a bit of a blogging break over the last couple of weeks, just been a bit fed up posting the same old same old, and things have started to go a bit quiet on the Avian front.So apologises I have not even loaded any blogs during this time,this does not mean the camera was put aside I still managed to get out and about a bit. So below is a selection of images from the past 2 weeks , and as you can see the Macro lens has  become the mainstay for now.
So thanks for bearing with me and I will try to catch on your blogs over the coming days, but as with everything this time of year I am spending much less time on the PC and enjoying the wide outdoors.

AZURE DAMSELFLY.

BEE FLY.

DANDILION CLOCK.

ROBBER FLY. ( EMPIS TESSELLATA )

FLESH FLY.

GREYLAG GOOSE.

SMALL CATSTAIL.

RED CAMPION.

SMALL COPPER.

SNIPE FLY.

SPECKLED WOOD.

SPRING CINQUEFOIL.

WOOD SEDGE.

YELLOW IRIS.

Spent a very enjoyable half day yesterday with Ashley over in Tehidy Woods doing a Macro shoot. So will post some of the images when I get them processed.





BLACK WINGED STILTS AT ST GOTHIAN

Started the day at Marazion this morning with Paul and Ashley and was almost blown away by the Southerly Gale that was coming in off the sea.
So the decision was made to head to St Gothian Sands where it hopefully would be calmer, Ashley and I arrived before Paul and started on to the reserve, as we got to the bridge area between the two fenced off pools I was looking at the left hand pool where two Shelduck were feeding when we heard Paul shouting and pointing " pick up your bins I can't believe it he said" or words to that effect.upon looking at the spit on the island on the right hand pool were 4 BLACK-WINGED STILTS so we ran around to get better views and spent the next hour putting the news out and taking 328 photo's as these are a rare bird and to get four was really something.
No I am not posting 328 images you will have to make do with the two below for now.

BLACK-WINGED STILT.



GREAT WHITE EGRET (MARAZION)

Made an early start down to Marazion this morning to try and nail the Great White Egret I have been after for the last week.
I arrived at 06.45 and the weather was awful, heavy rain and fog so spent 45 minutes sitting in the car,but it finally stopped and the fog started to clear.
Not much activity on the marsh, so took a walk along to Longrock Pool and as I neared the railway bridge I caught a brief view of it as it flew up and dropped into the reeds again. I then meet Lynton who said he had walked to the area and as he looked around the edge of the marsh it was right in front of him but flew off immediately into the reeds which was the view I got.
So we went back to the viewing area and waited for around 45minutes and I was beginning to think it was not going to show.
Suddenly it popped up and started to fly towards us and landed for about 30seconds on the edge of the reeds, it then took off again and flew along the reeds in front of us giving some fine views before dropping into the marsh at the Marazion end.
So in the end the patience paid off and below are a few of the images I got, even though the light was not at its best.

GREAT WHITE EGRET.



AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER ON HAYLE ESTUARY

Spent three hours yesterday morning down on the Hayle Estuary hoping to get some better pics of the American Golden Plover,There has also been  Great  White Egret showing on and off for a few days.
Although the Egret was seen at 06.15am by the time I arrived at 07.45am it had flown, the American Plover did put in an appearance but stayed distant so Photo opportunities were not good.
So below is a record shot of the American Golden Plover, and a few others from the mornings Birdwatch.

AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER.

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT.

COMMON SANDPIPER.

WHIMBREL.

WHIMBREL.



BONAPARTE'S GULL ON HAYLE ESTUARY PART 2

Hi Everyone I have not been very active on the nature side of things this last week, it has been the annual pligrimage to Bass Point on the Lizard Penninsula for the International Marconi Day Radio Amateur event.
So the later half of the week was spent checking antennas and equipment I needed to take with me.
So Friday was spent setting up Antennas and getting the station operational, and Saturday was spent operating, and taking the equipment down at the end of the day.
The event went very well although it was very windy on Saturday all the antennas survived, the dicey part was taking them down in the wind and I did manage to pull a muscle in my neck and shoulder which has been painful (My brain thinks I'm 20 and my body says I'm not), any a few hot showers and muscle lubricant and its much better. So I will not bore you with any images of the event as I have posted them on previous years.
So Sunday was spent relaxing and and just pottering around the home. I did get out for a couple of hours birding on Monday morning down to Hayle Estuary and got the American Golden Plover that turned up the day before, sadly it was to far away for good pics.
We also had a Hobby fly over, and spent almost an hour with the Bonaparte's Gull thats still there and managed to get some closer photo's.
Also had a Stock Dove and Common Sandpiper, So below are a couple of images of the Bony's.

BONAPARTE'S GULL.

BONAPARTE'S GULL.

This final image is in response to Anthonys comment, Anthony don't be to concerned about the ID  as when you see it in comparision to the Black Headed Gull it really stands out. If I can identify it then anyone can, so  hope you get it.