ST GOTHIAN SANDS 07/05/2015

Paid a visit to St Gothian Sands NR  yesterday morning. good to see some fine weather for a change.
Not much happening on the Bird front, so decided to see what I could find on the insect front, plenty of common flies around and a few not so common species.
The best of the morning for me was my first images of an Orange Tip Butterfly, and the Ichneumon Wasp was a first also.
So all in all a very enjoyable few hours and hope the weather continues to warm up and bring  out more insects for the lenses.

Cinnabar Moth

Emphid Fly

Hoverfly Syrphus Ribesii

Ichneumon Wasp

Orange Tip Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

Six Spot Ladybird

Spider Tetragnatha Extensa

STARLING  (Breakfast Found ).

WEEK ENDING 30/04/2015.

Just a quick round up of a few trips from the last week to Marazion, Hayle and Falmouth,as this morning I am going down to the Lizard to set up our annual Ham Radio Station at the Marconi Museum on Bass Point to commemorate Marconi's  birthday.
Would you believe it wind and rain are forecast, so could be an interesting few hours putting up 30ft masts in those conditions.
Anyway I will give an update next week as to how things go, so  The images below were all taken on various trips to the above places during the past week.

CHAFFINCH.

GREAT WHITE EGRET.

HERRING GULL.

REDSHANK.

STONECHAT.

WHEATEAR.

The old Working Boat GRACE coming into Falmouth past St Anthony Light.

THINGS ARE STARTING TO SHOW (16/04/2015 ).

A selection of images from the past week, good to see some warmer weather and a few smaller species giving the Macro setup its first outing for the year.
So really looking forward to see what turns up in front of the lens in the coming months.

BEETLE ( Notiophilus Biguttatus ).

HOOPOE.

HOOPOE.

HOVERFLY ( Syrphus Rebesii ).

LITTLE RINGED PLOVER.

LITTLE RINGED PLOVER.

SPECKLED WOOD.

TEN SPOT LADYBIRD.

WOODLOUSE.

OVER THE MOON 07/04/2015.

Sorry about the weird title and the lack of posts lately, Have not done very much birding over the last few weeks,and the couple of times I have been out its been so cold all the birds have stayed low.
But today it was still chilly , but did make the effort to get out, and I'm glad as I finally managed to get the shot I have been waiting for the past Fifteen years.
Its of a Cetti's Warbler, these reside at Marazion Marsh and all you normally get to see is a split second view as it flits from one bush to another. This morning this one popped up onto a bramble for a few seconds, and although I got off about ten shots only three were of any good and all of a similar pose.
So finally I have got one in the bag and I'm chuffed to bits.
The Wheatear was on Hayle Estuary where we stopped off on the way to Marazion.

CETTI'S WARBLER (MARAZION MARSH ).

NORTHERN WHEATAR (HAYLE ESTUARY ).

This Peacock Butterfly was around the garden all afternoon yesterday and was very obliging as it soaked up the Suns warmth.

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY.

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY.

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY.

HELSTON 20/03/2015 & MARAZION 22/03/2015.

A few images from the weekend, on Friday I went down to Helston Boating Lake as an Iceland Gull was reported the day before, but  it seemed to have moved on.
On Sunday visited Marazion, no migrants were seen but plenty of common stuff showing well.

CHIFFCHAFF (MARAZION MARSH ).

STONECHAT (MARAZION MARSH ).

SHOVELER ( HELSTON BOATING LAKE ).

SHOVELER (HELSTON BOATING LAKE ).

WHOOPER SWAN ( HELSTON BOATING LAKE ).

CHIFFCHAFF, DUNNOCK & STONECHAT. 10/03/2015.

Three from Marazion yesterday morning.

CHIFFCHAFF (MARAZION ).

DUNNOCK ( MARAZION ).

STONECHAT (MARAZION ).

         

RING- BILLED GULL SWANPOOL FALMOUTH 26/02/2015.

Finally managed to catch up with the 1st winter Ring- Billed Gull at Swanpool yesterday afternoon, still had to spend a couple of hours for it to show.
I feel it was well worth the wait as it posed rather nicely for me in the end, have also posted a few images of some of the other residents though I have omitted the Brown Rats that seemed to be everywhere yesterday.

1st WINTER RING-BILLED GULL (SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

1st WINTER RING-BILLED GULL (SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

BLACK-HEADED GULL (SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

BLACK-HEADED GULL (SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

MOORHEN ( SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

SWANPOOL FALMOUTH 20/02/2015

Popped down to Swanpool yesterday morning to try to catch up with the Ring-Billed Gull that has been hanging around for a few days.
Again it was a story of no luck, though apparently it turned up later in the day so maybe I will have another try for it next week if it sticks around.
Still did managed to get a few shots of the Long-Tailed Duck which is being a bit of a long stayer, also the Great Crested Grebe is beginning to show some adult plummage.
These images also show the difference of shooting with the light behind you :ie the Coromant and having to shoot into the light with the other three images be nice if you could turn the pool around when you needed it He He. 

CORMORANT (SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

GREAT CRESTED GREBE (SWANPOOL FALMOUTH ).

LONG-TAILED DUCK ( SWANPOOL FALMOUTH )

LONG-TAILED DUCK ( SWANPOOL FALMOUTH )

CASTLE BEACH FALMOUTH 03/02/2015

Finally after four attempts I managed to catch up with the stunning Male Black Redstart at Castle Beach Falmouth, and even then it proved to be very elusive.
Still after tracking it up and down the rocks I managed to get a few decent shots even though at times it disappeared then returned, but I managed to fill in the time with a very obliging Grey Wagtail and Rock Pipit. 

BLACK REDSTART.

BLACK REDSTART.

GREY WAGTAIL.

ROCK PIPIT.

REDSHANK & PIPITS 25/01/2015.

A few images from a trip down to Hayle on Sunday morning,also stopped off at Carbis Bay nr St Ives, where we managed a Red-Necked Grebe, Red-Throated Diver,also Black- throated & Great Northern Diver were in good supply in the bay.

REDSHANK.

ROCK PIPIT.

Quite surprised to see that this poor thing only had one foot, but it seemed  very happy and active flitting around with no signs of distress

ROCK PIPIT.

WATER PIPIT.

WATER PIPIT.