Red Necked Phalarope

What a delightful little bird. It has been around for nigh on 2 weeks and had attracted a lot of attention! It is very confiding and seems total undisturbed by hoards of birders/photographers. It has at times been almost close enough to reach out and touch it. It certainly has won some hearts :)

Shore Larks

I was thrilled to at last see these birds, there were 4 in total there on Sunday. I didnt think I would get to see them before they disappeared as Mick working everyday at mo so I was delighted when my friend Max offered to take me there. We had wonderful weather and the birds didnt disappoint. A brilliant day! They were always quite distant but will careful approach, without risking flushing the birds and getting covered in wet sand as a result, I managed to get reasonable record photos - this bird was another "lifer" for me :)

Snow Buntings

Delightful little birds, in a flock with Twite.

Black Necked Grebe

Here are a few record shots, heavily cropped! It was nice to see this bird, a lifer for me, have always dipped out before when they have been reported locally. The warden informed me it was the first one of the winter (North Cave Wetlands). It was always distant but I was delighted to see it!

Little Grebe

I love Little Grebe, they are so cute! I enjoyed watching one of them from the hide, the water was clear and shallow and it was great to watch one of them under the water to-ing and fro-ing to catch fish. What a delight :)

Snipe

Largest flock of these I have ever seen - a total of 18

Starling Roost

Our local starlings have been gathering to roost , the flock are getting larger and larger. I managed these photos one evening, was a shame I didnt have a nice sunset as a backdrop but then you cant have everything - It was breathtaking to watch and they came so close that I could feel and hear them - awesome! Quite a challenge to capture in low light conditions - will no doubt get another opportunity to photograph them

Bempton

A visit to Bempton cliffs on Saturday proved to be a washout! We hoped to view the Red Backed Shrike that has been there for a few days but with terrible visibility with fog and rain we dipped out. A few Gannet were observed over the sea and hundreds of Blackbird coming in were a delight to see along with a number of Redwing. A Sparrowhawk was observed too near to the visitor centre .Mick had a close encounter with a weasel. The day ended on a very pleasant note as we called in at Worlaby Carrs and enjoyed an hour of sunshine in the company of Barn Owls and our first Short Eared Owl of the autumn.

Bearded Tits Again!

I was delighted yesterday to again watch and photograph my local Beardies in good light at long last! I had 10 birds, after a wait of nearly 3 hours.

Bearded Tit

A magical experience - 3 hours with these delightful little birds - a flock of around 20. Mainly seen on the gravel path. In winter they eat lots of seeds and so take in gravel as a digestion aid. They were all very vocal too!

Knot

On a beach walk at the weekend we came across this very confiding lone Knot - we only usually see them in their spectacular flocks at distance.

Coastal Birds

We had a few hours at the coast over the weekend, here is a selection of what we saw, Lapwing, Stonechat, Wren and a record shot of a scarcer Spotted Redshank

Bearded Tits

I enjoyed good views of these lovely birds but again the weather was murky and drizzly and the autofocus on my camera struggled to lock on to the birds most of the time.

Common Snipe

A dull overcast day - hence poor colours to the shots, I was pleased with the flight pic as the green background put a pit of colour in to the capture!

Local Bits

Some recent local pics. Kestrel, Water Rail , Little Grebe. Wren and a Weasel

New Quay (Wales)

We spent a week there in September this year - we were plagued by dull and damp conditions mostly which was frustrating from a photography point of view, and everywhere was pretty quiet for birds and wildlife. I think if we go there again we will choose springtime and hope and pray for good light!! Below are a few photographs from the trip.

Newport Magic

One night we went to the wetland area of Newport and witnessed one of the most wonderful sunsets we have seen!

Guillemot

This lone bird was seen in New Quay for about 3 days running

Grey Heron

This heron was observed at St Dogmaels

Dipper

Dippers were again fairly common in most areas we visited.

Herring Gulls

We spent a lot of time on the rocks near the fish processing plant, fishing, watching the dolphins, seals and birds. A very smelly place to sit!! The waste products pouring out into the sea attracted the gulls in large numbers.

Oystercatchers

A common sight around the Welsh coast

Chough

Our "target" bird having never seen them before - most days we observed them flying over, we usually heard them before seeing them - they have a very distinctive call. We had this flock pass us over the sea and then on the last day found a few more in a field hanging out with jackdaws.

Woodpecker and Stonechat

Whilst walking along the coastal path above New Quay we were watching Stonechats along the fence above the cliff when we were surprised to see 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers join the chats along the barbed wire fence. They werent too confiding so these are distant shots.

Welsh Raptors

We saw Peregrine and Buzzard most days whilst in Wales.

Curlew

Lots of these around today, including 3 together on a grass verge!

Cormorant

I got a very good view of this bird, they are usually at a distance so I was happy when this one came close by!

Water Rail

A really elusive species, more often heard than seen but I was lucky this week to have one show briefly enabling me to photograph it.

Bugs and Butterflies

Here are some shots from the weekend. Common Blue Butterfly, Grasshopper and a thirsty Wasp (my favourite picture of the weekend!)

Migrant Hawker

Finally got out for a few hours together over the weekend. Here are photos of quite an obliging hawker.

Arctic Terns

Stonechat

We came across a pair of these lovely birds around Lindisfarne castle, only the male was confiding enough to get these photos.

New Life

Arctic tern chicks were everywhere on Inner Farne, from newly hatched to these balls of fluff. You had to watch your step as they were often on the path. The juvenile Dipper was seen on a river in Northumberland on a murky day where we also saw Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail. The Ringed Plover chick was observed on the beach near the jetty on Inner Farne

Dark Green Fritillary

A new species for us. They were in abundance on the sand dunes off the causeway leading to Holy Island (Lindisfarne). They were a difficult butterfly to photograph as they are constantly flitting about, it took an hour of patience just waiting for them to briefly land. Macro shots were impossible but we managed these shots from a distance

Sandwich Terns

Quite a nice colony of these Sandwich Terns, observed in flight and with their little families :)

Sandwich Terns part 2

Adorable Puffins

Such lovely encounters with these gorgeous little birds. We tried to capture intimate moments between them as well as standard puffins shots.

Puffins again

More puffin shots...

Close Encounters of the Tern kind

Inner Farne! What a place. Although we were pecked and poo-ed on lots of times, one Arctic Tern decided Micks head was a good place to sit for a while, it stayed there a good five minutes as he walked around! :)

Northumbria

We are leaving the chaos at home behind for a 3 day visit to the NE to fulfill a long ambition to visit the renowned Farne Islands and surrounding coast. Will update blog asap on our return. Im sure we will not be disappointed :)

Avocet Chick

What a little cutie! 3 of these chicks took up residence in the middle of a main road through my local reserve, they had to be ushered gently to safer ground, this one then became separated from its siblings and ended up in a ditch tangled in weeds and looking very sorry for itself. After a bit of a struggle it freed itself and went on its way.

Barn Owl at Daybreak

Not the best pics as taken before the sun was up! Always a pleasure to see a Barnie! :)

Spot Flys

Our local Spotted Flycatchers have been showing well and the male was seen to pass food to the female who then took the food to the nest site. Nice to know they have successfully bred a few minutes walk from our house :)

Yellowhammer/Whitethroat/Treecreeper

A few pics of some local birds. The Yellowhammer posed nicely whilst singing loudly! The Treecreeper was busy feeding its young and the Whitethroat was part of a large family

Sao Miguel - The Azores - May 2009

Phew! At last the blog is updated from the above trip. It has taken such a long time as at the moment we are having work done on our house and it has been a constant stream of builders, j oiners, plumbers etc etc. Our house is like a bomb site at the moment-it is nowhere near done but today I have been able to lock myself away for a couple of hours to catch up with this blog!
We had a very enjoyable trip to the largest island in the Azores - Sao Miguel. We went there primarily for cetaceans and were not disappointed. A hire car was essential to get the most of of the holiday, the scenery is amazing and we would have missed out on so much if we hadnt hired a car. Enjoy the pics (click on them for larger view). We are looking forward to our next little getaway in July, a few days visiting the Farne Islands in Northumbria.

Sao Miguel Scenes

Here are a selection of views from the island..

Sao Miguel scenes part 2

More scenic views...

Sao Miguel Scenes part 3

More from the island..

Common Terns

Corys Shearwater

These were a challenge as only really seen out at sea and most of the time it was difficult to capture with the camera as the sea usually rough or the light wasnt good enough. This one photo was about the best we got!

Roseate Terns

We saw only a handful of these, they were hanging out with a colony of Common Terns. They were around a rocky outcrop on the outskirts of Ponta Delgada, we called the area Tern Rock!

Humpback Whale

This migratory whale showed well for us, it was they first record of one in these waters for 3 years so we were very lucky to add this to our cetacean sightings :)

Fin Whale

What a monster!! It is the second largest living animal on earth (behind the Blue Whale). This one was estimated to be around 22 metres in length. To give some idea of size, the dorsal fin is 3/4 of the way down its body, so these pictures minus the last quarter of body and tail plus its head shows just how big they are! A privelege indeed to view this whopping whale!

Atlantic Canaries

These were very common Canaries(Serinus canaria) but not too confiding. They are endemic to the Macronesian region (i.e. The Azores, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and Maderia)

Azorean Chaffinch

Wonderful little birds, again endemic to the region (Fringilla coelebs moreletti), very pretty and confiding, they could be handfed at Lagoa de Furnas.

Azorean Buzzard

These endemic Buzzards (buteo buteo rothschildi) were a common sight for us, everywhere- on the coast, in the mountains and over the towns.

Sperm Whale

We were thrilled to see adult sperm whales although at great distance, however this youngster appeared by our boat and he kept going right underneath us and popping up at the side of the boat to look at us, a wonderful encounter!!

Bottle Nosed Dolphins

It was our dream to watch Dolphins bow riding etc, it was an awesome experience to lean over the front of our boat and see them underwater :) we had so many lovely and memorable times with these wonderful creatures.

Bottle Nosed Dolphins part 2

Rissos Dolphins

A new species for us - great to observe! They are reputed to prefer to keep their distance from boats but we saw two large pods and they came quite close

Local Owlets again

I had a wonderful ten minutes with this owlet. It was sitting right next to the path with a headless bird in its talons. It didnt seem to mind my presence at all and the whole experience was magical :) Sadly one of its siblings has been found dead on the road next to the wood.

Azores Bullfinch (Priolo)

What a bird. We were so lucky to see around 14 of these very rare and critically endangered birds. The first group we came across was unexpected, we were on a mountain ridge in low cloud with only a few yards of visibility, a remote place called Pico Bartholomeu. On other visits to the Serra de Tronquiera region (east of the island of Sao Miguel) , the only region these birds can be found, we found more. The local name is "Priolo" (bullfinch-pyrrhula pyrrhula murina)

The male and female are alike. Lots of conservation work is being done to preserve this species. We feel very priveledge to have spent time with these birds and to observe them in their native habitat. There are estimated to be only 150-200 pairs left. It was nice to see them "fern stripping" the only Eurasian bird that does this. Long live the Priolo!!!!

More Priolo

There is link opposite for more info on the Priolo and projects surrounding its conservation

Bottle Nosed Dolphins

The first batch of dolphin pics, more to come! This was one of our biggest challenges, they delighted us on every trip around the shores of Sao Miguel but with choppy seas and trying to guess when they were going to show above water was very difficult!!

Local Spotted Flycatchers

A brief diversion from the Azores photos, today I had a walk out in my local area specifically to look for Spotted Flycatcher and within 10 mins came across two of them!

Wall Lizards

Very common and seen daily. They even live amongst the lava rocks on the beaches.

Black-Winged-Stilt

This pretty individual was observed twice at Lagoa De Furnas, it has apparently been there a while. We first saw it in flight and it was very unconfiding. However we returned there and again saw it fly by, we then hid in vegetation for a few minutes and it waded toward us, enabling us to photograph it :)

Marsh Frogs

What an endearing bunch!!! They were very very vocal, anywhere near water, even up in the mountains etc, you could hear the frog chorus ringing out. Mostly when we approached - plop! plop! plop! they were gone! However we did find a large group inside a cattle trough and they posed nicely for us - great little creatures!!

Blackcap

Yet another azorean endemic - Blackcap(sylvia atricapilla gularis). These were prolific, their song greeted us every morning. One tree, with yellow flowers, in our hotel grounds seemed to draw them and sometimes there were 40+ of this species feeding there at any one time. As with our Blackcaps, the male has the black cap and the female, brown.

Little Egret

We saw around half a dozen of these whilst in the Azores

Azorean endemic Goldcrest

These birds were very common but not particularly confiding, heard more than seen. They are of the endemic subspecies regulus regulus azoricus

Grey Wagtail

These endemic subspecies (motacilla cinerea patriciae) Grey Wags were everwhere in the Azores, very common and seen as much in the towns and forests as well as near water.

Azores Sunset

Beautiful scenes from the coast.

Portuguese Man O' War

These beasties were everywhere so we didnt dare swim or snorkel as we would normally do! If you look carefully at some of the pics you can make out the reflections of the surrounding cliffs and clouds!

Azorean Long Eared Owl

Whilst in the Azores towards the end of our trip we heard these owls calling and saw brief glimpses of them in flight in the grounds of our hotel. On our last morning we had a couple of hours free so we scoured the gardens to find them roosting and were not disappointed! Absoluteley stunning owls!! Those eyes are amazing- a fitting end to our trip:)

Tawny Owlets and Azores update

Here are our latest pics of the local Tawny owlets, all seem hale and hearty- adorable!! With regards to the Azores we are nearly through with sorting the photographs so should get some pics on in next few days - phew! We did find the Azores Bullfinch and 7 cetacean species. :):). More details to follow...

Goodbye for 2 weeks

Blog will not be updated until early June as we are off away to the Azores in search of whales and dolphins and hopefully some good birds! We may even pin down the endangered endemic Azores Bullfinch. Watch this space............

Tawnies

We were thrilled this evening to see 3 newly fledged Tawnies on our local reserve. A fantastic sight despite torrential rain and thunder. We watched them stretching and flapping their wings and also saw them being fed by their parents. A priveledge indeed and big smiles all round!!

Shelducks

Large numbers of these on the patch now.

Little Egret

This is being seen quite regularly at the moment, on this occasion it was soon bullied by the local gulls.

Kestrel

Mick was lucky enough to come across this Kestrel as he left work

Common Terns

Great to watch these noisy individuals, quite a few on the patch now. Beauties!!

Swifts/Swallow

Lots of patience to photograph these aerial experts, very fast and unpredictable! This was the best we could do - amazing to observe, we have spent hours watching them!

Local Images

Yet more sunset pics and one weather picture, we were out photographing Swifts, the weather was hit and miss, one minute sunny then rain.

More Waders

Here is another selection of Ringed Plover/Dunlin images

Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Firstly a Dunlin shot. I love Ringed Plovers and to get these shots I had to lay flat on my front in the mud and wait for them to approach! The lengths we go to!

Less Than Perfect Shots!

I tried in vain to get a good photo of a displaying Sedge Warbler, they are so small and fast and in less than perfect light, nearly impossible to get "locked on" to. This was the best I could do! Also here is a record shot of a Little Ringed Plover in flight and also a Swallow and a Linnet

Chowder Ness/ Far Ings

Here are a few shots from my local patch.

Pied Wags

On a visit to Chowder Ness I took delight in watching these displaying. They reminded me of little pogo-sticks as they bounced along!

Tawny Owl

One of those magical nature moments! I arrived in thick fog on my local reserve and as I turned a corner this beauty was sat out in the open, I shared ten minutes in its company and it seem quite undisturbed by my presence. Wonderful!!

Orange Tip

I love these little butterflies. Their camouflage on the cow parsley is amazing -until they open their wings!

New Life

Lots of cute little baby rabbits around at the mo. Couldnt resist taking these shots!

Flamboro'/Bempton

We enjoyed last weekend at the above. The weather was very kind to us! We stayed locally at the brilliant West Carlton guest house - http://www.west-carlton.co.uk/ Perfectly situated for visits to the above places. Wonderfully relaxing and secluded , with comfortable clean accommodation with little extras and yummy breakfast! A nature lovers paradise!! Here we are at Flamborough, North Landing

Wren/Whitethroat

A scrubby area near to North Landing at Flamborough early in the day, lots of birds were full of the joys of spring! We captured this Wren and a Whitethroat. Most other birds were elusive!

Roe Deer

ALways a delight to see these, they are quite common around certain areas of East Yorkshire

Jackdaws

These were plentiful around the picnic area at Bempton. Although thought of as a raucous and scavening bunch, their beautiful eyes and grey/black " cap " makes them somewhat quite endearing!! Well in our opinion anyway!!

Puffin

We had hoped to see a lot of these cute and lovely little characters but only saw a handful (now theres a lovely thought:) :)!!) this was the only decent shot we got.

Kestrel

We were delighted to observe this brilliant Kestrel whilst on the rocks at North Landing, Flamboro' . It was hunting over the grass above the rocks, and as we were underneath an overhang, it didnt seem to notice us. It was a joy to watch as it hunted and with the light fantastic on it, these shots were possible!

Kestrel in Action

More of this wonderful hunter!

Bempton Gannets

Lots of these nice birds are now there at Bempton, we were lucky to have some quite close on the cliff side

More Gannets....

East Yorkshire Wildlife

We got a great view of this Leveret by the roadside. In the grounds of our accomodation this Mistle Thrush was nesting and very agressive it was - even terrorising a Wood Pigeon, feathers everywhere!! Also shown here are Treesparrow (again in the grounds) and a Whitethroat

RazorBills

Great birds!! Again seen at both Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough.

Kittiwakes

One of our favourite sea birds, very pretty and very vocal! Lots now nesting at Flamborough and also a few at Bempton.

More Kittiwakes

Bempton Fulmars

Quite a lot of these are at Bempton Cliffs now. They are not the easiest birds to capture as they are very quick and this particular few came in under a grass bank area so lots of shots were missed!! We persevered and got a few shots in the end!

Fulmars part two

More of these birds......

Magical Sunsets

We have had some glorious evenings on our local reserve, we try to pop down after tea most nights - it is so magical! The sunsets are fantastic and nothing beats being there as the sun goes down. Swallows and Sand Martins displaying and skimming the water, birds coming into roost - amazing!!

Common but Nice :)

These common but lovely birds posed quite nicely for us!

Displaying Swallows

During our bird study group evening gathering we loved watching these Swallows displaying as the sunset. Magical!

Warblers

Lots of these birds today, all full of the joys of Spring! Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff. There was a large influx of Sedge Warbler today, I counted at least 14 and lots of the males treated me to a flying and calling display. Having not witness this before I enjoyed a noisy 20 minutes watching them