31st December 2010 - Winchester Garden

Nothing too far from the usual, but a female black cap is paying very regular visits- low light and shooting through double glazing made low shutter speeds a good test of my new monopod- and it seems to prove effective.

9th August 2010 - Broadford Bay

After a passing comment by a tourist wielding a Nikon I thought it may be worth trying to follow up the hint.

I crept along the beach (I understand with some very puzzled onlookers) with the following as a result:

It was the closest encounter I have had, and thoroughly enjoyable (my shoes are still drying off since the tide came in and left me in 8 inches of water before the otter left allowing me to move without disturbing him)

I had made sure that I only moved while he was below the water, and always kept myself downwind.  Lisa sat further back on the beach, reading a magazine while her camera was closeby.  The otter played, fished, and swam straight past me, and decided to swim directly towards her- even though he must have smelt her, now being downwind of her.  He swam to about 5 metres away, before continuing along the coast.

Butterfish seemed popular, and a crab was also eaten further out on a rock.  We also saw him later on- presumably a regular in the area.  No doubt I shall be keeping an eye in his direction whenever we return to the bay.

His right eye did concern me- noticeably puffy and reddened- possibly a wound and associated infection?  Didn't seem to slow him down today however...

31st July 2010 - Southsea Seafront

It was nice to see large flocks (50+) of terns off the coast diving and fishing, but theu were few and far between who came in range of the shore.  Sandwich and common were certainly around, the sandwich losing the black forehead already (- or not gained?)

18th July 2010 - Wild Kestrels at The Hawk Conservancy Trust

The kestrels from the nest box by the hide are still showing well, and beginning to find their own food.

This branch still offers a good perch, and with the earlier morning light offers reasonable images. 

The juveniles are all out and about, as was the adult male- but I don't seem to have got the female at all...

I will try to update with some of the non-wild images from the day, when I have gone through all the files in lightroom.  I had been pleased with the above from the back screen, and am glad they didn't come out too badly!

11th July 2010 - Poole Seafront

As part of our "planning for the future" we took a walk around Poole, and a selection of local housing.  It is interesting to see a different area, but we would miss some of the 'known nesting sites' we have discovered in recent months.

A few images taken from along the seafront; the light was harsh yet the sky failed to be the pure rich blue I would have preferred as a result!

Many house sparrows (above) and starlings were constantly patrolling the seafront, clearing up what we leave behind.

These terns were out and about fishing off the coast, but without the background I would have preferred.  Always next time, back down to Southsea with the Sandwich Terns!

9th July 2010 - Back to the Kestrels

We returned to this site, since there was not a cloud in sight, the sky was a rich blue, and we hoped for a breath of fresh sea air.

I think the pigeons were enjoying the camera attention.  (note the leg ring on the left bird)

At one point three birds were visible in the nest, although a fourth was flying nearby.

This has to be my favourite image from the night- which I shall be getting through the printer this weekend.  Certainly worth the fairly quiet evening for the series this was part of; and the sibling retained the bemused expression for some time and couldn't seem to work out where his sister (?) had flown to.

By the time we left the warming sunlight was fading, but at last one bird did return, and took a brief moment to pose before retiring for the night.

6th July 2010 - Another local site - Kestrel Nest

Another of our gentle local walks was taken, where a very pleasant couple pointed out the specific location of some resident kestrels as we passed.  We had been setup for the architecture and perhaps staying on until the sun set, so were less than ideally set for gear.  Despite this, a few records shots were taken, which I shall hopefully update with some improvements in the near future...

Certainly four individuals were present...

...all of whom are clearly already flying, landings proving tricky for some into the nest hole, but plenty of space for a full circle and second try...

...certainly two spent some time in the air before disappearing into some nearby trees...

... I shall return with the 300mm f2.8 and the Gitzo/CB Gimbal combo... with flight shots possible with just 1.4x teleconverter with any luck.  And I may even then bother a little more about suitable processing!

4th July 2010 - "Local Patch"

Another walk by the local Peregrines and we saw three juveniles flying, clearly all improving on flying.  A few stoops were made on pigeons, and even one made a good attempt (but missed) a butterfly!  The three were quite happy to play in the air, and the father even joined in for a while.

Still no photos with the mother's (I think) leg ring showing clearly enough to read...

One of the girls displaying well- just before terrorising a woodpigeon.

We think there are likely to be two females and one male in this brood- the male here diving onto one of his sisters... carefully having chosen the worst light for me...

The birds acceptance of the urban jungle implanted near their home is clear, but it is concerning.  I always remember that of last years "Chichester Brood" only one of the young has been seen since- lying dead on the ground, badly injured having hit the overhead power lines directly above her corpse.

30th June 2010 - Farlington

The weather seemed quite pleasant to take a stroll around the marshes at Farlington this evening; perhaps it would have been wise to check the tide times- we thought the tide was out when we arrived- by the time we left we could no longer see the waters edge at all...

It looks like I will have to investigate the colours in this- the sky is (was) a soft rich blue...  This male kestrel spent some time hovering, watching some small critter scampering in the verge I assume, before having a little break.

A first for us, this skylark was playing in the sky with his mate and many of the visiting swallows.

The juvenile greenfinch was pretty much told where to go- so he did.

'ah- isn't he cute...'

I think a little more book reading may be in order- possibly a juvenile warbler of some kind? edit: Young Sedge Warbler?  Not immediately obvious at this time of night!  The size, and behaviour are correct, the song was too intermittent to be readily identifiable.  The broad defined buff eyestripe works as a 'sedgie', as does the white throat and pale underparts, but the back is just too dark, and isn't a mottled greeny yellowy brown... but then the beak is right in colour and size/shape...  But then I think of Cetti's Warbler, with the darker brown more homogenous back; also likes damp reedy/marshy areas, both seen in the area... will keep thinking... but tending toward immature Sedge Warbler... at the moment... I have regularly heard and sometimes seen Sedge Warblers all around this area of the marsh, after all!

26th June 2010 - The River Hamble

Another of our gentle walks along the River Hamble (other bank this time!) afforded us a number of views of large expanses of mud, and a few photographic birds arrived also.

 This lapwing was quite happy pondering around in the fading light on his own, and keeping himself far cleaner than the oystercatchers further along were.

The light was fading, and so shutter speeds were low as they often seem to be!

A quick preen, and flurry of wings, and the mud poking was resumed.

A few snapshots were taken of this reed warbler- a little too distant to be of great worth, however.

22nd June 2010 - Local Walk

We took a gentle walk nearby, and enjoyed watching the recently fledged youngsters take to the air.  As with the Chichester birds, there is a varying level of ability amongst the group- but more alarmingly there is a great variation in size of bird also.  There appears to be either three or four juveniles, with two highly attentive parents, and all are now flying.

I will hopefully sort this post out in the next few days, but for now a handful of pictures from this evening.

Coming in for landing...

...whereupon a sibling leaps out to startle!

The grace of these birds is hard to match, but some of the juveniles are still only learning the basics.

Plenty of food appears to be being brought in- during the hour or so of our presence this racing pigeon and a blackbird where both brought in.  The pigeon was passed mid air to one of the more adept young- but the camera buffer had been filled!

This juvenile was clearly intent on chasing the locally resident woodpigeons, although no contact was managed tonight.  Stooping at fairly high speed, with a reasonable demonstration of agility.

This little creature decided flying was too much like hard work, and so climbed and jumped to move around...

...finally getting somewhere...

...and eventually reaching the perch of choice.

She did demonstrate some ability to fly though, when she realised she was missing out on fresh blackbird!

The clear evening light was very pleasing, and caught these collared doves nicely.

20th June 2010 - Long Tailed Tits

 A few minutes in my parents back garden this afternoon provided an opportunity to try the 40D at higher ISO levels than I would normally use.  The low light levels deep into this hawthorn hedge, while shooting into the fading sun were providing around 1/80sec at ISO800 f6.3 (300 f2.8 + 2x) which allowed the following...

Not a complete failure, and certainly for smaller prints quite acceptable, but the success rate with such flighty birds at the low shutter speeds was obviously lower than I might have liked.  The family of long tailed tits seemed to frequent the garden around the feeders on a regular basis, with the juveniles not as willing to feed themselves as they should be!

19th June 2010 - Southsea Seafront

Just as beautiful as the Peregrines are any other bird, however 'common' people may consider them...

The niger seed feeder in a back garden always encourages a family (or two?) of goldfinches to hang around on these overhead wires.

Hanging around to annoy some juvenile starlings was this black headed gull- not that any of them seemed to care!  Much younger than those we saw the other week near here.

And we headed closer to the water...

A few sandwich terns were seen hunting the waters edge- I did get a few images, but I think I still have the comment 'must try harder'... composition: sky, shadow and clarity of image...

This was a first for me though- a Pied Wagtail who 'hovers'- all around the edge of this roof, picking spiders out of cobwebs... I would assume the nest is nearby, as he (/she) was clearly filling a beakful up before his (/her) return.

And who cannot love the lilting delicate grace of the woodpigeon; foraging in the fading evening sunlight?