Norfolk coast

The woodland hide was great, but the day before I had a few hours to kill in the afternoon.  I went to see the snow buntings at Salthouse, and found a range of waders at the beach car park which seemed quite habituated to people, coming in to feed on bird seed.  Redshank, turnstone, knot.  I also got my first half decent shots of teal, a species I often find quite shy.

The snow buntings took a while to arrive, but when they did I was taken aback by the large size of the flock, tens of birds at least.  They were mainly feeding on a grassy bank - convenient for some eye level shots from the car, although I could really have done with some pruning time.  The range of colour variation was clear as you looked at the flock.

The sun took a while to appear, and then I was torn as  to whether to stay at Salthouse or have a look at another spot David had steered me towards.  In the end the option of exploring further won out and I headed further up the coast to take pictures of ....... horses? 

 

Look in the background to the left!  There were several barn owls out hunting in the late afternoon, something we never see before late dusk down here.  Sadly they didn't come too close, but still lovely to watch.

 More views and better detail in the web alums here.

Norfolk woods

 I keep my eye on quite a lot of blogs, websites and photo sites (mostly Flickr it seems).   It's a good way to learn what works, see what's around locally and get ideas for photo projects.  One person who has consistently posted good shots on Flickr is David Whistlecraft - in addition to some cracking barn owl shots he has set up a woodland hide and over this winter has posted a good range of species. 

 What really caught my eye were some shots of crossbill drinking at a small pool.  Crossbill are one of my bogey birds and as past readers will know I have also have a bit of a thing about pictures of birds at pools or puddles.  David rents out his hide for photo workshops, so the idea of going to see his set-up, get some ideas and have a chance of some good photo's (maybe even a crossbill) seemed to good to miss.

 Then again it's in Norwich and I'm in South Wales!  I had left on a list of 'somedays', but a week off work led to some plans to head up north, and I persuaded myself Norwich wasn't too big a diversion for me to make on the way home (OK I know, but it's an hour nearer!).

 So plans were made, and although they all went wrong I still made it to Norfolk through a bit of snow for a day and a half of pure bird snapping.  I'll come back to the half a day, but the day in the hide was great.  A bit of snow, some lovely warm light and good views of the birds, along with good company.  I learnt a lot about setting up a photo hide, including a drinking/bathing pool, and just hope I can find somewhere to do something similar.

 No crossbill, but I'll come back to them soon in another post.  I did get some good shots of GS woodpeckers, nuthatch and a range of tit species.  You can see an album of more pictures here , and see some of David's excellent pictures here

BGBW IV

Yesterday was a good day, even though I didn't get out snapping.  The sun shone, a couple of nice walks with the dog, the first rabbits of the year were out and about and we added to our village tally of bird species with a pair of goldcrest peeping away from a conifer.  Don't get me wrong I know they will have been around we just haven't seen them - no conifers in the garden.
It was also big garden bird watch day.  I haven't kept note of entries from the last couple of years, but looking further back we seem to have much the same mix of species each year - just with some variation in numbers.

This year house sparrows topped the bill (no pun intended) with 9, and it's nice to know they seem to be at least holding their own.  There may well have been more, but it's a struggle to count, especially now the bamboo has grown on.
Collared doves next on 8 - some years we have had up to  20 at a time,

 then the ever hungry starlings,

 greenfinches - again a good find given the problems they're having

 and blue tits - all on 6.

 It was nice to find a blackcap after a couple of barren years - Kay told me the other week she'd seen one around.

In search of snow .......

It's hard to believe that the last time I posted about the UK was early November, but a combination of a holiday, lousy weather and other commitments (including walking the dog!) has meant photo trips have been limited.  I failed dismally to snap the Slimbridge bitterns, and the tawny owl that took up temporary residence in one of Rich barn owl boxes.  The foxes are around, but making use of the long nights to avoid anything but the trail cam, and there's just no roadkill to pull in the buzzards.

So last weekend I devised cunning plan and we went to walk the dog by the sea.  Good chance to socialise her, you see - she's a rescue border collie, so has her issues!  As there are no beaches to speak of nearby a trip over to Burnham on a day with a piercing wind turned out to be a good move.  The wooden lighthouse is quite photogenic (or would be if you took the time to compose something arty),

and the dog behaved herself with some distraction from an increasingly soggy and sandy ball.

I'd swear I wasn't the only one keeping an eye out for the bird, but I knew the sky wasn't the best place to seek this little gem.

That said I was beginning to fear the high numbers of people may have put off even this tame creature, but in time ...bingo.

In classic snow bunting tradition it was really very tolerant of me and my lens, although the last shot is heavy crop - I'm not going to push it that far.

The only downside was it's choice of location.  I wanted low angle views so there was no choice.  Let's just say the dog wasn't the only one with a soggy ball - I had 2!

Florida

A few posts to come  HERE or some pictures HERE from a recent trip to Florida....

Here are a few tasters: