More puddle pics

A hint of sunshine saw me back at the puddles - now rapidly drying out - for some more of the same. A stunning male redpoll or two were the highlight of the day .........
but it was good just to watch the usual cast of characters in action.



Last year blcakcaps were regular visitors, so it was great to see one back again .......
Mean while at my woodland feeding station I have started to work out where all the seed is going to:



As always better quality shots on the web gallery HERE

Getting back on track

After a few weekends back into the sad rhythm of wet weekends, coupled with a singular lack of success tempting something interesting in front of the lens I decided to go for a session at my woodland puddles ..........


After an hour or two snapping floating seeds Igave up and spent a while seeing if I could get a shot of the birds using the feeding station I have set up nearby. No joy there, even the chaffinches and my first nuthatch there avoiding the shutter. I took a step back, had a sit down and just watched for a while.
The light was swinging round by now, and most of the birds were carefully avoiding my props - with the exception of this goldfinch -
so I wasn't sure how quite heavily backlit shots would come out. In the end I was pleasantly surprised, and delighted to see some of my old friends back.


The vivid orange spot in two of the shots is a seed case, not the fishing float it appears!
As always better resolution posts on the web album here or click the link to the right.

Rorschach spawnfest

Let's do the Rolf Harris bit. Can you tell what it is yet? Maybe like the old ink-blot test it'll tell you something about your psyche!

Playing around I thought it looked somewhat alien in nature .............

but yes, it's just a frog or three.
Each spring the ponds at the Nagshead RSPB reserve throb to the motorbike thrum of hundreds of mating frogs. It may not look too much at first .........
but a close-up of the blob in the middle shows a mass of frogs.
In terms of spawn this was early days yet. By today there is probably a mass more spawn, but for me it's the noise that's the thing to live in the memory. I took a stack of shots a couple of years ago, and took a stack more this year, although as seems to be the case of late the weather fell far short of what I'd hoped for. Rather than put up too many more of the (grey) same, a few pic's of one of the groups of 3 frogs 'glued together - a female sandwiched between 2 males.


In the shot below you can see how both the males have distended throats as they are caught in mid-croak, gently squeezing their resigned suitress between resonating airbags.

OK, a couple of standard shots to finish.

If you live nearby pop along and just follow the motocross sound - soon though, or you'll miss it.

Portishead, pipits, purple peepless

Hopes of purple sandpipers were dashed, perhaps because the 'high' tide on Saturday was at risk of falling foul of the trade descriptions act, but there was a bonus in the form of a few rock pipits plus a chance to chat to the guys picking up a few codling. The sun wasn't quite right, leading to some slightly odd colour casts, but let's face it it's not like the plumage has too much colour to cast!



I say rock pipits, and common things being common no doubt they are. But having looked in my books I'm not sure I would be so able to tell from water pipits. Let alone Scandinavian rock pipits!

Bigfoot birding

So there I was settled down to try and snap a few more birds at Rich's field, when an avian yeti appeared in front of the lens.
Until then I'd had a chance to snap a few more of the regulars, although the fawn coloured greenfinch still eludes me.


As you will surely have guessed the clue to the ownership of the feet lies in the grain the house sparrow is feeding on ......
Still this is not the most bizarre invader of one of my feeding stations. Many years ago when I first was reigniting my interest in photography I heard of a place in the Forest of Dean (I know a great woodland going cheap to anyone who'll take it off the Tory hands) where the mythical hawfinch could be found. I didn't have a hide, but put down some seed and hid behind a tree. You can imagine my surprise when this creature emerged!
The hawfinch did eventually appear, and this was a real spur to me - even if my camera kit fell well short of range!


One bit of sad news. Rich's barn owls reared several chicks to fledging this year, and I had a few lovely late evenings watching them flitting around the trees and fields. Sadly in October one was found dead 11km away alongside a road near Stroat. Many barn owls are lost this way, presumably a combination of their hunting style and the lack of suitable pasture leading to roadside verge use.
I had been worried how the parents had survived the winter, so set up my newly acquired trail cam on a roost site they often use - judging by the pellets. it was great to find that they were both alive and well despite the snow. Click the image for a larger view.

From Rich's Field

Was it worth it?

I've written before about the micro-reserve that Rich and Nic have set up near our home. By this time of year the birds have got through a lot of the seed from the sacrificial crop (they start in early autumn - even late summer), and so R&N undertake some supplementary feeding. For me the advantage is that birds are coming to food in more open areas than the densely pack stems of the crop. Numbers of finches fell away during the snow, and with the milder weather haven't picked up again yet, but I thought I'd have a bash at snapping a few birds. Using my bargain (£5) Woolworths camouflage pattern tent as a hide after a while some birds did come down, of which the greenfinch and reed bunting were new for me in the field.



The trouble with my bargain (£5) Woolworths camouflage pattern tent is that it isn't long enough for me to lie flat. So there I was lying slightly downhill, arching my back to look through the viewfinder with the camera on a bag, my legs held, knees flexed, so my ankles were hovering over my back. Fine at the time, but boy has my back complained over the last 2 days! I know all the modern advice - keep going, it's only pain - not harm, etc. But it does hurt! Still I do quite like the potential of the last bunting shot, so I'll just have to get out some scissors before I try again.

Find the berries, find the birds

When Kay decided to have a kip for an hour on Christmas day (full of cold and knackered after coughing all night) I did what any newlywed would do. I took advantage of the one sunny day forecast for the holiday period and headed out in search of some berries. I knew the rowans on the industrial estate had been stripped, but some brief visits to the garden from redwings and a fieldfare led me to look again at what other berries might be around. After driving round the Severnbridge estate for a bit I saw some small thrushes fly into some bushes. No idea what the shrub was, but it had small black berries and the redwings were tucking in. After a while it clouded over so I had another explore. the pavements were lethal with ice under the snow, but under a hawthorn largely stripped of berries some redwings and a fieldfare were eating the fallen fruit. They were pretty twitchy, but snapping from the car one relaxed enough to chase a lively berry almost under the wheels.
2 days later (now apparently known as 'Next sale day') I tried again, despite the crummy weather. Nothing at the previous sites, but I followed a few redwing flying into a small car park and found some pyracanthas, redwings and, to my surprise, a greenfinch. At first I thought it was on the berries, but then realised it was discarding the pulp and eating the seeds, bullfinch style.
Heading for home I found a patch where the snow was already retreating, with a flock of winter thrushes rooting amongst the leaves. Again the car was needed, and the fieldfares stayed out of view but in time some redwing came along. My 1DIII is having a new mirror box (?) fitted so all I had was the 400D - not the best in low light, and nasty pictures at more than ISO 200, but I did get a few just about sharp shots.

Some more of all on the web album.