Struck Gold!

A quick trip to my local reservoir this morning proved to be extremely fruitful.

I visited the lake as I knew a pair of Mandarin Ducks have taken up residence, and would be an ideal opportunity to tick off this bird from my list. However, whilst battling with some irritating back-lighting, a dog being walked around the reservoir burst onto the scene and scattered the Mandarins out towards the middle of the lake!

In a rather foul mood, I set off towards some woodland close-by to see what I could find to resurrect my trip. Whilst some Long Tailed Tits avoided me, I recognised the distinctive sound of a feeding Goldcrest, and after some time stalking the little character (do they ever stay still?!) and multiple shutter-bursts, managed to get a shot I am very happy with.

Optimistic once again, I walked back up to the reservoir, and found the Mandarins had returned to the waters edge, so managed to get a few images of a very impressive duck.

RSPB Ham Wall

A trip to Shapwick Heath in the morning proved to be rather frustrating, as despite some fantastic light, all the birds were well beyond the range of my equipment. Though I did mange to take this photograph of a rainbow whilst sheltering in one of the hides!

A change of location to Ham Wall saved the day, and another obliging robin as well as some feeding tufted duck made for great subjects.

Wader Wednesday

Chasing the storm for some dramatic landscape shots, I headed down to a local beach, only to be distracted by a group of Turnstones and a tag-along Purple Sandpiper that was feeding with them. I managed to get soaking wet in the process, but really enjoyed shooting these little characters as they searched for food on the waterline.

Gull on a Grey Day

Having taken some time off work, I’ve headed down to Cornwall for a few days to visit family, and naturally I’ve brought the camera along too!

A trip to Praa Sands for a walk along the beach was a great opportunity to get my eye in with the gulls, and tick at least one off my list. A calm, but sadly grey day meant that most seabirds would be far out to sea, and certainly beyond the reach of my 75-300mm lens but a posing Black-Headed Gull in winter plumage near the waters edge made quite a pleasing (to me anyway!) environmental composition. And is importantly, another bird ticked off!

A quick visit to Porthleven then resulted in a bonus Rock Pipit that I spotted feeding on the rocks leading down to the sea. Unfortunately, my shots of a Pied Wagtail were unsuccessful, so will have to try again with those…

Sadly, I was evaded by both a goldcrest and firecrest in the afternoon; wow those guys are flighty! However, I now know where I can find them…so round two tomorrow.

Scraps From Last Weekend

I’ve been deliberating whether to post these images all week, and whether they’re good enough to count towards my UK Bird Photography Challenge, but after much thought I’ve decided to not make life more difficult for myself than necessary!

I was lucky enough to stumble across a flock of Brent Geese (a first for me) grazing on the outfield at Budleigh Salterton CC, and managed to get a clear enough view to take the following shot (processed in monochrome).

I also spotted a Song Thrush out on walk, so despite the rather poor light tried to cease the opportunity to tick off another species!

Bullfinch

A weekend away in Devon allowed me to take my camera for its first outing beyond the county border, and along the banks of the River Otter, near Budleigh Salterton.

Whilst the otters, beavers and kingfishers (my targets for the trip) proved to be elusive, I did manage to spot a bullfinch feeding alongside the banks of the river. Stalking him for twenty minutes and jumping down a river bank allowed me to capture the following images. Having not come across a bullfinch for years now, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to spend a bit of time in the company of this stunning bird.

RSPB Swell Wood

Determined not to be disheartened by the events of the previous day, I headed out again, but this time to RSPB Swell Wood in the hunt for some of the smaller woodland species.

RSPB Swell Wood is the site of an established heronry, where Grey Herons and Little Egrets are known to nest, and is located in the picturesque Black Down Hills, just south of Taunton. Upon arrival, I found the car park to be quite full, and plenty of the common woodland species feasting on the array of bird feeders hung in the trees. Following the footpaths was unrewarding, but when I returned to the car park I found it emptier of cars and managed to capture the following image of a nuthatch perching in one of the trees next to a feeder.

A quick investigation of the heronry hide showed all the nests to unsurprisingly be deserted, but a friendly robin drinking from a little puddle made for a great opportunity to re-capture this charming species!

The Challenge – First Attempt

Excited to start off the challenge and try to get to grips with my new camera body & lens, I set off to RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset where there is usually good opportunity to see a good number of different species.

The morning proved to be frustrating, with fairly poor light and a lack of the usually abundance of bird life! My learning curve with the Canon 75-300mm USM II was also quite steep; having never handled such a long lens before, I battled with camera shake in the low-light conditions and a goldcrest spotted in the undergrowth was not an easy target.

However, my luck was to change, and a roving finch & tit flock moved along the alders that border Loxton’s, filling the branches with tits, goldfinches, tree creepers and redpoll (a first for me) – though tantalisingly just too far away for my lens.

An obliging robin saved the day, and I was able to catch the following image, which I was more than happy with!

UK Bird Photography Challenge

A new year, some new equipment and time I think for a new challenge.

Perhaps foolishly, to add some structure to my photography and hopefully push myself to try new techniques and tactics, I have decided to set myself the challenge of trying to capture all of the birds of the British Isles in a photograph.

Whilst I have set myself no time limit for this challenge; I want this to remain a photographical rather than ornothological challenge, and as such am not allowing ‘record shots’ to count – images can be full-frame or show the bird in it’s environment, but I hope they will display at least some photographical merit!

I hope this endeavour proves to be as interesting to follow as I’m hoping it will be to undertake – I’m particularly looking forward to trying to track down a Capercaillie or Corn Crake!

I shall keep an updated list on a separate page (drop down menu above) of all species captured so far, with hyperlinks to the relevant post.

I look forward to you following me on my journey and your comments along the way!

Oli