Cormorant - POTW No 3!!!!

Despite the gloom, wind and horizontal rain - there was a bright side to the day. I got a text saying 'Congratulations' - a bit of lateral thinking and a bit of web'n walk on the mobile then certainly made my day. Another Birdguides POTW!!






Here it is - with one of the least exciting (or so you would think) bird subjects to photograph. For the technically minded, the image details were Canon 40D with 500mm f4 lens and 1.4x converter, 1/1600s at f6.3, ASA 400 (and if you know how sluggish that combination can be - you will know how difficult 'blink of an eye' shots are!) I'll be honest, I never thought for one moment that wiling away an afternoon photographing Cormorants would result in a POTW!!






I've had lots of emails and kind comments - thanks to you all. Looking closer in that mouth, the 'green stuff' is filamentous weed and not fishing line by the way.

Dawlish Warren - Semipalmated Sandpiper!!

If yesterday was one of the 'lows' of the year, today was destined to be one of the 'highs' - wasn't it!! I was at the reserve for 8.30 and with the tide rising, made my way to the beach.

The SemiP was associating with Dunlin and quite a few of these were flying in along the beach from the estuary, question was - where would it land? I chose a spot between groynes 10 and 11, mainly cos a flock of approx 40 Dunlin, Sanderling and Ringed Plover were there and scanned the group.....

Most of the birds were snoozing, not making matters any easier! Dunlin and Ringed Plover were obvious, the bright white underside of Sanderling caught the eye and then I noticed a much smaller bird ticked amongst the group - promising indeed!!








Eventually they woke! The size and plumage difference now obvious between the Sanderling on the left.












An obliging wingflap...






And then, the highlight - a good look at the webbing between the toes - most obvious between the outer and middle toes!! So now you know (if you didn't already) why it's called a Semipalmated Sandpiper!








It was now nearly midday and having been soaked by squalls twice, I was completely dried out. A call from Mike Stokes reminded me that the Tawny Pipit on Portland was still there - had I time though......

Easton - Tawny Pipit!!

I was originally intending to be south of London by 3.00pm (clearly now impossible). Even with a good run, I had to find the location on Portland and then - hopefully the Pipit!!

Weymouth and Portland are such a drag to drive through even on a quiet day. Following my nose, I ended up in Easton with about 20 minutes to spare (I had to get away by 2.30!!) No-one had heard of the web location 'Barleycrates lane' but luckily a local pointed me in the direction of 'Barleycroft lane!! Two more minutes lost....

I found the cliff top car park and could see birders in the distance. I legged it to the path and would you believe my luck, just 20m away where the access path joined the cliff path - there feeding at the edge of the path - a 'large' upstanding Pipit!!! The other birders soon cottoned onto my lucky 'find'.






Straightaway that distinct supercilium and malar stripe shone out and checking out the finer detail with the scope, Tawny Pipit indeed!










Camera was out of the bag and my only problem was the gale force wind - raging in off the sea (how most of these pictures are reasonably sharp, I do not know). I was shooting into the sun and whilst enough detail of the bird was possible, I opted for a change of direction down the path for better photographs. What a cracker and judging by the dearth of images on Birdguides, not a bird that many folk have got their lens onto!!










Now, I just had the not entirely minor task of driving to Leatherhead in Surrey for an evening talk (which I managed in 2 1/4 hours - even the M25 behaved). Without a doubt, this was perhaps the best or maybe luckiest day's birding of 2008!!!

Dawlish Warren - Sparrowhawk consolation

Twitching often walks a fine line between emotional extremes. It could be; 'I'm never, ever, ever going to waste my time going for another rare bird again' to 'wow, that was the most fantastic day's birding ever'.

I wasn't happy - on my way to talks in Surrey and Kent! One of my infamous diversions had somehow led me to spend the night with friends in Devon. There just happened to be a Semipalmated Sandpiper at Dawlish Warren and I just happened to arrive as the tide was falling and it was 'somewhere' on the bight....

So, after an hour or two searching in vain for the Semip (and a Wryneck) it was one of those soul searching moments where the pointlessness of this lark was called into question. I walked back to the car cursing my luck and then, a little moment of consolation came my way.

A male Sparrowhawk, perched on a post - worth a record shot just before he flies....






Except he didn't! So, I slowly inched nearer until I was in position for the perhaps the nearest photographic encounter I'd had with a Spawk.












A Wheatear chanced his luck as the Sparrowhawk sped off hunting......







You know, for a moment, I was happy again - no way making up for the birds dipped but a fantastic opportunity. I was also committed now to put that Semip appointment to rights, with an early return the following day - question is, would I succeed???

Westport Lake - Sabine's spectacular

Westport Lake is only 40 miles from Shrewsbury and with the traffic chaos caused by various roadworks, was I glad it was a Sunday!

Even better, this mega-gorgeous juvenile Sabine's Gull actually stayed put - when I got there it was sat down on the shingle shore of the adjacent 'duck pond'.

Despite the attentions of a rather irritating 'photographer' who did his best to flush it, a fairly constant gallery of 30 or so Birders kept their distance (including me!!) and enjoyed, what was for for most, an inland tick and for me another Gull lifer!!






It eventually flew to the main lake and despite more harrassment from local Black heads, fed on surface insects and off during the afternoon.









A brief rest, then it was off again. The light was pretty poor but at least it stayed dry. These latter shots were with the 300mm f2.8 taken from a fishermans pitch ringed by trees - small angle of view and very difficult to lock focus as it flew by but the Gull was flying to within 20 metres or so!!!












Footnote - anyone giving the bird another 24 hours was doomed to miss out - it disappeared overnight!!!

Venus Pool - Invasion of the Terns!!

A 'quick half hour' look at Venus Pool as sometimes happens, turned into a half morning affair. There were no waders but the low cloud and forecast of stormy weather was promising...

First bit of action was at 9.30 when a lone Tern flew in. Hugging the far bank it was not easy to see detail but with an obvious black bill (which I still think looks long!) and legs, optimism got the better of me - something special?? but any Tern is always welcome at VP! I'd realised by the time Andy got there and the pictures show it was a juvenile Arctic Tern (even sporting a metal ring)!
















At least having got Andy there, he was able to enjoy the party of 14 Common Terns which dropped in an hour later, circling over the pool for 2 to 3 minutes - quite a sight! Sad thing was they took the Arctic with them on departure!!

And sorry, no I couldn't get them all in one picture!








A Black headed Gull acting as 'fighter escort' and shadowing them off the reserve!






I left mid-morning with the reported 'probable' juvenile Sabines Gull at Westport Lake near Stoke now a 'definite'!! Hmm, only 40 miles - tempting...........

(You might want to come back and see what happened!)

Venus Pool - flying fish!!!

Not a lot had changed at VP, the two Dunlin were still on the main island. It had to be another session trying to catch flying fish with the Little Egret in front of the Memorial hide.....











The challenge was then trying to get some of these amazing droplets frozen during the action......










Of course, it doesn't always go to plan - here are a couple of bloopers or outtakes!








A Cormorant was in on the act but this is a much more difficult shot to capture- that fish is gone the moment the birds breaks the surface (my favourite so far!!!)






Great Egret, great fish action, great day!