Kingfisher at work again

A bit of a 'catch up' from last month and a Kingfisher doing what they do in glorious sunshine - probably a composite sequence.....

From the dive....

To the landing....

 

And then aligning the fish!

Nice eye to eye contact :-)

And down it goes.....

So many nice 'just posing' shots deleted and then looking back on those cloudy day images....you realise it's not worth taking the camera out of the bag! :-)

Venus Pool - Blackwit up close!

The most likely decent wader to turn up at VP  just lately is Black-tailed Godwit but they usually remain distant! With a Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper and 10 Common Snipe now present, this juvenile Blackwit was the star turn.....

Preening but just about to be harassed by a Lapwing!

The landing was brief as yet another Lapwing gave it some grief....

I wasn't complaining, just struggling to keep up with the affay!

Eventually allowed to settle down and feed - another tasty worm......

A wader a day, keeps Jim happy :-)

Venus Pool - Common Tern juvenile

News of Terns at Venus Pool caused me to take a break from image sorting and whilst there was no Black Tern present, camera backs didn't reveal one either.....  Oh well, there was a smart juvenile Common Tern however, which after winning over the doubters, I decided to spend an hour or so with Rob Stokes to see if it would come close?

Classic trailing edge to underwing and that distinctive long bill, it remained stubbornly distant.....

Occasionally landing on the middle islands!

But then, tired of being stomped by the Geese or harassed by the Lapwings, it came a bit closer!

Landing to the right of the hide!!

Oh dear, I use up another quantum of luck on a Common Tern!

Another flap before......

landing on the island in front of the hide!

Then slowly terning to give me every angle!

Looks like he's having the last laugh?

Venus Pool - Bar-tailed Godwit!!

Having a break from seabird sorting so thought I'd let this one jump the queue!  It's been a bird a day on the local Patch since returning from the Scillies! This one was the best of the bunch as Bar-tailed Godwits are none too common in these parts!

It was in fact 'a Godwit' for most until I confirmed Tony's hunch from the camera back in the car park, before hastening to the hide!

Where  it was showing rather well!

By the side of the Memorial Hide.....

Just as I was hoping he'd do something about the mud on the end of the bill?

Clean again!

And then after a short flight onto the nearby island, befriending a Common Snipe....

Showing off nicely despite the lack of sunshine!

A nice Purple Loosestrife archway!

And then these were the last few moments before it mysteriously vanished!

What could be next?..... Curlew Sand, Knot and Little Stint - all seen here before but not for a few years! Maybe I should aim higher? Come on you mega!!!

Venus Pool - Ruff for the record

First bit of birding in Shropshire and a Patch year - tick within minutes of arrival at VP :-) Only a Ruff but with each new wader there must be something good beckoning soon?

Record shots in glorious dull sepia ?

There will be a closer one before September is out??

Restronguet Creek - Dalmatian Pelican

Well, it was only a short detour on the trip home so I set the satnav to Restronguet Creek and found the 'village green' adjacent to the creek! The Dalmatian Pelican seemed a good half mile away on the other side of the creek, but still looming large in a scope!

Having got pelagic blood pulsing through me, I chatted with a friendly family just launching their boat and asked if I could work a passage across to drift 100m or so offshore? They were up for it and the gallery had no problem either :-) :-)

It worked a charm, the Pelican was untroubled, simply carried on preening!

Pausing to check us out?

No problem!

Thanks guys, hope you enjoyed your Bass fishing!

About 40 minutes later, the boat traffic had increased and one of them got too close - with predictable results! I thought it was going to fly the whole creek and pass overhead?

Damn, it veered right down the middle....

Landing on the small rocky island where it stayed put until I decided to miss the worst of the traffic mid afternoon!

Now these would have been interesting close up?

 Insurance bird cos you never know, do you????

Scilly Pelagic no 11 - Wilson's finale

The final session for me aboard Sapphire and with a steady westerly wind of 15 knots we headed South for Petrels?

Here's a Great Skua on the way out.....

Another adult Sabine's Gull.....

Which loitered not far from the boat for quite some time but rarely coming in.....

Numerous Storm Petrels around the boat once again but eventually... One, TWO, three - make that FOUR Wilson's Petrels as the light was beginning to become 'difficult' but showing supremely well.....

Two in a row tip-toeing the waves, long legs dangling.....

And not the best image but showing the yellow webs nicely!

Eleven pelagics done! And that's NINE Wilson's personally for the trip - can't be bad :-)