Image of 2017 (UK)

Congratulations to the Wood Warbler! - voted most popular Shropshire image and together with the Black Tern and Night Heron, they can now do battle with another assortment from throughout the UK! I make no excuse for including plenty of images from the Isles of Scilly, my favourite destination where great birds and images just kept coming....

You will find an voting box to the right (NB on mobile phones, you need to select website view to see the voting boxes. Select the FIVE pictures you like most! (click thumbs to open a larger image)

This poll will run until December 31st and YOUR No 1 Picture of the Year will bring 2018 in....

Have a fantastic Christmas everyone and here's wishing everyone great birding in 2018! 

Picture 1 - Black Tern, Colemere (April)

Picture 2 - Night Heron - Shrewsbury (April)

Picture 3 - Wood Warbler - Clunton Coppice (May)

Picture 4 - Great Crested Grebe - Belvide (May)

Picture 5 - Spotted Sandpiper - Belvide (May)

Picture 6 - Slavonian Grebe - Scotland (May)

Picture 7 - Black-throated Diver -Lochindorb (May)

Picture 8 - Bee eaters - East Leake  (June)

Picture 9 - Manx Shearwater - Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 10 - Balearic Shearwater - Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 11 - Great Shearwater - Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 12 - Cory's Shearwater- Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 13 - Great Skua - Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 14 - Wilson's Storm Petrel - Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 15 - Sabine's Gull - Scilly Pelagics (August)

Picture 16 - Woodchat Shrike - Chipping Sodbury (September)

Picture 17 - American Golden Plover - St Marys (October)

Picture 18 - Cedar Waxwing - St Agnes (October)

Picture 19 - Hawfinch - St Agnes (October)

Picture 20 - Rock Thrush (Pwll Du)  (October)

Whitcliffe Common - Hawfinch!!

The year is coming to a close and I'd been keeping an eye on 'news' for some time now, hoping for some showy Hawfinches to emerge locally? After the St Agnes birds, dots in the distance or flyovers were not an option! And I have Ian Baggely to thank for tipping me off how well they were showing this week and then Dave Chapman for doing his intrepid stuff! I've had two short, freezing but pretty productive sessions there...

Here's a lucky moment on the Common when perched ad nauseum - giving us a 'you lookin at me' stare?

The highlight had to be drinking time!

But the poses in between were well worth savouring!

Just about all angles were covered!

But this short sequence just about captured how irresistable this charismatic bird can be!

You have to make the most of moments like this,  it may be years before they perform as well in the UK again!

Edgerley - Sacred Whoopers!

I started the year with Whooper Swans (at Venus Pool) so thought it would be nice to finish with some? Trouble with the Edgerley / Melverley area there's a lot of land / floods much of which can't be reached and certainly not always easy for the camera! After an hour of driving round... no joy!

Then I hit lucky with one remnant flood near Edgerley, in with a dozen Mutes were this pair...

A bit of formation gliding...

Almost immediately after they flew off, another 'large white bird' loomed over the flooded field! Another specimen for the escapes list anyone?

Sacred Ibis is not a bird I'd chase or point a camera at but it seemed rude to ignore it at close quarters!

Best foot forward...

The Hawfinches sound interesting at Whitcliffe, a session over the Christmas period methinks?!

Image of 2017 - Shropshire

It's that time again - the annual end of year picture accumulation, first off  from Shropshire. It's been an another great year locally with three Shropshire ticks for me. All three feature here and I'm not ashamed to start off with a 'record shot' of the Pine Bunting, - such an important bird which was rarely photographed at all - what a start to the year!

I've selected below a selection -  twenty of 'my' favourite or most memorable pictures (in chronological order) taken in Shropshire during 2017. A local rarity will always (for me) have a bearing on what constitutes a 'favourite picture' but I've sneaked in some common birds too! You can simply select your favourite photos from the assembly - it's always interesting for me to see which is the most popular!

There is a voting box to the right - for this first round simply check the FIVE pictures you like most! (click thumbs to open a larger image) Five votes maximum only please! (Only one voter is possible per PC sorry!)

I will let this poll run until December 22nd and then, the top three pictures will be included with more photos taken elsewhere in the UK during 2017. Voting will then begin again until New Years Eve with YOUR No 1 Picture of the Year being declared on 1st January 2018

Picture 1 - Pine Bunting - Venus Pool (January)

Picture 2 - Water Rail  - Chelmarsh (March)

 

Picture 3 - White-fronted Goose - Venus Pool (March)

Picture 4 - Black Tern - Colemere (April)

Picture 5 - Yellow-browed Warbler - Shawbirch (April)

Picture 6 - Shore lark - Titterstone Clee  (April)

Picture 7 - Little Ringed Plover - Venus Pool (April)

Picture 8 - Goldcrest - Polemere  (April)

Picture 9 - Night Heron - Shrewsbury (April)

Picture 10 - Wood Warbler - Clunton Coppice (May)

Picture 11 - Avocet - Wood Lane (May)

Picture 12 - Dotterel - Longmynd (May)

Picture 13 - Tawny Owls - Wrekin (June)

Picture 14 - Little Grebe - Venus Pool (June)

Picture 15 - Little Egret- Venus Pool (July)

Picture 16 - Osprey - Venus Pool (July)

Picture 17 - Kingfisher - Venus Pool (July)

Picture 18 - Great White Egret - Tittenley Pool (August)

Picture 19 - Wood Sandpiper - Brown Moss (August)

Picture 20 - Cattle Egret - Venus Pool (October)