Lapo

A few shots of an obliging Lapwing at Broom GP today.  Great birds with one of the best calls around!  They even have eyes in the back of their head...

Digiscoped with a Nikon V1, Swarovski ATS 80 HD, and 20x eyepiece.

Dogging

Prairie Dogs running wild at Broom

This wasn't a species I ever thought I'd see around Broom - Prairie Dogs!  After a tip-off the other day about these I was a little sceptical of their existence - I thought it was so unlikely, especially as I'd been down to try and see them a few times and only seen Rabbits.  This morning I ambled down and saw what I thought was a huge ginger rat zoom over the grass.  After a minute or so I spied two little heads peeping out of a burrow - blimey!

So, where are they from, how long are they going to last in the wild, and are they bad for the local environment?  I guess time will tell, but for the moment they're an interesting addition to the local fauna.

Defecting

Not a bad evening's birding over the border in Cambridgeshire - juvenile White-winged Black Tern, female Garganey, three Yellow-legged Gulls, Ruddy Shelduck, 4 Ruff, Greenshank, and a Green Sand.

In Beds this morning, a long walk round Pegsdon Hills produced an elusive male Redstart and a good flock of c.150 Goldfinches.  Later in Rookery 4 Ruff, and two Tundra Ringed Plovers were the highlights from the fast-disappearing muddy edged pool.

Turtle Dove, Devon Drive

Turtle Dove, Devon Drive a photo by steve_blain on Flickr.

I've heard Turtle Dove purring twice in the four months we've lived in our new house, but hadn't seen it - that was until this evening when one landed on the fence! Stunning birds, becoming rare locally, and a wonderful garden bird to boot.

leucorhoa

'Greenland' Wheatear, Biggleswade Common, 9th April 2011. This bold, bright bird turned up with a obviously more sleek and demour male. It appears that 2011 has seen a very early push of these apparent 'Greenland' Wheatears, with similar birds turning up all over the country during the last week. The (ropey) image below shows the difference between the two males - striking, isn't it!

Bramble finches

The upper shot was taken with a Canon 400d, and 300mm IS f.4, the lower shot taken digiscoping using a Canon S90, Swarovski ATS 80 HD, 20x eyepiece, and universal adapter. Both shot RAW and converted using Canon DPP, then resized in Photoshop. Pretty similar quality I would say. Bramblings, Southill, 9th January 2011.

Back garden Bittern

Got a phone call this afternoon:

"I've got a Bittern in my garden"

And the gentleman did have! His garden backs on to the river Ivel at Langford and this amazing creature has been parading around his garden for around a week giving magnificent views. There are certainly perks to being the county recorder, at least sometimes.

Wowl!

Wow, an Owl!

Carrie and I went out for a quick look for owls last night. PH should have been coming over but has fallen foul of flu. We saw two Barn Owls and this Tawny. This one stayed long enough for a couple of quick digiscoped shots before flying off in to the fog.

I used an iso of 500 (ie fairly high) to try and get a reasonable shutter speed and stop blurring. We were about 15 meters from the bird so I could fit it all in my scope.

Kit used:

Swaro ATS 80 HD, 20x eyepiece, universal adapter, Canon S90, self-timer.

SF

Some more Spottie Flies from the summer...

A bird porn star

No apologies. This is just such a good bird not to go back for fourth helpings. Red-backed Shrike, Biggleswade Common, 1st September 2010.

Dunlin duo

Dunlin, Broom GP, 12th May 2010. These two chaps were very accommodating this evening.

Sewing machine bird

They are just great birds. There are few birds that mesmerise me as well as these birds when you get one really going for it a few meters from you. Grasshopper Warbler, MVCP, 24th April 2010.

Fluorohammer

I can't resist photographing these gorgeous birds. Some of the male Yellowhammers look positively fluorescent in the wonderful spring sunshine at the moment. Broom, 22nd April.

Another Wobbler

This Willow Warbler has surprisingly dark legs. It was definitely singing like a Willow Warbler. MVCP, 21st April.

S90 Fieldfare

This Fieldfare's currently frequenting my garden, feasting on apples. Shot on my Canon S90, raw, iso 125, Swaro 20x eyepiece.

S90 images

Digiscoped with Canon S90, Swarovski ATS 80 HD, 20x and 30x eyepieces. Shot as raw files on iso 200. Raw files converted with Canon Digital Photo Professional. Resulting images cropped and chopped in Photoshop.