Bee-eater slomo

I've just spent a week in Cumbria and wasn't far from the latest Bee-eater breeding attempt at Low Gelt Quarry.  I had to pop in, obviously.  Nice views, if a little distant were had, but they were so far off and quick that I thought a bit of slomo video was the order of the day.  It's not brilliant, but fun.

The Wood Storks eye

This is perhaps my favorite shot from Florida earlier this year.  I just can't stop looking at that eye!  I have to admit though, I've processed the image poorly, so I may go back and have another go at it sometime.

Wood Stork, Gatorland, Florida, January 2015.  Digiscoped with a Nikon V1, Swarovski ATS 80 HD and 25-50x eyepiece.

Penduline

Penduline Tit, Meadow Lane GP, 29th December 2014.

This was a stunning find at the back end of 2014.  Digiscoped with a Nikon V1, 10-30mm lens, Swarovski ATS 80 HD and 25-50x eyepiece.

Spotting flycatchers

Summer is here.  Or at least the Spotted Flies are back.  This year I've been fortunate to have a pair appear just behind my house - certainly not a bird I ever expected to have from my garden in the house I am currently in!  These birds aren't those, but they were taken not too far away.  They are a fantastic bird to practice taking images of.  The Panasonic GX7 really pulls out more detail than I have ever experienced from a digiscoping camera - I am exceptionally pleased with it.  So if anyone is dithering about what new digiscoping camera to get, look at one of these and the 20mm f1.7 pancake lens - awesome!

Back on it

Meadow Pipit, Biggleswade, 30th April 2015

Got to get back on this blogging bicycle, so here's an image from my new digiscoping camera - the Panasonic GX7.  It's quite good!

Beds is ON FIRE!

Wow!  What a couple of weeks Beds is currently having.  Barred Warbler, a very confiding Hoopoe, a Lap Bunt and now a Lesser Grey Shrike!  It really makes up for a thoroughly dull rest of the year (Glossy Ibis aside).

Barred in Beds!

Well, that's turned around a truly dismal birding year in Beds.  John Lynch did a sterling job a keeping on this Barred Warbler at Blows Downs today - Bedfordshires first.  Many thanks John!  But the big question is "what did you have vismiging?"

Beasts from the east

Feels like ages since I've done any 'proper' birding.  So I headed up to Norfolk on Sunday with Wardy to look at waifs and stays.

First up was this rather splendid OBP in Wells Wood.

[Canon 7D, 300mm IS f.4 and 1.4 converter]

Then some Barred Warbler action at Salthouse

Barred Warbler shots all taken digiscoping with a Nikon V1, 10-30mm lens, Swarovski ATS 80 HD and 25-50x eyepiece.

Parrots

I eventually managed a trip up to Norfolk to see the Parrot Crossbills at Holt CP yesterday.  After seeing them very briefly first thing in the morning we eventually got brilliant views around lunchtime.  Not excellent photos but I was too busy actually looking at them.  Choop choop!

3 Caspians and an Iceland

I went back to Milton a few days later with Mark Thomas.  The gulling was still brilliant - just the four Caspian Gulls this time, but also a juvenile Iceland gull too.  Nice.

I've added some music to this one, mainly to blot out all the swearing...

Out of county gulling

On Monday I had a cracking afternoons gulling in Cambs.  I started off at the tip at Milton and spent two happy hours pouring through the few thousand gulls coming and going.  Top of the pops were up to six Caspian Gulls, with a back up of around ten Yellow-legged Gulls.  I was disappointed not to bag myself a white-winger as up to two juv Glaucs had been seen the previous few days.  At around 3:15 I thought I should give the Grafham roost a go.  I was pushing it get there before it got too dark, but managed to pull up just after 4pm

I started scanning from the fishing lodge and within five minutes I had found a lovely looking adult Glauc not far off shore.  All other hopes of finding more Caspo's drifted in to the darkness as I happily watched my first adult Glauc of a good few years.

The videos above were digiscoped (at great distance!) with a Swarovski ATS 80 HD, 25-50x zoom, and Nikon V1 and kit lens.

Stints

These are the first Little Stints in Beds for a while.  They made a nice lunchtime treat on my usual pop to Broom GP. 12th September 2013.

Spotty little oik

After only three visits I manged to see the Bedford Spotted Crake well.

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.

Pec

The first 'Pec' for Broom.  Just part of Broom gravel pits great run of birds this year. These include: Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Rough-legged Buzzard, Roseate Tern, Spoonbill.  Not bad for a dirty hole in the ground!

Kite delight

Red Kite near Southill

These things are now pretty widespread around Bedfordshire.  However there are still pricks who go out and try to poison them - take a look at the Hexton incident.  That link is particularly galling as Red Kites were becoming a wonderful feature of nearby Pegsdon Hills; one of my favourite places to go birding locally.  Both kites and Ravens were slowly getting harder to see around the hills and now we know why.  Really makes my blood boil!

Rumper

I had a quick trip up to Grafham Water this morning to see this lovely Red-rumped Swallow.  When I first arrived I couldn't see any birders or the bird.  A quick walk on to the dam and something flicked up from my feet - the swallow!  It flew around for a while and landed no more than around 8 feet from me.  It gave stunning views for around four minutes until a blundering cyclist came along to within a few inches of it and it flew off towards Plummer car park.  Luckily we relocated it flying over the road between the dam and the car park a while later, and still giving fantastic views.

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.

The sound of spring

Paul H and I popped up to Paxton Pits this evening to see the Nightingales.  Only a handful of birds are in already but one of them performed admirably for us.  Wonderful birds.  If you want to see and hear Nightingales then Paxton Pits is most definitely the place to go.

(Blimey - it's amazing what else you find out when Googling 'Nightingale' - my post isn't about "a care home for older Jewish people", nor a "goth rock, now progressive/AOR metal/rock band from Örebro in Sweden", or a gay nightclub, or even somewhere to go and get "classically stylish clothes for mature women in sizes 10-34 including wide fitting shoes" but feel free to follow the links in case you've arrived here accidentally)

Slav

This Slavonian Grebe smacks of deja-vu.  A summer plumage bird turned up in mid-May last year at Priory CP, before moving to Pitsford Res to spend the summer.  I suspect this bird, currently at Stewartby Lake, is the same individual on a return visit - it just needs a few more weeks to really look smart.