Some recent images in Cornwall

Below are some images taken over the last month around the county.  There's been some gaps in the blog posts recently, mainly because of being busy at work and some family things which take up time.  Plus it's dark in the mornings and evenings so sadly my hobby has taken a back seat!  Anyway, these shots below are a round-up of what activity there has been:

Whooper Swan at Helston boating lake - Jan 2013 - calling continuously

 

 

 

Golden Plover at Colliford, part of a flock of 50 feeding in the fields by Dozmary Pool.

 

 

Firecrest at Helston Sewerage Works. A Siberian Chiffchaff was also present but I couldn't get the right shot. Try again some sometime!

 

Black-necked Grebe at Newlyn Jan 2013. One of my favourite images of this long-stayer in the harbour.

 

Chiffchaff at Swanvale - quite a pale bird but the buff flanks rule out Siberian.



Male Black Redstart at Portscatho harbour - this individual has been wintering here.

Chiffchaffs at Helston sewerage works

Chiffchaffs seem to be the flavour of the month with good numbers at various popular sites in Cornwall.  The photos below were all taken at Helston last week where I counted about twenty.  (At nearby Carnon Downs sewerage works, Mark Grantham ringed forty birds).  Included among the twenty are a couple of paler tristis type birds.  Tony Blunden also mentioned to me that they responded positively to song.  The upper two images are standard, warmer more olive coloured Chiffchaff and the lower three are the paler tristis type.

A Siberian feel to Helston sewage works

The recent cold easterly windflow has clearly pushed more Chiffchaffs into the county. The old favourite at Helston has "trumped" again with at least three Chiffchaffs showing characteristics of one of the eastern races. Several nominate birds were conveniently available for comparison as well. Two Firecrests were also present but the Yellow-browed Warbler had moved on. Photography was not hindered today by bad light. A grey day with intermittent rays of sun was perfect. Aperture was wide open once again to get that all important shutter speed as high as possible. Exposure was set to -0.3 or 0.0. ISO was also raised to 800 - Nikon seems to have got this key area under control now and 800 or even higher creates miniscule amounts of noise (graininess).




The action shots are Chiffchaffs flying down to the water (actually Helston sewage of course) and pecking insects from the surface, similar to the method used by hirundines. I took 551 shots to get these three. The autofocus couldn't work fast enough so I put the lens into manual focus, pointed at the favoured area and just waited until the phylosc flew to that 12 inch depth/area.

Chiffchaffs at Carnon Downs SF

Sewage Farms are well known sites for wintering phyloscs in Cornwall and Carnon Downs is a regular site for Chiffchaffs. The four images below show two darker nominate individuals and a noticeably paler bird showing characteristics of the eastern form abietinus. They were taken on Sunday afternoon with the 600mm F/4 at a range of about 8 yards. If the cold spell in the north of the UK continues this week, more phyloscopus warblers should appear here.