Bluethroat dazzler

This dazzling male Bluethroat of the red spotted form appeared on the path and this was the first view of it before disappearing into the grass.

A few minutes later it reappeared and was oblivious to us as it approached to within a few yards. It casually made its' way towards us along the tyre tracks feeding in the late evening low sunlight.

This was one of the closest views at about 10 feet distance. It's surprisingly difficult to find good focus on such a small bird. Not least the panic and tremble of having such a stunning bird so close!

The image below is the same as above but heavily cropped as far as the picture would allow before pixellating.

EXIF Detail: Aperture Priority. F/5.6 Shutter 1/160s. ISO 400. -0.3 EV.

Pallid Harrier in Cyprus

A small group of Cornish birders visited Cyprus last week with the intention of witnessing some early Spring migration through the island. And we were not disappointed. Over the next couple weeks I will be posting some of the better results. I'll sift through the 5000 + images and post the favourites of the trip.

I used my 300mm F/2.8 permanently coupled up with the 1.7x Teleconverter, giving a useful 500mm focal length at maximum aperture of F/4.8.

This adult male Pallid Harrier was stumbled upon at a reservoir knee deep in water, bathing. It then flew to this path where we drove up to it. We were about 25 yards away as it continued to preen for some ten minutes. The smallest image at the bottom of the page is the original size while the others are cropped and zoomed in.

EXIF Detail: Aperture Priority. Ap F/10. Shutter 1/640s. -0.3EV. ISO 250. White Balance Cloudy. Centre Metering. Taken from car window.

Above image is the original size.

Walmsley attracts the birds and birders

A warm Spring day filled both the Tower Hide and mini hide with birders today at this stunning CBWPS reserve. Following a bitterly cold Saturday, today was the opposite. And the birders present could not have been disappointed. A pair of Merlins, 30 Black-tailed Godwit, several Little Egrets, Water Rail, Snipe, Barn Owl, Shovelers, Gadwalls, Teals, Pochard, migrant Swallows and Sand Martins and aggressive swans and geese all added to the entertainment. Below are a selection of shots taken today.

Male Merlin photographed at about 150 metres. This was the best I could get given the distance and heat haze. The visisble spots around this tiny raptor are midges !

About 30 Black-tailed Godwits were flying round the reserve. The middle bird was well advanced into breeding dress.

Barn Owl at Walmsley

This delightful Barn Owl hunted along the border of the reserve for about ten minutes this morning and approached to within 30 metres.

EXIF Detail:Aperture Priority. Shutter Speed varies between 1/1000th second and 1/500th. Ap F/4.8 ISO250, Focal Length 700mm, varies between EV -0.7 and -1.3, White Balance: Cloudy.


All of the images were taken with the 300mm F/2.8 lens and 1.7x TC, in high speed crop mode, hence the high focal length of 700mm.

Not long to wait...

I've decided to break away from showing just birds on this photoblog and showcase some of my best images of butterflies. I'm not sure if they quite sit well here...opinions sought as always on this subject, but one can only marvel at their colour and pose. The image above is one of my overall favourites as it catches the Silver-studded Blue peeping through the Trefoil plant.

I took these images last year in Italy, where the early morning light is so intense and brings the best out of the colours. Early butterfly sightings are already on the Cornish forums, so not long to wait before we get another chance to find and photo these insects.

The above image is a Spotted Fritillary and was the commonest butterfly in the local area. Farming practices were fairly basic and as such, had little impact on the environment - there were literally hundreds of fritillaries, most of them posing like the one above.

The Bath White above was taken with the Nikon D3 and 300mm F/2.8 lens on a tripod. The 300mm lens is not a true macro but does have a reasonably close focus of 2.5 metres. With the lens set at F/4 aperture, some low depth of field images with nicely blurred background can be achieved.

The Small Heath shot above is typical of how I try to photo butterflies. It's far from easy, but talking to other wildlife photographers at the CWT photo group, the key is to eliminate background interruptions so that the image "focusses" solely on the insect. Not easy.

Happy couple at Walmsley

A fairly easy target to photo, one might say, but capturing the ideal angle is easier said than done. This cob and pen were constantly moving, touching, courting, caressing, turning, spinning, an attempt at mating, etc etc. but she wasn't having any of it. The above photo shows the closest that he got. My choice of five photos best shows the display.

The complete performance lasted about five minutes but consummation wasn't witnessed ! I'm assuming that they were actually a cob and pen...who knows in this day and age.

A day at Walmsley Sanctuary

The collection of various images below are the result of several hours spent in a couple hides at the CBWPS reserve. The site is looking stunning and the birds are fairly close too. Pick of the crop are some displaying Gadwalls and Northern Shoveler, a distant record shot of the wintering Hen Harrier, a showy male Pheasant and a very close shot of a Little Grebe. The highlight though was the steady increase of Sand Martins through the day... at dusk as we were leaving, I would estimate up to 1000 birds hawking insects on the reserve.

EXIF detail: Aperture Priority. Aperture F/5. Shutter 1/500th. ISO 320 Focal Length 600mm. WB Cloudy. EV 0.0

Northern Wheatears at Davidstow

Northern Wheatears have arrived in force this weekend with several delightful males and a couple females showing well on the disused runway at Davidstow. The shots below were taken from the car window with the sun behind me. I used a polariser filter to reduce the glare often found on white feathers in bright sun. Shutter speed reduces quite dramatically when using these filters but the end result can be worth it. The third image shows the bill open as it is singing!

EXIF detail: Aperture priority. Aperure wide open at F/4. EV -0.7. Shutter 1/1250th. ISO 400. Focal length 600mm. White Balance Cloudy.

Welcome back !

A few hours from first light this morning at St Gothian Sands and I was treated to my first Northern Wheatear sighting of the year. The males are always first to arrive as they are eager to get on their breeding grounds early and establish territory. Females will follow through at the end of the month and into April. Wheatears and chats are one of my favourite families and the images of the birds below show the reason why. I have slotted in the Blackbird image from today as well, just because it was singing its' heart out and deserves a mention. Its not from Africa but is more than welcome !

EXIF Detail: P Program Mode. Shutter 1/400th. Ap F/10. ISO 800. Focal length 850mm. EV -0.3, White Balance: Cloudy. DX Crop Mode used. Distance from bird c30 yards.
EXIF Detail: P Program Mode. Shutter 1/400th. Ap F/10. ISO 800. Focal length 850mm. EV -0.3, White Balance: Cloudy. DX Crop Mode used. Distance from bird c30 yards.

EXIF Detail: P Program Mode. Shutter 1/400th. Ap F/10. ISO 800. Focal length 850mm. EV -0.3, White Balance: Cloudy. DX Crop Mode used. Distance from bird c30 yards.

Stonechat. EXIF Detail: P Program Mode. Shutter 1/250th. Ap F/8. ISO 1000. Focal length 850mm. EV -0.3, White Balance: Cloudy. FX Full Frame Mode used. Distance from bird c10 yards.

Blackbird. EXIF Detail: Aperture Priority Mode. Shutter 1/125th. Aperture F/6.3. ISO 1000. Focal length 850mm. EV -0.7, White Balance: Cloudy. FX Full Frame Mode used. Distance from bird c 20 yards.