Stoned, Choughed off and all Sedged out

Having travelled down to Marazion for the weekend on Friday and staying until Monday I had high expectations of some of the images I might capture especially with the outlook of a dry weather forecast. This was obviously misplaced confidence. I visited Marazion Marsh on Friday,Saturday and Sunday morning and took these photos of the above birds. You may recognise them as more or less the same birds I captured 3 weeks ago at Marazion when I was last down. Talk about a disapointment. I did however venture further afield driving to the following places Sennen, Lands End, Cudden Point, Prussia Cove, Cot Valley, Polgigga, Men An Tol, Zennor and walking miles hoping to photo some,any raptor. The only thing I saw was a distant Buzzard outside of St.Just which decided to fly off when I reached for the Sigma 500mm . Undeterred I travelled to Nanquidno as I knew I would be able to locate a Chough and I reasoned that this would be an acceptable back up plan. Yea you guessed it no Choughs and not much else. Having read the reports today online I see the seas are awash with Basking sharks in the very places I spent hours visiting this weekend. I suppose this helps us appreciate the moments when we get it right and take that special image.On a more satisfying note I had a fantastic Sunday night in Camborne with my brother Chris and friend Dennis watching the Cornish Pirates beat Munster A in the final of the British and Irish cup in front of a very large passionate Cornish crowd. What a weekend!

Return of the Black and Golds

Well I suppose Black and Gold may be stretching it a bit but most Cornish people will know what I mean when I refer to this. The return of breeding Choughs to Cornwall must be seen as one of the best wildlife highlights to occur in my lifetime and something I am quite thrilled about. I remember being told about the Cornish Chough being the emblem bird of Cornwall whilst attending local Schools and how they disappeared from the Cornish cliffs in the 1960s or early 197os. Having read about their return to Cornwall it took me a few years to actually see any but during the last couple of years I have usually spotted the Choughs that inhabit the cliffs near to Sennen and last weekend I located two in their usual place. These birds looked quite young and had a glossy sheen to their feathers and allowed me to get within 20 metres of them. I have decided include my best six images of them as I am never tired of seeing them or looking for them in their natural habitat.

Winning Weekend in Camborne

I spent last weekend in Cornwall staying in Marazion so I had plenty of time to be out with the Camera visiting as many places as I could. The idea was to combine some photography with the Semi Final of The British and Irish cup in which the Cornish Pirates were participating. The answer is yes as a Redruth born man I am prepared to go to Camborne on certain occasions although I still have difficulty with the local language. In terms of the places I visited this included Stithians Dam and I met Matt who showed me the Southern cut off hide. I also visited Sennen and Lands End twice walking the coastal path twice, Nanquidno,Porthgwarra and Marazion marsh. I'm afraid I saw very little to get excited about but was able to get close up to some Choughs which I will publish in my next post. These images include a Wren and Stonechat at Marazion Marsh, a Northern Wheatear and Stonechat at Sennen, and a Sedge Warbler on Marazion Marsh. The weekend finished on a high with the Cornish Pirates reaching the final of The British and Irish cup so the good news for me is that I will be able to come down again for a weekend in three weeks as the final is at Camborne.

Kingfisher Blues Part 2

Following my earlier trip to Rye Meads nature reserve I travelled up there again on the 17th April hoping to add to my images of the Kingfishers there. The day was bright and sunny and this is reflected in the above images. There was however less action with the male and female Kingfishers taking it in turns to sit on a pole in the middle of the lake about 50 metres away. For good measure I have included a flight photo which was almost taken at the correct speed and an image of a Kestrel with what looks like a freshly caught vole taken back to its specially constructed nesting box. Incidently this box has been placed about 50 metres above the sandbank constructed for the Kingfishers lets hope there is not a nasty twist in this particular story.

Kingfisher Blues

At the beginning of 2010 I set myself two target birds to photograph during the year.The first was a Sparrowhawk the second a Kingfisher.Last weekend I managed to achieve one of my objectives by photographing a pair of Kingfishers. I travelled to Rye Meads a RSPB nature reserve which is just up the A10 from Enfield. At the Kingfisher hide it is possible to photograph Kingfishers as it overlooks an artificial sand bank that was created to encourage Kingfishers to breed. A pair of Kingfishers have been observed breeding at the site and exploring the sandbank as a possible nest site. As you can see from my images which were taken on Sunday 11th April I managed to capture the male Kingfisher bringing a present in the form of a fish for his female mate. Whilst I am fairly pleases to have captured these images I had to put on my 2x teleconverter on my Sigma 300mm f2.8 lense to get close enough and this and poor light may account for a lack of sharpness on a couple of the images. Now does anyone know a camera friendly Sparrowhawk preferably in Cornwall.

Last Postings From Cyprus

These are the last images from our trip to Cyprus in March.They are a mixed selection in terms of species and quality of image They include photos of a couple of Cockerel's from Chris and Flora's farm. They are our cousins in Liopetri with whom we stayed and like a lot of Liopetrian's are very hard working.They have a small farm as well as other daytime jobs.Liopetri and the surrounding villages are renowned for it's soil and this area is home to the Cyprus potato. Whilst they may not be coventional images to put on a site I like the fine colours and detail in both photos. All the chickens on the farm are free range and can cause quite a commotion when it is feeding time. I have also included a photo of a Hoopoe which I took at the Salt Lake in Larnaca.It is not a great quality shot but I am just pleased to have captured it in flight from a distance as it is such an illusive bird to photograph .
The bird of prey was taken high in the Troodos mountains and whilst I cannot be certain I thought it was either a Long Legged Buzzard or a Bonelli's Eagle. This was based on it's very pale head and red colouring. This bird was hovering only about fifty yards in front of me on a high, steep mountain road however I messed up the shot so only have this distant photo to show for it. Still there's always next time! The final images are of a large Lizard I spotted near Achna Dam which appeared quite happy to be photographed in the Cyprus sunshine.

Still More Images from Cyprus

My third batch of images from Cyprus include a photo of a Northern Wheatear which kept popping up in front of me as I walked to Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque. I have also included images of what I believe to be a Black Eared Wheatear [please tell me if I am wrong] which I saw near the village of Lania which we visit frequently in the Troodos mountains. The other images are of a Little Ringed Plover which I took at Larnaca Salt Lake and a Crested Lark at Achna Dam. I had hoped to photo the large numbers of flamingos that Winter at Larnaca Salt Lake and whilst I saw some when we landed at Larnaca airport they were all gone when I visited there the next day with camera at the ready. Perhaps next year my timing will be better.