Week 11 29-06-2014 Birds Spotted 2

It was a relatively quiet week for birds, mainly because I've been doing a fair bit of work. The good news though is that I was able to spend a few hours in Arne, which enabled me to spot some new birds and get some better shots of existing ones.

One thing I am noticing though is that I'm having a nightmare taking long distance shots with my new lens. Even on a tripod I'm getting fuzzy images which is rather irritating. Bird in flight shots at anything other than directly in front of me feel like a complete waste of time at the moment as well. The new lens is proving to be a steep learning curve, far steeper than I was expecting. Anyway, let's get on with the show.

Spoonbill
Never seen a Spoonbill in the wild before. I've seen them in zoos, but never in the wild. This isn't too surprising as they are typically found in Spain, North Africa and other hot climes. A few birds do tend to stay in the UK, and luckily, some of them are on my front doorstep. They get their unusual name due to their spoon-like bills, which are used to sift for all sorts of aquatic treats, from newts to crustaceans. There are only thought to be up to four breeding pairs in the UK at any one time, but they're typically seen at Arne, at most times of the year. These three were quite a long way, hence the heavy crop. Sadly they didn't do much, being content to simply stand around, rather than feed or do anything interesting. Oh well, there's always next time.

You can still make out their distinctive bills.

And here I am buggering around with the colour tints :P

Redshank

I spent most of the morning at one of Arne's two hides, before meeting my wife at the small beach found on the reserve. She wasn't too keen on me going to the second hide, giving me only 10 minutes there :(

Luckily, 10 minutes was all I needed to spot this delightful little bird, meaning another name has been added to the list. The Redshank is a tiny little wader that gets its name from its red legs. They're relatively common throughout the UK and are typically found in groups, but this little fellow was on his own. At first I thought he was a sandpiper due to his tiny size, but a friendly passerby was able to confirm it and I double checked on the RSPB forum as well. Again this is a bird I've never seen before, so was more than pleased to spot it.

Here's a cropped close-up of the fella. Note the red legs.

Here's a comparison shot so you can see just how small he is.

So that's it for another week. I thought I saw a Whimbrel, but it was one of many Curlews and I've now missed the Cuckoos, meaning I'll need to wait a whole year for them to come back! Still, I've now hit 70 birds in total, meaning I only have another 202 left to spot. I don't think this is too bad for 11 weeks, but I have a feeling I'm going to have to be a bit more pro-active with my spotting if I want to keep on hitting this sort of target. I'll leave you with some other pictures from Arne.

I spotted this Curlew from one of the hides. It's sadly missing some feathers.

And here's another one having a little preen.

Oystercatcher flies in.

Shelduck goes for a swim.

A scruff pied wagtail gets curious.

A Grey Squirrel is too busy cleaning to care about me.

A far-off Linnet says hello.

A preening Shelduck.

A flying Little Egret, way off in the distance.

And another one fishing.

Week 7 01-06-2014 Birds Spotted 3

Hooray, after a miserable week last week, I've now got three more birds to add to the collection.

Before we take a look at them, let's talk about the British weather and why it's a bit rubbish for bird watching. As you may have noticed, we don't have the greatest of weather in the UK, with everything tending to be tinged with a naff shade of grey.

It becomes a big issue for bird photography as you're trying to collect as much light as possible. If it's not there your pictures can often look very drab and miserable. I'll be looking at ways to combat this going forward, so expect updated pictures of birds in my main Flickr Album as I get them.

While you can't always guarantee what birds you're going to see, you can up your chances by visiting places you know certain species are going to be. One such location is Poole Park in Poole, Dorset. It's a great location as it has both seawater and freshwater and attracts a fair number of different species. Unfortunately, many of the birds there I have already seen, but I did manage to pick up a few new additions.

So anyway, let's take a look at the birds that flew past my lens this week.

Common Tern
I spotted this little fellow on my entry into the park. He was a creature of habit, slowly circling one of the smaller estuaries while looking for tasty fish to eat. The best shot I managed to get of him was the first one I took, and it's annoying that it's so overcast as you can't really appreciate what a beautiful looking bird it is. It's very similar in size and colouration to the Artic Tern, but has a black tip to its bill instead of being completely red. It's a summer resident, arriving around April and heading off home in August/September, but does breed in the UK. In fact there are around 12,000 breeding pairs every year. It's a truly beautiful bird in flight and while it's not as acrobatic as a hummingbird it's arguably as graceful and as nimble as a Swallow. We watched him for a good ten minutes and he managed to catch quite a few fish in that time.

Note the long ways and Swallow-like tail.

Curse our miserable UK weather.

Greylag Geese

Poole Park is swarming with Greylag Geese, the little beggars are everywhere and currently breeding, so you can't walk anywhere without upsetting a nearby parent. Many of the goslings are at different stages of development and they make for quite a site as you walk around the park. In total I spotted around 100 babies in total, although it's possible there were more.

Most common domesticated geese are related to this goose and it's largely domesticated itself in most parts of the UK. Wild breeding birds are typically found north and in Scotland where they gather in surprisingly large numbers. Greylag Geese are our largest native goose and will hiss if you get too close to them. They were very protective of their young, chasing after my daughter when she got a little too close for comfort.

They may be completely grey, but Greylags do have some nice markings to them.

It's impossible to tell who's with who here.

So use are they to man, you can get nice and close.

As you can see these young are slightly older than the others.

Stone Chat

The final bird I saw this week was a Stone Chat, which I spotted while taking a walk over at Arne Nature Reserve. It gets its name because its song sounds like two rocks smacking together, and not because it can talk to stones and other inanimate objects. Jokes aside, it's a very pretty bird, although you can't tell this from the poor lighting I shot this male in. It has an orange breast similar to a Robin and is quite similar in size. It's also related to the popular Robin and is usually confused with the similar looking Winchat. I was lucky enough to come across an entire family of these delightful looking birds, who were only too happy to hide behind gorse bushes, ensuring I picked up plenty of scratches in my quest to photograph them.

This is a male Stone Chat, the lighting isn't great, but you can see his orange belly here.

Not the greatest of shots thanks to my lens, but this is a female.

And here's a juvenile that I was able to get quite close to before it flew off.

So that's it for another week. While it's been pointed out to me that Peregrine Falcons are nesting near my work, I've so far not seen them. I'll be popping off during my lunchtimes this week, so with any luck I'll be able to add at least one new bird to the list next week. That brings my current total to 54 birds spotted with another 218 left to find. If anyone would like to recommend good places to go spotting I can be found on the RSPB forum under the name Darran J.