Red Kite foray

a mostly sunny day tempted me to go on a Red Kite photo trip; looks like I still have some flight techniques to brush up on in a UK winter when even a sunny day can produce lighting problems

juvenile kites

the weather deteriorated by the time I got some juvenile shots; digital photos make identifying tagged birds easy! upper photo is a head-on adult compared with the juvenile below it

Pochard

one of the smartest of our ducks

2cy Med

Today I met up with a member of the lower order of the animal kingdom at Cleethorpes boating lake where he was fishing and abusing the locals---I avoided the swim he promised me but the Med Gull was displaying a distinct lack of excitement at my loaf of best bread preferring to glean the swoop being fed to the Greylags and other sundry waterfowl and the sun disappeared 5 minutes after my arrival but it is January in the UK!

Getting a photo of anything without a Greylag in shot is virtually impossible

Golden pond

just occasionally you come across a bird in a setting which is just superb; I came across this female Goldeneye on one of the local pits while looking for Cetti's Warbler and the duck proved quite co-operative unlike the warbler! to my eye the colours of the bird and the water and vegetation just make a beautiful combination

R M LT

swat up on those BTO codes---it makes a real change to get a decent flight shot of a passerine!

Wigeon

although the sun was out for most of the day it was well hidden when I got relatively close to these Wigeon

sparrow and phrag

this male House Sparrow was collecting the seed heads of phragmites and taking them off towards the nearby housing estate? an early nesting attempt or a food offering for a female?

Hen Harrier

Donna Nook 27.01.08

Rough-leg

this Rough-legged Buzzard was still at Pyes Hall just after first light but it then suddenly got up, at the approach of some dog walkers! and moved off south continuing past Donna Nook and being lost from view over Saltfleet; could it be the bird which turned up in North Norfolk this pm?

assorted ducks

the sun shone for about 11 minutes this morning up here----the Shoveler were very close but the light was dire and at high ISO in poor light the 40D is very noisy contra all the reviews! I have had to work hard on the Smew to get them to look the way they did in the field----the Gadwall shot is just pure art

Year list 2008

I have kept a note of the number of species I see on the local patch at Barton every year since 1993 and the annual differences are fascinating. With a bit more time to spare this year I have decided to make an effort on a decent patch year list and will be recounting how I get on on a new taxt blog at http://birdsbarton2008.blogspot.com/

Long-tailed Ducks

I finally caught up with the two Long-tailed Ducks on my patch this am but as usual they were well out in the pit then a stroke of luck as I walked back past their favoured area they appeared close in under the bank; I waited until they dived then ran and slotted myself into the spot where I though they might come up and as luck would have it I was spot on although as usual the light was a bit dodgy

Mute

elusive Snow Bunts reappear

after a decent gap in sightings two of the Snow Buntings were back on the patch today but more wary than previously

Barn Owl

I ended a good day at chilly Worlaby where the SEO's seem to have become nocturnal but several Barn Owls were out earlish