Roosting Redshank a new start?

 I have made a mental note to attempt to be a bit more creative with my photography in 2023 - some Redshank roosting at Barton on a beautiful winter morning for light in late December - lets see what 2023 brings

Caspian Tern at Barton pits – lifting the curse (partially)

for full write up un this topic click the link https://www.grahamcatley.com/blog-1

a foggy walk

 in spite of there probably being in excess of 200 Cetti's Warblers on my patch in winter given the fact that there were 50 singing males this spring - summer, seeing them in winter is still a challenge but today two sought me out and one was good enough to allow a few photos; a Mute Swan was the best wildfowl image and the dew on the birch branches provided a nice winter nature image 

Curlew on mudflat

 Walking on the Humber Bridge I noticed this lone Curlew feeding on the mudflats below: an interestingly different image

Icterine warbler a patch tick

Just had a wander round the patch yesterday late afternoon looking for pink Starlings and heard a songster in a patch of privet and hawthorn - it only sang for about a minute before being replaced by a Reed Warbler that seemed to drive it off - late evening it sang again for a few minutes in an adjacent patch of scrub but again was driven off by the Reed Warbler - never seen other than as a rocket shape in flight

patch Ring-necked Duck

just arrived back from Manchester airport to hear that the drake Ring-necked Duck has relocated to Bridge pit on the patch -- poor light and a quick visit hopefully it will hang around for a while -- the last local pits bird was amazingly as long back as 2003 when a drake stayed from late April through to early June so there is a precedent

March 8th patch evening

all with the Canon 5D3 and Canon 24-105 my travel landscape lens

Squacco Heron part 2

so after the initial sighting at 19:55 dashed off to Far Ings but no sign of the bird until 20:40 when Matt (again!) picked it up perched in target hedge - a sprint with camera of what added up to 1.12kms (I am seriously not fit) and it had just flown off again! but amazingly it then came back and did two circuits around us before dropping in the back of a tall hawthorn where we were able to get good views for 10 minutes before i dropped out of sight -- what a relief, what a nice bird and why had I not changed the camera exposure from a setting taken and hour previously when it initially flew in! In flight it was getting chased by the pre-roosting Sand Martins which seemed to be spooking it a bit
All were ISO 2000 or 3200 so not ideal