sooty and sweep

almost acceptable images considering the poor weather conditions and the bird's activities

tern twitch

give it a week and it will go away--give it two weeks and the temptation becomes too great---Cemlyn always a good place for views of terns in spite of the appalling weather with very strong northerly winds and sea spray blowing across--Sandwich and some lovely Arctics

patch harriers

at last my local patch harrier nest is fledging with 2 young on the wing this morning--a late nest---

yellowlegs

this Little Egret was at Gibraltar Point this am---legs were much the same colour as the yellow feet with a few dusky markings---

black blob

seldom seen and difficult to photograph as usual---

harrier obsession

more hours on Marsh Harriers and more frustration on a windy day with little action---the male I have aged as a young adult male using criteria in Forsmann ie; about 4th or 5th cy--note the newly moulted inner primary still growing and much brighter/paler grey than the old feathers--the juvenile is a pretty fresh bird note the rich ginger crown, blackish mask, silvery sheen to the primary bases and the striking pale yellow legs and feet

lethal fencing

On July 18th 2005 I was checking on the productivity of a number of Marsh Harrier nests, in conjunction with the National Survey, on the south bank of the Humber. At 05:00 the brood of four young from one nest were all on the wing with a newly fledged juvenile from an adjacent nest nearby. Having checked on some other nests I returned to the area at 10:00 to find only three juveniles in the area with the adult male which was distress calling. A further search located a juvenile hanging by its right wing from a barbed wire fence. I assumed the bird was dead but as I approached it fluttered revealing that the wing was skewered at the carpal joint. There was no way that the bird could escape from this lethal fencing as the barbs went right through the skin of the wing. The bird was clearly in huge distress and had been pecking at the wound with blood over its bill and feet. I could not remove the wire which was embedded in the wing but managed to break one end of the wire and after extricating the birds claw from my finger I walked the mile back to the nearest human habitation and managed to borrow some wire cutters and a shopping bag. The bird was cut free leaving part of the wire in the wing and delivered to the nearest vet. Obviously it was fortunate that I was in the area at the time, a day or so later and the juvenile harrier would have died a lingering death from starvation and heat exhaustion on this lethal fencing.

The dangers of barbed wire to birds are seldom highlighted but I have previously found dead owls, Redshank and Lapwing hanging or killed by flying into barbed wire fencing.
The danger posed by deer fencing to Black Grouse and Capercaillie has led to its removal from reserves in Scotland but in England the proliferation of the lethal cocktail of barbed wire fences and convenient posts for perching birds has spread to large numbers of nature reserves where birds at risk include owls, raptors and waders. Surely on nature reserves at least there are better less lethal methods of fencing?

hide bonus

while sitting in the hide waiting for the harriers a family of recently fledged Whitethroats kept me entertained then this morning a moulting first-summer male Sparrowhawk landed 10 feet outside the hide--I managed two shots before he bolted

butts at lick

around the edge of this pond there were up to 40 Small Whites with groups of up to 14 congregating together--almost like the tropics

screamers

en route to the Barn Owls I came across large numbers of screaming Swifts around Bonby church---the nice evening light made then look good against the blue sky but shutter speeds were a bit low to make them totally sharp---

elusive harrier image

the juvenile Marsh Harriers continue to evade that certain image--either they are active and the light is wrong or like this am at 06:00 they are doing nothing

last saloon owl

a last pic of the adult Barn Owl then after three nights of unsuitable weather I returned to find the whole brood had fledged--
this is a digi-scoped image from the car

BO

having found a pair of B Owls with large young I was able to park the car in a favoured hunting area and have the luck of getting both the adults out hunting in bright sun at 20:00hrs

more harrys

a few more juvenile Marsh Harrys but as usual all the excuses, heat haze, murk, harsh light, bird not performing etc----

harry spotter

spending many hours trying to work out the output of local Marsh Harrier nests--biting horse flies and heat haze are no tmaking life easy