RcP

what a smart drake; it accompanied a small flock of 53 Pochard and left with them for the Humber feeding grounds off New Holland late am; late December has produced a few local records of Red-crested Pochard in the New Holland duck flock and it seems that they come in with Pochard during spells of hard weather on the continent; it spent most of its time on the pit asleep so getting three action shots was a long winded business

chinking skulker

having not had the camera out of the bag for over 11 days due to the appalling weather / total lack of light this morning dawned brightish and a bit sunny before the freezing fog rolled in! it cleared for the late morning and the local patch was almost buzzing; drake Red-crested Pochard, Red-throated Diver, Long-tailed Duck and adult Med Gull all on one pit was amazing but all apart from the pochard were way out in the middle----within 50m there had been a Cetti's calling two days previously so I put the camera back in the car and went to listen for it again, as they never actually show well!!!!!!!! so there it was out on the low branches of hawthorns in the sun! return with camera and spend 90 minutes watching the vegetation move before it climbs into the thick of a thorn bush into the sun----well the best views I have had this winter and two terrible pics of the skulker; moral never leave the camera in the car

asios

the sun was brilliant until 14:00 when the pollutant clouds from Scunthorpe and Drax blotted it out; the SEO's seem to be getting rather shy; maybe due to the high number of lenses being pointed at them as soon as them move; cars make better hides

LO let there be images

for the first time ever I managed to press Delete All on the back of my DSLR after getting a few Little Owls and some Short-eared shots----to the rescue RescuePro free with the latest Sandisk 4GB card which came in the post yesterday--and there they were all my deleted pics from the last 5 months!!!!!!!!!! this Little Owl was the first one I have seen on my patch this year

ooowls

the light was good the owl came out--the owl sat down the black clouds came--the rain fell and increased in volume and it got darker and then the rain ceased and the owls came out and it was nearly dark and they were so close BUT the 40D AF was not working well! this was the first occasion I have questioned its ability to AF with the 300 2.8 and 1.4; yes it was poor light but the target was pretty big in the frame and it was jumping in and out; images have been cleaned up from 1000ISO and 1250ISO images as it was pretty dark when the last two were taken at about 250th sec--better luck next time!

light, luck, duck

the light was great this morning--Bitterns were not showing but the Smew was close in feeding under a hedge! it swam out but came back--the only problem was the myriad of branches and briars covering it---contortion paid off

Scarborough Desert

we arrived early for the Desert Wheatear which was fortuitous as it tended to be elusive in the very strong winds

Med Gulls

the confiding Holbeck Meds

more Meds

such obliging birds

Shag

a close bird in the harbour

BTD

the harbour Black-throated Diver was not in very co-operative mood today probably due to the wind and a lot of boater activity

moonlit

Alkborough Flats Sunday evening as the full moon appeared--pics do not do justice to the scene and the ambiance

on a roll

the morning did not start well with frequent heavy showers on a cold NW wind on the patch; by 09:45 I thought about giving up but did a quick check of the Humber in case of wildfowl or Little Auks; driving into the car park a superb first-winter Glaucous Gull flew over and headed east; stopping in the middle of the car park I jumped out and watched it turn back towards me; camera out of the boot in a flash but unfortunately it flew right over my head rather than to the north where it would have been lit by the sun; never mind a good bird and the first one on the patch for several years

return of the Smew

checking the local pits today I came across this drake Smew--it must be last winter's bird as it was feeding in exactly the same spot in a small channel where you never actually see anything as a rule; it caught a huge fish which seemed far too big for it to swallow but down it went

leaves

it has been a dull spell of late to brighten the blog some autumn leaves, a local sunset and some Shoveler and my local Starling roost