Hornet in our garden?

This insect came in to our garden this morning for a drink. It looks unusual and Jen hopes that is a 'very rare' visitor!! Is it a hornet?

Update: Janet tells me - It`s a horsefly called Tabanus sudeticus and it``s got a very ferocious bite!

A Sandwich Tern at Ynslas

Afer seeing the photographs of sandwich terns by Janet Baxter on the Ceredigion Birds blog I decided to go up there and look for them myself. I managed some images, the best of which was this one:

Taken with my new Canon 7d, the 500lens with 1.4 converter - ISO1000 f8 @ 1/3200sec.

Some dippers at last

These are a couple of images from a recent visit to Brecon. First of all an adult dipper:

Taken with my new Canon 7d, the 500mm lens plus 1.4 extender, ISO1000 f8 @ 1/250sec.

And then a juvenile dipper:

Taken with the same kit but f8 @ 1/160sec. - the light was not good.



A red kite above our house

On returning from Teifi Marshes we saw a kite flying above our bungalow. Here is a quick photograph of it. Taken with my new Canon 7d camera before I have sorted out all the settings!

Taken with my Canon 400mm f5.6 lens ISO 100 f8 @ 1/3,200sec.





A day out in Slimbridge WWT

Did not see the red necked phallarope or the spoonbill but still had a good day. In front of the South Pond hide there was a pair of oyster catchers feeding their two young:

Taken with my Canon 30D (my Canon 50d got smashed up when I went to Skokholm) - ISO400 500mm lens f8 @ 1/500sec.

As usual there were birds I could not identify. In the hide along side the shop by the canoe safari I took the following photograph. At first I thought the birds were Ruddy Shelduck. In fact there were some Ruddy Shelduck quite close to these two, so that I could see that they were completely different:

The other photograph of interest during the day was not a bird - in fact it was an otter. The enclosure is surrounded by perspex screens making good photographs difficult but I managed to stand on a (low) wall and one of the otters co-operated by perching on a log quite high up from the water.

Taken with the Canon 30d 500mm lens, ISO 400 f8 @ 1/250sec.









Linnets at St. Brides Bay

On Thursday (16th. June), as it was a nice day we decided to go down to the Gann near Dale to see if there were any interesting birds there. Unfortunately we timed it to low tide and the Gann was empty of birds - in the end we were counting crows and gulls! After lunch we decided that it might be worthwhile calling back at St. Brides. When we got there there were several groups of linnets around the bay - including youngsters. Here are a few of the photographs I took:





Young Greater Spotted Woodpeckers

It is now time (first week in June) that the young Greater Spotted Woodpeckers start coming in to the garden. It starts with the adult birds feeding frantically, filling their beaks with food and returning to the nest:

This one is a male woodpecker taken with my 500mm lens in the garden - ISO640 f8 @ 1/200sec.

Here is a young woodpecker in our cherry tree:

Taken with the 500mm lens, ISO640 f8@ 1/400sec.

And the shot that I was waiting for - the male woodpecker feeding its young:





Taken with the same kit, ISO640 f8 @ 1/800sec.