Visit to Norfolk

We rented a cottage in Salthouse for a week to look around the local bird reserves. The light was very poor for photography for most of the week but we had an enjoyable time. Highlight of the week, bird wise was an Arctic Skua at Titchwell RSPB:

All the photographs were taken with my Canon 7d at 1000 ISO, 500mm lens with 1.4 converter. The above image was taken f8 @ 1/1600sec.

The image below is not good but is included as it shows a curlew sandpiper on the right and a spotted redshank on the left:

F8 @ 1/2000sec.

The next image is included as I can not recognise the bird - suggestions are welcome:

Thanks to Richard & Wendy for identifying this as a juvenile starling.

The area is well known for avocet so here are two of the many images I took during the week:

F8 @ 1/2500sec.

F8 @ 1/3200sec.

The next is of a flying cormorant:

F8 @ 1/5000sec.

I tried many shots of terns flying, none very good, this is probably the best (common tern):

F8 @ 1/2500sec.

A little egret:

F8 @ 1/4000sec.

A pied wagtail:



F8 @ 1/640sec.

A female reed bunting:

F8 @ 1/2500sec.



 A ruff:

F8 @ 1/500sec.

And a spoonbill:



and in flight:

F8 @ 1/1600sec.

A swallow:

F8 @ 1/2500sec.

A sandwich tern feeding its young:

F8 @ 1/3200sec.

And finally a young swallow:



Penclacwydd (WWT Llanelli) again

Read on the Rare Bird Alert website that there was a spoonbill in Penclacwydd. Unfortunately did not get a close image but this is one of the best I had during the day:

Taken with my usual kit plus 1.4 converter, ISO1000 f8 @ 1/2000sec.

Also managed a flight shot of a black headed gull carrying nesting material:

In our garden

This is the time of year when we have young birds coming in and feeding. The ones I look out for most are the young greater spotted woodpeckers. My most sought after shot is of an adult feeding its young. I have managed a few but of poor quality - the light is usually bad in the evenings when the young birds come in to the garden. Still not managed the feeding shot but this is one of the young birds:

Taken with 500mm lens from a hide in our garden - ISO1000 f8 @ 1/250sec.

This is an image of one of the adult birds:

A female chaffinch:

And our 'resident' male pheasant:

A day on Skomer Island

The easiest bird to photograph on the island is the puffin - as long as you are not trying to photograph it in flight. Then it becomes the most difficult - I did not manage one decent flight shot of a puffin on this occasion:

All taken with my Canon 400mm f5.6  lens - the 500 with tripod was too heavy to carry all day. ISO1000 f8 @ 1/2500sec.

The other 'easy' birds are the razorbills & guillemots just off the landing stage at Skomer:



The one flight image I managed was of a curlew:

The image below of a pair of swallows was taken at Martin's Haven - the road leading down to the slipway for the boat to Skomer:

 After our day in Skomer we called back in Marloes Mere to see if we could find the Glossy Ibis but all I managed was this image of a House Sparrow:

The more I look at it the more I think that I should crop off part of the left side of the image and give more space on the right - so that the sparrow is looking in on the image not out! It is cropped so I do have the image on the right.

Nice little wren

Walking along the path from the car park (at the Teifi Marshes Reserve) towards Cardigan we saw this little wren in the hedge:

Taken with 500mm lens with 1.4 extender, ISO1000 f8 @ 1/320sec. - hand held!

Teifi Marshes reserve on Wed. 9th. May

Heavy rain promised so went for a walk at about 10 in the morning. Did not see much from the hides but warblers active in the reeds alongside the path. Took a photograph of this sedge warbler:

Taken with 500mm lens & 1.4 extender, ISO1000 f8 @ 1/1250sec.

Also saw this reed warbler:

Same kit & settings except that it was f8 @ 1/500sec. - hand held.

A day out at Penclacwydd (WWT Llanelli)

Rare Bird Alert had a report of avocet at Llanelli so we decided to have a look. Unfortunately the avocet had moved on but still we had a very good time in the British Steel Hide. First of all a Common Sandpiper:

A distant view, so I used the 1.4 extender on the 500mm lens, ISO1000 f8 @ 1/1250sec.

Then from the front of the hide there was a shout that there were blackcaps about. I did not catch up with those but manages this shot of a whitethroat:

Same kit, ISO1000 f8 @ 1/4000sec.

To the back again and there was a flock of 50 to 60 black tailed godwit - this is one of them:

And amongst them I noticed 5 knot: