Kennell Vale Dipper and Grey Wagtail

The new lime green woodland canopy at Kennell Vale looked beautiful this morning but the cover that it created stopped the daylight from reaching the river banks

Lots of shots of dark Dippers in dark locations ended up being deleted but every now and again the birds seemed to find a patch of penetrating daylight to brighten up their portraits

The brighter coloured Grey Wagtails fared better and they were showing more often and in more varied locations than the Dipper.

The Dipper and the Grey wagtail were all busy feeding young in the nest so we will hopefully be snapping away on fledglings being fed along the river banks before to long !

Roe Deer Sightings

This evening I spent some time watching this young buck head down and feeding,  It seemed like forever before it raised it head to check its surroundings and I took my first few images.

I thought this young Buck was on his own but as I watched three other deer appeared from the long grasses to join it.

Four Deer eventually became five and they all grouped together concerned about a distant dog walker that they could see moving on the other side of the moor

I waited and watched as the deer all faded into the Reed beds and moved away undetected  !!

Little Egret Crabbing

I returned to the pair of Buzzards on the south coast cliffs this morning but very low cloud and mizzle thwarted my efforts for mating images.

Back along the coast at Newlyn I took a few shots of fishing boats as they left the harbour and was entertained by the antics of a Little Egret as it fished for Shore Crabs among the low water breakwater rocks and as always the amazing Egret won the competition at the demise of the crab which was swiftly dispatched down the hatch.

Buzzard prey Hand-over

As the sun rises into stormy wind driven skies along the south coast a female Buzzard returns to her nest site area from an early AM failed hunting trip.

She moves closer to her nest and waits to see if her approaching mate has been successful.

The female starts to get excited as she can see a Vole in the males talons.

She follows the male into their nest and as their eggs have not hatched yet she knows that the Vole will be for her

She claims the prey and turns away from the male to protect her meal.

He exits the nest to one side to leave the female to consume her prey.

The male waits to mate in a nearby tree and the female joins him as soon as she has finished eating the Vole

The pair mate immediately but ' Sod's Law ' now plays its hand as new foliage obscures their mating position from my only line of sight.

No matter !    I watch these birds on a regular basis and will be on their case over the next few days so watch this space for up and coming Buzzard mating shots.

Osprey Flight Portraits

This stop-over Osprey at the Hayle Estuary has been showing for a around a week now and has been high on local wildlife photographers hit list.

Aerial disputes with local birds are always on the 'Wants List'  for any bird of prey that passes through as are shots of the classic 'Osprey taking a fish '  but you just can't ignore the slow majestic and graceful flight of the Osprey as it skillfully controls its effortless flights around the estuary.

The posted images are random shots taken of the Osprey in flight during its time here as it has casually worked the prevailing winds to its favour while looking for yet another fish.

The final silhouette shot of the Osprey could very easily be mistaken for a much small and lighter Kestrel in its classic 'hover'  pose but I have posted this image because I was so impressed to see this Osprey with its up to 1.7m wingspan  'Hover'  time and time again against the wind when it spotted a likely fish to set its sights on.

We will be looking forward to seeing the Osprey again when they will hopefully stop-over a little longer to feed again in the autumn as both they and their fledglings pass through on their migration back to West Africa !

Osprey Fishing

This Osprey which has just recently returned from West Africa is still hungry from the effort of its long flight

It circles the Hayle estuary passing right over head while on the lookout for some good fishing and it almost stops and hovers whenever it sees a likely fish.

It eventually swoops down in a steep dive and snatched a large Mullet that must have been almost equal to its own body weight and drags it up from the water in its powerful talons.

When the writhing fish is secured by both sets of talons in a classic front to rear formation the bird eventually flies off into a distant treeline to devour its fine catch which will help to rebuild its energy levels for its final ongoing flight to North Wales or Scotland to join other breeding birds.

I felt privileged and very pleased at having the opportunity to watch and capture this Osprey behaviour today as it is a fairly rare seasonal occurrence down here in Cornwall.

Hayle Estuary Wildlife

While waiting for many hours for the Osprey featured in the previous blog I spent much of my time snapping away on the variety of wildlife that passes through Hayle Estuary over time and decided to produce this additional blog of some of the images captured

Shell Duck.

Whimbrel.

Cormorant.

Little Egret.

Black-tailed Godwit

Grey Heron

Canada Goose