Avocet at Ryan's field

I had a call from Peter Tonkin  at the hide this morning stating that the Avocet at Ryan's field which has been giving local Photographer the run around on the estuary or staying out as far as possible from general access points at Ryan's field had moved in closer to the causeway giving a better opportunity,  Within twenty minutes I had it in my viewfinder from the causeway, The conditions were grey, wet and windy but I figured that a black and white bird created its own contrast in any condition and carried on until the bird treated me to a take-off back to the middle of the lagoon again,

I walked back to the hide to thank Peter for giving me the nod on the sighting and as we were looking at a few of my images on the camera monitor I caught what tends to be a rare glimpse of the resident Water Rail running along the water margin,  We both swung into action but expecting a running shot I missed the action but Peter had seen it take off and took a few cracking close flight shots,  It might have been a grey, wet and windy morning but we both went home happy!

Pair of Peregrine

During Coastal walks over the last few months I have sighted individual Peregrine at many locations including Porthguarra, Lands End, Bottallack, Hayle Estuary and Hells mouth But the only location where I have seen evidence of a mating Pair that remain in close contact on a regular basis through the winter months is the pair near Rinsey which I see quite often on a favoured rocky outcrop,  The images below were taken over three days during the second week in October this year,

Here the larger female is calling prior to taking off from a favoured rocky outcrop where the pair have spent the previous two hours

The female Peregrine protests to the Male as it lands after seeing off a female Kestrel that swooped on them,  The Kestrel certainly held her own in aerial combat with the peregrine lacking the element of surprise,  Their amazing tit for tat swooping flight display went on for around five minutes before the Kestrel eventually lost interest and moved on

As sunset approaches both birds begin to limber-up following an afternoon siesta getting ready for evening hunting, both birds departed a few minutes later

Cornish Kingfisher

The Kingfisher is probably one of the UK's most colourful and photogenic birds and a 'must have' image for keen wildlife Photographers,  We are blessed with a good population in Cornwall with most waterways that support good fish stocks having resident Kingfisher with predictable fishing habits at favoured locations,  

This Kingfisher Portrait was taken at West Quay on the Hayle Estuary during 2014 where this particular bird had taken to using the mooring ropes of boats tied up along the Jetty to fish within the estuary,  I learnt to predict its favoured position on particular mooring ropes to with 30cm,  set my camera up within the estuary at low water,  retreated to the jetty and snapped away using remote control shutter release,   It soon became evident that this territorial bird had also taken to attacking its reflection in a particular boat porthole and on one occasion it did so with such force as to end up Spark-out on its back on the boat deck only to recover and do it all again.

Ryan's field is a popular location for Kingfisher Photography where two or more birds can be seen on some occasions,  The kingfisher often hover and eventually dive for fish directly in front of the hide creating the opportunity for montage sequences such as the above water exit image

Also at Ryan's field this Particular Pampas flower head was so predictable on the kingfisher perch position during 2015 that I was able to pre-set my composition and camera settings, lock my tripod, wait for the bird to arrive with fish and just snap away...

During November/December this year a Kingfisher has been fishing the small pond [about forty foot around ] at the side of the car park and main entrance into Tehidy Country Park on a regular basis, The bird appears to take little or no notice of the park visitors to the extent that when taking this image I was surrounded by a bus load of children that arrived from Marazion School,

Ryans Field RSPB Hayle Estuary

The Eric Grace Memorial Hide at Ryan's Field is a popular meeting place for birders and Photographers on a daily Basis,  Many species pass through here with regular rare sightings  Then you have the local stars such as Kingfisher, Peregrine, Lapwing, Sparrow hawk and Spoonbill and its the later which is illustrated here to show the hides potential for close subjects which are often on calm reflective water,

This  solo Spoonbill has spent much of the last year at various locations around the RSPB  Hayle estuary and regularly fishes for shrimps at Ryan's field

Perhaps a little lonely the Spoonbill shows some fancy footwork and wing structure to a local

Little Egret along with the invitation 'Come Dance with Me.....'

But the Egret Takes a Pass and the lonesome Spoonbill moves on

They say 'everything comes to he who waits ' and on the afternoon of the 8/11/16 another Spoonbill flew in to join the resident and they seemed to get alone just fine but.....no dancing just yet