Close Up Portraits Today

With continued poor weather condition again today I headed for some cover at Stithians Southern Cut-off Hide and came away with a good selection of portraits that are posted below.


Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

A trio of busy Long Tailed Tits

A Robin

Male Bullfinch

Gold Crest

A Green finch

A Male Reed Bunting

A Magpie

Hoping to get back on to the Short Eared Owls tomorrow with better weather forecast !

Stithians 500mm lens test

Due to a foot reconstruction operation and delays in the return of my Nikon 500mm F4 lens from service and repairs I have been out of action for most of the last three months.

Time has healed my foot well during this three months recovery and my 500mm lens was returned safely yesterday so I was keen to get back into action today to check that all was well with the lens.

With high winds and rain I headed for the protection of Stithians reservoir southern cut-off hide where I thought the well stocked feeding station should still be able to provide a good selection of local birds to work on in the rough conditions

First up in poor light came a regular bold female Great Spotted Woodpecker that went onto the peanut feeders without any hesitation while providing me with some good perched shots both on route and before leaving,

The more timid but very photogenic local male woodpecker was next on the scene but he was far more cautious in his approach which tended to provide good off feeder opportunities before he grabbed a few nuts and departed.

A pair of raiding Jay were frequent visitors throughout the morning and they were very quick to clear up the spillage from under all of the feeders.

Other birds included a dozen Magpie that came in on regular raids.  A close busy Little Grebe that never stopped fishing,  A hungry juvenile Wood Pigeon,  A fine male Bullfinch and finally a gang of feeder raiding Long Tailed Tits

And ' The one that got away '  was a recently rare sight of a Water Rail that never quite came out of cover far enough to gain a good portrait image but all said it was good to be back behind a well serviced lens once again !!

Sparrowhawk & Friends ? in Flight

A Female Sparrowhawk rises on the gentle updraughts along the cliffs of the south Cornish coast

As it circles upwards it is on the lookout for likely prey but as is usually the case all of its 'friends ' will do all that they can to see it off which is one of the down sides of being a  ' Bird of Prey '

The first to confront the Sparrowhawk is a local Raven but the lighter and more agile Sparrowhawk very quickly turns the hunter into the hunted and almost treats the encounter as sport

Next up is a very vocal Magpie which quickly changes its mind when the sparrowhawk beak and talons are turned in its direction.

Jackdaw and crows also try their luck at driving off the Sparrowhawk but it is not until the local male peregrine ( A  very professional ' Bird of Prey ' )  arrives to see what all the shouting is about that the Sparrowhawk gives way to a single Peregrine swoop and moves on to pastures new.

Stithians Reservoir in the Rain

To say it was a very wet day at Stithians Reservoir today would be an understatement !

The young Blue Tit below has ended up with a wet head and water in its ear and was trying to think of a way to get it all out

The solution was a quick head spin but please don't try this next time you get caught in the rain !

Most birds that were foraging through the soaked grasses and undergrowth quickly exchanged their manicured plumage for that tatty-head look a couple of examples of which are posted below.

A tatty-headed Jay still managed to root out a few peanuts.

 And a very wet Magpie showed the Jay just how to go about collecting nuts but there is always a 'Smart Alec' around to show everyone else up and today it was the turn of a very dry and immaculate looking juvenile Bull finch which didn't have a feather out of place.

I was delighted to see this young Bullfinch, Not because it was  ' So Smart'  but because its the first one that I have ever seen and it has its first little blush of reddish pink starting to show on its cheek

Botallack Head

I visited the beautiful and rugged Crown Mines coastline at Botallack Head today looking for local peregrine but no show.

On the foreground island a Black-back Gull returns to its nest site with more nesting material but its mate seems to be absent without leave !

A group of ten Oystercatchers flew in and got caught out by the surf zone as soon as they landed.

Higher up on the gable end of Wheal Henry a Magpie cut a nice Dash against the blue sky and  during my afternoon I saw no less than fourteen very vocal Cornish Chough pass by,  seven of which were cart-wheeling across the sky in a close formation.

What an amazing location Botallack is to spend some time watching the wildlife go by on a beautiful afternoon such as this !

Birds at Stithians southern cut-off yesterday

While working with the Great Spotted Woodpecker recorded in the previous blog I also recorded the following birds which started with a dark form Pheasant in the fields on the way into the hide and was followed by a disturbed Grey Heron on arrival.

Next up came a feeding Coot and many rather well fed male and female Chaffinch and Blue Tits, Goldfinch and Great Tits.  A rather wet looking raiding Magpie. Two pairs of reed Bunting and to finish a fine looking pair of Bullfinch