Mount in the mist

I arrived at the deer fields of Longrock a little to early at 5.45,  It was not even dawn let alone sunrise but I could just make out the shape of a Roe deer within fifteen metres of my usual hedgerow shooting point so I decided to give it a go,  I selected manual focus { auto focus would not fix it } Set my aperture to f5.6,  Shutter speed to 1/13th and Auto ISO to a max of ISO6400 before moving into place,  I took my first shot as it was feeding,  The second shot below shows it raising it head to the sound of the first image and the third was a complete blur as it took off for cover, but I was pleased with the performance of my Nikon D4S in low light levels where I could only just make out the dark outline of the subject,

At sunrise I moved onto the sea front along the side of Marazion marsh where the early morning mist looked magical as it swirled around St Michael's Mount



On the marsh the young swan was vigorously testing it s wings

The Young Grey Heron was not to impressed and just yawned!

And the Rabbits were still having a head to head about starting a new litter so   Nothing new there then !

Barn owls with prey

The hunting skills of the adult male Barn Owl that I have been working on are second to none and Brown Rats seem to be high on the owls hit list which perhaps normally would favour voles and mice but the young owls are being very well provided for,  This in turn should help create an increased population of owls in our area for the next few breeding season,

Barn Owl Fledgling

This morning I watched a young Barn Owl fledgling leave the safety of its barn, It was on a learning curve trying to develop its hunting skills over the rough grass field, It slowed to a clumsy hover then dived into the grass after prey that it had heard or seen but its hearing and sight were better than its flight skills and it missed the prey but proceeded in hops and flapping jumps in the long grass trying to trap its escaping prey, No joy there either so perhaps there is a bit more skill required to this self catering than it thought,  At this time one of the adult birds returned to the roof of the barn so the young fledgling decided to go looking for easier Hand-outs instead,

late afternoon sunlight at Stithians

We called in at Stithians southern  cut-off hide on the way back from Kennell Vale yesterday afternoon and it was good to see the Water Rail show briefly but we were not sure if it ended up 'going to dinner' with the local Sparrowhawk that took something off the waters edge soon afterwards,  A new kid on the block came by way of a couple of feeding female Pintail ducks on which their colourful plumage looked immaculate,

As the afternoon progressed from what had been a dull day blossomed into lovely late afternoon sunlight which was complimented by several shows from both resident Great Spotted Woodpecker which ignored the feeders in the main to forage among moss covered tree limbs for grubs,  Excellent !  Three images below.

                           

Full frame Kingfisher

Since working with the Tehidy Kingfisher on the fifth January and been impressed by the photo opportunities that it creates naturally,  I considered the potential to achieve a full frame uncroped composition which is something that I rarely seem to achieve on small skitty birds etc,  I watched the Kingfishers behaviour noting its many favoured perch points and selected the closest one that the bird brought fish to where I could set up my gear at the lens minimum focal distance of 3.6m with the intention of firing the shutter by remote control from a more acceptable distance,  I also added a 1.4 converter to my system and reduced my usual choice of full frame format of 36x24 to 24x16 to reduce the finished composition at 3.6m to a picture area of just 20 x 14cm for the bird to fly into with a fish which seems like a bit of a compositional challenge!

My first attempt to capture the bird at the right spot took four and a half hours for an eleven second perch,  Framing was fine but No fish and the turned head has lost focus during take-off and in the mean time I was a bit frustrated while watching her diving, catching fish and juggling balls at all the other perch points.

On the second attempt yesterday after just one and a half hours the bird and the composition are fine but still no fish! but watch this space next week to see if I can complete this challenge

Good day or bad day ?

Good day or bad day ?  Well yesterday was a bad day with regards to the weather,  Longrock and Marazion marsh were looking cold and abandoned and the Hayle estuary was no better, Tried Tehidy for protection from the wind but the rain was coming down like stair rods so do I go home so early in the day or find somewhere with all weather cover,  Half an hour later I arrived at the southern cut-off hide at Stithians where all the recent rainfall had raised the water levels bringing the margins far closer to the hide,   It proved to be a good day for birdlife with local stars like the Water Rail and a pair of Woodpecker visiting the feeders regularly but for me it was the opportunity to capture close images of the 70+ Lapwing and 40+ Snipe feeding at the water margins that made the day.

A rather wet Woodpecker in the rain

The Water Rail looked immaculate as the rain just rolled off of its tight oiled feather formation

The Snipe were very actively feeding, with no regards to the weather conditions  in fact they seemed to be enjoying the rain

The Lapwing were not so impressed with the weather but resigned to waiting it out while providing me with some close images

So It was not such a bad day after all !

Ryan's field

The Eric Grace memorial hide is just a ten minute drive away from my home,  Its a great location for regular rare sightings,  I also use it quite often on wet days when the wind is blowing south-east through to south-west as the hide and the tidal field water remain protected and calm in these conditions,  Today was one of those days and I popped round to the hide at first light, 

Light levels were low but very few locations would have yielded calm water reflections in the current weather conditions on subjects such as this foraging Redshank,

As the light levels improved  a little I worked on this fine black-tailed Godwit as it worked its way along the water margins eventually foraging in front of the hide

A little Egret was the next arrival,  It landed as is quite common place just fifteen meters in front of the hide in fairly heavy rain and went straight into this shake-out  mode to remove water from its very fine and immaculate plumage,  It then went about catching its Breakfast and I went home for mine

Just Passing

Low cloud and Cornish missal closed in over Bartinney down by 14.30 today bringing an end to any chance of Short-eared owl Photography for the day,  Heading towards home I passed longrock fields and noticed a flock of 35 Curlew feeding,  Light levels were low and evening mist was forming which would demand high ISO and slow shutter speed camera exposure settings but I decided to give it a go,

The Curlew stopped feeding,  A sure sign that my presence was rumbled and as I took my first images the entire flock departed but all was not lost,

As the birds went up so did the head of a Roe deer that I had not previously seen hunkered down in the hedgerow behind them

As the deer stood up I noticed that she had already started to moult her winter coat very early which detracted from gaining a pleasing image but she started to scratch around her neck area where the moulting fur was obviously itching and it was nice to catch the moment when she found the right spot

When she finally moved away fifteen minutes later the results of her scratching were very clearly visible but she seemed quite happy as indeed was I and we both went on our way.

Stithians up close

Moved around a bit yesterday ending up at the southern cut-off hide at Stithians reservoir where lots of birdlife was active at close range around the feeders so I decided to work with a Nikon 500mm f4 +  a 1.4 converter at minimum focus to get up close and personal on bird portraits,  Six or more Goldfinches were looking splendid in their fresh mating colours making them well worthy of some attention,

This lone Pied Wagtail's contrasting colours created a striking Portrait

This female Reed Bunting had lovely honey colours while its male Partner showed drab winter colours

Perhaps the 'Star of the show' at this hide,  This Water Rail shows on a regular basis but you need to be discreet if you want it to free range long enough to allow close working with it

Marazion Marsh 'Heron Central'

Yesterday morning I made one of my regular visits to Marazion marsh  RSPB looking for a bittern fly-by or perhaps something a little more unusual,   I was joined at the front viewing recess by a lady birder relating to four Heron being on show along the warren with the comment " This must be Heron Central"  No sooner said another Heron flew into the mix,  It was good to hear a visitor being so enthusiastic at the sight of such a large photogenic bird descending into the Marsh,  Bittern 0 Heron 5 so why not take a few more Heron images,

Heron flights over the Marsh are a common sight but it was nice to see a visitor so enthusiastic at the sight of such a large bird descending into the reeds

The early morning sun rises high enough to light this relaxed Heron

With little wind the calm waters of the Marsh create excellent rippled and mirror like reflections

How about just taking the Heron reflection or is this a step to far

While creating this blog I remembered  this heron Landing that I enthused about during 2015 but struggled to select just one of these three images,  my answer was to merge them all into one montage landing sequence,

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