Redwing & Starling Portraits

The local fields at the west end of Ashton  on the A394 were busy with flocks of Redwing numbering into the hundreds today,  All were busy predating on an abundance of worms close to the surface due to the levels of recent rain,  They were a bit skitty and all left when I first arrived armed with a new 2x Nikon Teleconverter but given time when they returned I was able to work close enough for several full frame portraits,  I also completed a few portraits of a squadron of raiding Starlings that just had to get part of the action in the same field.

Nikon 2x Teleconverter,

I was lucky enough to find a Nikon 2x Teleconverter in my Xmas Stocking this year,  I have tried them before with various Nikon flagship cameras and always been disappointed with the results and sold them on but I heard some reports from photographers using them on the Nikon D5 body with increased success due to the cameras excellent ISO capabilities,  The increase in focal length doubling to a 1000mm certainly has its place with distant subjects and smaller one at closer distances too,  The first two images below show ariels installed on a water tower 380m from my home using the 500mm on the first and 500mm +2x converter on the second

For small subjects closer in I have worked with a female Blackcap,  All images were taken at ISO 6400 in poor light levels to achieve shutter speeds above 1/200th sec with max aperture of F4 on the straight 500mm and a max of F8 available with the 2x converter,  The first un-cropped image below was taken the straight 500mm lens and the following two are un-cropped with the 2x converter added

I am certainly more impressed with this 2x converter when used in combination with the Nikon D5 body than I have been on previous cameras especially bearing in mind the poor light levels prevailing today but it is early days yet and I look forward to seeing what might be improved upon during the New Year

Ryan's Field early AM

As I arrived at Ryan's field on a grey Xmas eve morning a large flock of several hundred Golden Plover flew in to join a few lapwing that were present on one of the small islands, Several Curlew were busy fishing for worms on the margins and even five Snipe were out from their cover,  A lone Grey Wagtail was foraging in front of the hide and a pair of Little Egrets flew in together, fished for a short while and left together looking for greener pastures,  Several black headed gulls seemed to be paired up and displaying to each other and four Dunlin that had been wading the margins headed off out over the estuary,  It was time for me to be off as well as I had a special family dinner to turn out for this evening and a fine Duck to prepare for Xmas dinner tomorrow,  Merry Xmas !!

Bank Vole images

The Bank Vole is a mainly nocturnal feeder and therefore rarely seen during the daylight hours but at noon today one was feisty of hungry enough to run the daylight gauntlet among birds foraging on the ground under the feeder fallout zone at Stithians southern cut-off hide, It was the first one that I have spotted here over several years and I first thought it to be a young Brown Rat but the blunt nose and hairy tail ruled that out,  It was interesting to watch how it used large clumps of marsh grasses for cover while waiting for quieter moments to dash out  [ These little guys can move ]  for food particles that were immediately taken back under cover,  It seemed very aware that larger local birds such as Magpie, Jay and Jackdaw would very quickly add it to their menu during these daylight hours,

Other subjects worked on today included several Snipe,  Two Squadrons of Long -tailed Tits and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker,

Peregrine Falcon Portraits

The pair of Peregrine at Trewavas Head have a host of favoured perch points along this lovely rugged section of the Cornish coastline.  Trekking along the coast path from Rinsey or Porthleven with weighty camera kit suitable to record their behaviour can be a bit of a gamble,  Well today I got lucky on two counts,  First off,  The ringed female was showing a lot closer than normal on one ridge close to the footpaths which were seasonally quiet, and secondly I was boldly walking down to this location while looking farther out for birds and had not seen her so close, On doing so I literally went into reverse and backed away with the bird watching me until I was in the cover of a granite outcrop at a distance of around 30m.

 I settled down, assembled my kit and started to record the bird's behaviour, She sat staring directly at me for the first few minutes eventually deciding I was not a threat and she had seen me on the cliffs many times before,  She was now preening, interchanging which leg she stood on while lifting the other and withdrawing it inside her plumage for warmth,  This went on for thirty minutes or so during which time I took sixty plus selective single images,  She started to look a bit restless, raised her tail and pooped and I quickly set for rapid multi-shots just in time to catch her take-off recording just four flight shots before she was gone.

I was pleased with the images posted below and decided to produce another sequence montage of the Take-off images which I felt came together quite well,  Happy Days !!

Carn Gloose today

Early AM today I was in the company of Peter Tonkin and Bob Sharples near Ballawall Barrow on Carn Gloose Heath,  We were there before sunrise along with several other birders and photographers looking for the illusive Snowy Owl seen at this location the previous afternoon,  The dawn and sunrise were superb and could not be ignored so out came the mobile phone camera to record the dawn behind Carn Gloose mine stack,  Patiently waiting Photographers at sunrise And the only big bird we were to see flying this morning,  A 'Merlin' Helicopter fresh out from Coldrose,  A passing dog walker pointed out the location that the Snowy Owl  had been occupying yesterday which confirmed that we were in the right location,

As the sun rose above the hills and the light levels improved it soon became obvious that the Snowy Owl had moved on to greener pastures but as a consolation prise a fine looking female Pheasant came out from her roost point just a few feet from where the Snowy had been showing,  Following a shake-out and wing stretch it started to move up over one of the mounds allowing us better viewing while also catching the early morning sunlight,  She looked back over her shoulder at the sound of shutters firing before disappearing off down the other side to start her new day,   Perhaps not a Snowy Owl but she  'made my day ' anyway !!

New Subjects & Old

Todays blog is a mix of new and old subjects that I have worked on at Stithians southern cut-off hide,  New to me at this location today were :
                                                    A Meadow Pipit taking a bath.

                                               A Reed Bunting feeding on grass seeds.

                                         A lonesome Coot that looked a little lost

                               Plus old favourites that crop up on a regular basis starting with a foraging Wren

A Redwing in from the fields for a drink

At 400m a Grey Heron predating on a large frog that it had pierced right through its middle and had quite a bit of trouble getting it off his bill and at its end the frog made quite a lump in the Heron's throat   but he didn't look very sorry,

Male Mandarin Duck

It has been several weeks since my first distant sighting of the Male Mandarin Duck at Stithians reservoir southern cut-off but today he put in a good long show coming close in to the waters edge at the cut-off hide. he was amid a group of mainly male Mallard that started to feed on water weed along the margins and it quickly became obvious that he was heading the pack when it came to down to who fed where as he saw off all of the larger mallard that got in his way as he selected his feeding grounds with purpose,  As he worked his way along the margins it was also interesting to note how well his dramatic Picasso style plumage was broken by the reeds and margin vegetation when he stopped to feed,  This amazing looking bird was well capable of looking after itself among strangers and its body language oozed with a sense of well being that made it a pleasure to watch and photograph.