Rainbows in the surf

With a cold wind from the south east the North coast was in favour for an outing today.  With an off shore wind and a decent swell coming in the wind was stripping the spray off of the inshore surf and throwing it back over the wave where the sunlight converted the white spray into colourful rainbows that were riding the waves.

An interesting spectacle though it was and one that I have rarely seen as intense but I did not go to the north coast looking for sun and surf,  The local Peregrine were my quarry and they were proving to be a little evasive and when I did eventually find one it soon departed leaving me with the posted take off montage and very little else.

Peregrine in flight

         

             

Failed Peregrine prey snatch

The image above was taken as a female Peregrine fails by a few centimetres to snatch prey from the talons of her smaller male Mate,   Its the males job to supply the female with prey during the lead up to nesting to show that he is capable of supporting his future family,  The fact is that on this occasion he had supplied her with a good sized prey just half an hour earlier and she had not even finished eating it when he returned with more prey intended for himself.

The rest of this story is well illustrated with the images and captions posted below:

                                           The Male returns to a favoured perch point with his latest prey.

                                        As soon as he settles on the ledge he can see trouble coming his way.

                                                His female mate is intent on snatching the prey from him.

                                            She is a third bigger than him and would have no trouble doing so

                                                           To retain the prey he has to escape her talons

                                                    And he does so with only a few centimetres to spare.

                 
The look on the females face suggests that she is not best pleased but the male has to have his share of the prey if he is to support them though the oncoming breeding season,   A few minutes later the female returned to the half eaten prey that the male had supplied earlier and with both of them feeding, peace returned to the south coast for a while !!

A Pair of Spoonbill,

Ryan's field came up trumps again this morning with a pair of Spoonbill flying in from the Hayle Estuary just after I arrived.

The birds were obviously hungry and wasted no time before they were catching and throwing small fish and shrimps down their throats as they shadowed each other around the shallow lagoon that forms part of Ryan's field for over an hour,

When they were full they both exited the water on to one of the small islands to complete a serious round of preening which is no mean feat with such an awkward shaped bill that is designed for catching fish not cleaning delicate feathers.

With the preening done one of the birds was intent on snoozing but the second bird was having none of it and took off with the first bird in hot pursuit and my last shot shows the graceful flyers returning out over the estuary where they had arrived from to give me such an excellent performance

Grey Wagtails on the river Kennell

Apart from a fine pair of Dipper this section of the River Kennell is also home to several Grey wagtail which if you keep still and quiet will often fly in very close to provide some interesting behaviour.

The Grey wagtail feeds in the river consuming the same prey as the dippers but stops short of submerging itself under the deeper water to do it.

Feeding is followed by some serious bathing which can last five minutes or more and then its onto the overhanging trees for a bit of preening before the sequel begins all over again.

Kennell vale Dipper

I returned to Kennell vale to check out the Dipper at noon yesterday to capture a little more feeding behaviour before the spring tree canopy starts to block out the sunlight on the river.  An hour and three fly-bye's later the first Dipper stopped on a twisted log jamb on a waterfall in front of me to provide the interesting portrait above.

The Vale was looking excellent in the bright midday sunshine and the river had a good flow of water making  'Dipper diving' a bit of a challenge for the birds.

I selected one of the shallow and slower sections of the river and set up my cameras in a holly bush about ten metres from the river bank and a second Dipper arrived to perch on a favoured perch about a metre from the bank post and from there it eventually flew onto a shallow white waterfall area to start its diving activities.

I was pleased with the feeding sequence action provided by this bird and am always amazed how dry they remain during this activity,  Look at the way that a single drop of water stands off of the birds well oiled head plumage in the final shot above!!

Ryans Field Part 2

My visit to Ryans Field pm yesterday was time well spent with good shows from the Avorcet shown in yesterdays blog ,  A fine male Pintail was also showing well along with more regular local birds such as the Grey Heron, Curlew, Black headed Gull, kingfisher, Black tailed Godwit, Shell Duck, Lapwings and Redshank that are all posted either above or below