Longrock's Wild Windsurfers

Marazion marsh was lacking in wildlife subjects PM today and eventually the wild windsurfers out from the beach opposite the marsh gained my attention.  A stiff wind had wiped up the white horses and it was intriguing to watch the skills of some of the guys battling with the wind and the waves,  Wildlife photography kit lends itself very well to this sort of fast and distant action and I was soon clicking away and finding such large subjects easy to work with.  One of the surfers aims seems to be to ride as hard as possible into the incoming waves to gain lift from the wave then roll over back into the following trough still attached to their rig,  In the shots below the surfer was doing well on the way up but was 'WIPED OUT' by the next wave on the way down and then battered by the one after that,    I think I will give this activity a miss !!  but its fun taking the pictures

Aerial dispute

Back some time ago I published a blog relating to fighting Goldfinch but today seemed to be the day for the Chaffinch to show their disputes over the pecking order at Stithians feeding station,  The pair of birds shown in the sequence below ended up falling to the ground in a rolling ball of flying feathers while other birds carried on feeding, so I guess they were both........Losers

Looking back through recent work I also realised that I had overlooked the regular fleeting visits of a feisty pair of Coal Tits that deftly darted in grab food from any available feeder and were immediately off again as fast as lightening making them a bit of a challenge for flight shots.

Time well spent

Peter Tonkin and I spent four hours waiting for potential Sparrowhawk images at Stithians yesterday, The time was well spent working on a host of other interesting resident birds from a  large Juvenille Grey heron down to the smallest of Goldcrest,  All of these birds posted below came with their own set of challenges which absorbed our time during what proved to be worthwhile wait for a Sparrowhawk sighting,

Check out the previous blog for our Sparrowhawk encounter  !!!

Male Sparrowhawk Portraits

One of the reasons for my increased level of visits to the hide at Stithians Southern Cut-off recently has been influenced to some degree by the number of Sparrowhawk sightings and images from here over recent months,  The feeding station at the hide attracts a wide range of bird species that will keep most photographers clicking away for hours but the illusive Sparrowhawk is in a league of its own when the opportunity arises to gain close portraits with its amazing yellow piecing eyes that seem to stare right though you.  Following several days without it showing I finally got my chance.

Peter Tonkin and I had been busy for several hours working on Two Greenfinch,  Four Goldcrest, Six Bullfinch and a Greater-spotted Woodpecker when Peter whispered  SPARROWHAWK.  It had flown on to the top of a feeder frame about twelve metres from and level with the hide and to say that it looked absolutely superb through my viewfinder on my Nikon D5 fitted with a 500mm f4 lens and 1.7 converter some how seems like an understatement!!

We both fired off multiple exposures during the time that it perched on the feeder frame still looking around for small birds that might have missed his arrival but they were all long gone, It gave us one more of those long piercing stares before it also departed looking for greener pastures and lunch

What a wonderful Bird of Prey and such a privilege to photograph it to retain a few very memorable images of: .................                                                                                                                                                                                  THOSE AMAZING PIERCING EYES !!

The light levels were quite poor at Stithians yesterday and I have to give credit to the Nikon D5 for capturing this set of portraits,  The shots were taken in cloudy conditions at 2.15 pm using:

Maximum aperture available of  F6.7,  Fastest available Shutter speed of  1/800th,  Set -0.7 exposure compensation to hold the whites even in low light and to increase shutter speed,  850mm focal length for close portraits and perhaps when looking at the images a surprising high ISO 6400 to achieve the other settings.       HAPPY DAY ARE HERE AGAIN !!

Mute Swan terretorial behaviour

Two days ago I posted a humorous  image of the Marazion Marsh Mute Swans stating how close they are,  Well looking at the first image below butter would not melt in their mouths!! and they constantly renew their bonds in this heart shaped gesture,

But the fact of the matter is that they rule the roost at the marsh with a very aggressive attitude to all comers such as the pair of younger swan that flew in Pm today onto the marsh warren,  Just look at the body language of the male as he exits the water to expel them,

He gave chase immediately and the larger of the two incomers managed to take off again but the second lost its footing down a rabbit burrow and the aggressive male attacked with out hesitation.

This second bird eventually managed to struggle free and should have taken off but in its panic it ran up towards the boundary just a metre in front of me calling and looking for its mate which circled twice trying to tempt the other into flight,

This is not the first time that I have witnessed this aggressive behaviour from the resident male but I waited to see how things developed,   With the intruder trapped by the boundary wall the male went straight on the attack flying in and knocking it over and climbing on top rendering it helpless,  The intruder offered no defence as the resident male pecked at its eyes and head,

This merciless assault is not something that you can stand by and watch for long and would certainly have ended up in the death of the intruder so I was over the wall and waded in to separate them,  The younger bird was in shock and stayed prostrate on the ground as I chased the resident male back off to the waterline,  I hopped back over the wall and kept an eye on both birds until sunset

I walked back along the marsh and met Rod Farnes another wildlife photographer and as I related what had happened with the Swan, we could both see the resident male starting to move back towards the still prostrate intruder,  no doubt with the intention of finishing what it had started,  Thankfully Rod said that he would go along and watch out for the younger swan and I went off home running late and feeling a bit uneasy.

The High Wire Flyer

Our Sunday stared wet and grey but dried up before noon so My wife heather and I went for a walk from the hamlet of Rinsey to Trewavas Head to try our luck with the local Peregrine,  As we started down the footpath we spotted a feisty male Kestrel that was being harassed by a few Crow that were a bit "all bark and no bite" but the kestrel was having none of it and defended his post well

On arrival at Trewavas we were disappointed not to see the Peregrine hanging out at one of their favoured perch points on the cliffs,  We settled in for a couple of hours but apart from a great Northern Diver a fair way off shore and the usual mix of Cormorants and Gulls on the shoreline there was very little action.

The very grey day turned into Cornish Missal and set us heading back towards home and we met the Kestrel again on route,  This time he was up on some high wire power cables that ran parallel with the footpath and each time we got a little to close for comfort he moved on along the wires on four occasions but eventually tired of us following and peeled off down over the cliffs,

We have spent many hours and days watching the local kestrel behaviour since moving to Cornwall  but a fine Sunday Roast and a bottle of wine were waiting so we hurried off  to enjoy the rest of our day.at home.

PM at Marazion Marsh Today

It was a nice afternoon so I made my second visit of the day to Marazion Marsh, still looking for my first illusive Bittern image of the winter,  No show!   but I amused myself with a few of the locals while waiting, first off, our pair of resident Mute Swans have a very close bond to the extent that from this camera angle they looked like a two headed monster.

The Snipe spend little time on the marsh margins where they are always in danger from the local Sparrowhawk but this one decided to run the gauntlet for long enough for me to rattle off a few shots.

The resident Stonechat are quite laid back and show little fear of birders and photographers that come and go along the road boundary wall,  This male that was busy feeding on flying insects while giving me the opportunity for a few more take-off images,  It got closer and closer until my camera angle was obscured by the wall so I shinned up onto it and captured this very close sequence which I have montaged and posted below.

I turned to get down only to see a very close rabbit that was alarmed by my stance on the wall and not looking to pleased with my performance,   I just had time to captured his reaction before he was gone.

Sunrise over Marazion marsh

We had our first keen frost of the winter this morning,  A dawn sky and sunrise to die for and a mixed bag of regular wildlife which started with a Roe Deer near the rail tracks cutting through the marsh,  The rabbits were slow to get moving and spent time shaking the frost from the grass off their cold paws as they went. A pair of colourful mallard flew in caught by the rays of the rising sun which also tinted the water splash as they landed at the front of the marsh and finally a Cormorant hauled out or the water looking full from early morning fishing to dry its wings in the early warmth of the sun.  No illusive Bittern or Sparrowhawk,  both of which had been well photographed here earlier in the week by young Ben Oates but if the weather stays fine I might pop back down during late afternoon until sunset,  The marsh is a cracking location for photography when the sun shines !!

Bird take-offs

One of the challenges of bird photography after finding them and getting close enough for a reasonable image is attempting to capture behaviour action, one which I find very challenging is picking the moment that a bird takes-off throwing itself into the air to be gone in a flash.  Birds of Prey can be quite easy to predict as they tend to go through a sequence of wing stretches and bowl movements prior to final moment of flying,  but trying to catch a bullfinch departing from a seed head that it has been foraging on for perhaps fifteen is another matter,  It gives no indication when one seed head is empty as it suddenly flies away to find another,  The montage image below worked for me when this male Bullfinch produced a fairly slow wing assisted hop onto another close seed head and I used just two out of the four images exposed during the short movement to create a very close composition.

Being quite a large bird you might expect a Greater-spotted Woodpecker to produce a slower response but think again, its spontaneous take-off is lightening fast and its choice of direction unpredictable so it really comes down to spending lots of time photographing them and you might eventually  Get Lucky !!   When people tell me that I was lucky to take a particular shot,  I reply, "Yes I usually find that the more time and effort that I put in the luckier I get !!



Lapwing are often prone to sudden departures and a whole flock of birds that might have been relaxing on a water margin for several hours will all take off in a matter of a fraction of a second with out any apparent reason for departing only to return to the same spot a few minutes later,

Then there is the ever illusive and constantly moving Goldcrest that can drive you crazy trying to capture a clear portrait image but strangely enough when it comes to take-off shots they can be easier to achieve in as much as they are forever doing just that.  What you need apart from the bird in the right position is a camera that will knock out ten or more Raw images a second,   Keep your finger pressed down on the shutter release as they move and produce a post production montage from the resulting sequence,  You would think it would be easy but just trying to capture three Clear and sharp Goldcrest sequenced images will show you otherwise.

All images taken on a lovely morning at Stithians Southern cut-off today.