Nightjars..."you ain't seen me right?" Cornwall July 2024

 Nightjars... What special birds! Masters of camouflage!

For many years I've enjoyed going out to watch & more often hear them in the forests & heathland of mid & north Cornwall.

Until now all of my photographs have been grab shots of them perched at the top of a tree or whizzing past my ear!

 

All that changed this year when I found my first bird at roost on the ground! 

With its eyes closed and just an occasional flicker showing it was still alive I watched it intently thinking 'does he know I'm here' or is he so confident in its ability to stay motionless and its camouflage that it thinks I can't see it.

Or is it genuinely asleep and doesn't know I'm near?

I've now watched a dozen in various places and always given them plenty of space and photographed them with a long 500mm lens, sometimes cropping in strongly on my computer. Often they are surrounded by dead timber and dry grasses so that they blend in perfectly. In fact I will often gaze for many minutes before I notice one lying along a log of the exact same cryptic colouration. 

These birds are not on nests but roosting probably after fledging young, often close to forestry & heath tracks & footpaths. I'm sure they get regularly disturbed by dogs as these areas are popular with dog walkers and I often see dogs rooting through the areas the nightjars inhabit.

I'm confident that I'm not disturbing them as I have found so many in regular areas, often on the same logs or branches.

So here is a selection of recent images....

 

I suspect this is a juvenile

Urban Kittiwakes in Bridlington Yorkshire June 2024.

 

I'm sure the presence of nesting Kittiwakes in a town centre like Bridlington isn't seen as a favourable asset by many people. But for us who had come up to Yorkshire from Cornwall to photograph seabirds it was all part of the wildlife experience. We are used to Herring Gulls nesting in our Cornish towns and are familiar with the downside of their mess, constant noise and the antics they get up to securing food and protecting their young.

I'd come across Kittiwakes nesting on buildings before up in Norway but aren't really aware of them doing so in Cornwall. I've also seen images of them on the Tyne and in the Newcastle area but it was the first time I'd photographed them in a truly urban situation.

Here are a few photos I took one evening around the town .....

In case you're forgetting what Kittiwakes look like when nesting in the truly wild environment here are a few images from both Yorkshire, Northumberland and back home in Cornwall.

Kittiwake on a Bempton ledge

Kittiwake colony on Bawden rocks, St.Agnes Cornwall

Kittiwake colony on Bawden rocks, St.Agnes Cornwall

Kittiwake pair on the Farne islands.

Kittiwake with 2 chicks on Inner Farne

The many faces of White Storks in Poland May 2024

 

One of my favourite birds when in Europe is the White Stork!

Being able to see their huge nests in every village, every farm, on rooftops, electricity poles & telecomms mast is so pleasing. To think that people put themselves out to engage with these fantastic birds is fantastic. 

To the Polish people Storks are a symbol of good luck, their arrival in spring heralds the onset of spring which, after the long, dark Polish winter is no small thing!

So I've photographed these birds from many angles and in many poses. 

This was my second visit to Poland and I stressed to our guide that I wanted to return to the Pentowo Stork Village at Tykocin as I will always hold a special memory for the rather shaky tower that overlooked about 20 nests in a rejuvenated farm complex. This tower has fortunately been renovated and it felt safe and secure and yet still overlooked lots of nests, with over 20 being visible.

Tower viewing platform at Pentowo

View from the top

A classic village scene with storks nesting along the road

Storks nest on street light in centre of village

 

 

In the Biebrza marshes area white storks were very common and we watched them in flight, resting & preening in the marshes and sat on or flying to numerous nests.

I don't think it'll be long before we regularly see wild White Storks in Cornwall as I know that they've recently bred in the county as part of a rewilding project. I look forward to that time!

Here are lots of images all taken during our Poland trip in May 2024. I hope you enjoy looking at them....

 

Incoming to the nest

Incoming to the nest

Just being greeted

Just being greeted

Nests on either end of an old barn

Storks in flight

Stork in flight

The church square in Tykocin

Lost in Tykocin