Dippers & Grey Wagtails. Mid-Cornwall 18th March 2021.

 

Dull weather is probably best for photographing Dippers as it's so easy to "burn out" that bright white breast patch. Maybe a bit brighter than I had, perhaps "bright overcast" may have been better.

The big problem with low light and a bird that keeps "dipping" up and down is trying to keep a fast enough shutter speed so that the bird stays in focus, whilst keeping the ISO at a manageable level.

However they are very active at the moment nest building and maintaining territories. I've watched them on both the higher and lower reaches of the River Camel and also on the River Fowey.

You can almost guarantee that if you have dippers then you will also have Grey Wagtails as both species are fond of similar habitats, fast flowing streams with plenty of rocks and riffles to oxygenate the water.

Here are a few images taken today.

Grey Wagtail with nest material

Grey Wagtail nest building on the side of a bridge.

Birds of the river... Dippers & Grey Wags 15th May 2019

"Today, I have been mostly sat in the river!"

A few shots of a Dipper and a Grey Wagtail on the River Camel on North Cornwall this morning sadly cut short when a black labrador decided to play in the river where I was photographing!

A dog owner myself but still not amused!

Dippers

Female Dipper

A few shots of dippers from this morning's shoot at a fast flowing stream through the Cornish countryside.

Not too sure what was going on as we thought they were feeding mobile fledged youngsters but were also feeding each other and mating!

Female Dipper with male Dipper behind.

Female Dipper with larva

Grey Wagtail and Dipper in North Cornwall streams

Grey Wagtail

This fine female Grey Wagtail was with it's mate feeding on the recently hatched flies and bugs.

Dipper

 

One of the few Dipper shots I took today that had the bird free from heavy shadows!

Dipper

I managed to grab a few shots of a dipper on the River Fowey at Respryn this afternoon.

They were busy feeding young in the nest but were using regular perches to and from the nest so were fairly easy to locate.

Dipper

Dipper

Dipper