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.

Spoonbills at Walmsley sanctuary February 2021

 

A single spoonbill turned up on the Camel estuary recently and has now been joined by a second bird.

I always wonder how they find each other when there can't be that many of them flying around the area.

They seem to be spending time feeding in the open estuary at low tide and then returning to roost and bathe back in the sanctuary. Very little seems to disturb them when the wildfowl all around them react to every small movement.

The ducks and waders go crazy if a buzzard takes off from a nearby branch or a peregrine passes at altitude but the spoonbills keep their heads down and hop around on one leg!

I managed to grab a few shots as they flew back into the reserve  and proceeded to bathe and preen for just a few minutes before adopting their normal "boring" pose!

Peregrine Falcon on a Lapwing "kill". Camel estuary 12th Nov 2020

 

All the birds on the marsh in front of me took to the air as a Peregrine falcon swooped down through them.

Lapwing, Redshank, Godwits & Dunlin all hit the "panic" button.

After a while they all settled back down again and I started checking them out once again until a sideways glance showed a bird on the ground in the marsh to my left.

On raising my binos I saw it was the Peregrine and it was mantling a dead lapwing.

It was at the limit for my lens to be able to reproduce the images at an acceptable quality because the light levels were very low.... it was after 4pm in mid-November!

ISO was at best 2500 and at worst past 12,000 so I wasn't expecting exhibition quality images!

I also tried some video clips as my camera can cope with them better in low light.

Here are a few pics and a video clip as the bird tore apart the Lapwing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5CpJ4k53hE

 

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!

Kingfishers. Cornwall May 30th 2016.

A few images of kingfishers at the nest that I've taken over the past 2 days.

I got fed up with photographing them on a perch so these are a few that I've tried to capture in flight both alighting on the perch or leaving it.

Marsh Tit in a hole!

This Marsh tit was nesting in a tiny hole in a rotten tree in the wet marshes of the River Camel.

The image below shows it carrying a faecal sac from the nest so it obviously had chicks in the nest. Always a joy to watch.

Migrant terns in the Camel estuary. 3rd Sept 2014

Sandwich Tern

There were several terns perched on the shellfish floats at the Porthilley end of Rock on the Camel estuary yesterday.

The sandwich terns were easy to ID but the others we'll call "Comic" terns as although I think most were Commons there may well have been Arctic's.

Anyway here are some more images!

"Comic" Tern

"Comic" Tern

 

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern

A wet field trip but still some pictures!

Male Keeled Skimmer

Our Cornwall Wildlife Trust field trip to Stepper point at the mouth of the Camel estuary still went ahead despite the foul weather.

Only 3 of us braved it but there were still some good species hidden from the rain that produced some photos.

Here are a few......

A moody Camel estuary

Great Green bush cricket

Great Green bush cricket

 

Common blue butterfly

Common blue butterfly

 

 

Grasshopper

Six spot burnett moth

Posturing.

Mute swans

There was a lot of testosterone fuelled posturing with the swans on the River Camel this morning and this along with great light made for some interesting photography.

Mute swan.

Our fabulous Camel estuary in winter sunshine.

The Camel estuary at St.Georges Well near Padstow.

A quick hike out to the estuary yesterday lunchtime produced some nice shots in stunning winter light.

We tend to forget the qualities of good light in photography after having had to endure such grey days during this winter.

The shot above was a composite from 10 shots taken vertically to produce a deeper panoramic image.

All the others are straight shots including some shots of Padstow harbour which show it looking at it's best.

The Camel estuary at St.Georges Well near Padstow.

The Camel estuary at St.Georges Well near Padstow.

Padstow harbour

Padstow harbour

Signs of Spring?

Snowdrops by the River Camel

I took this today as a little reminder that spring isn't too far away!!