Stonechats in the Camel estuary sand dunes. 19th June 2021.

Female Stonechat

 

I popped out to the dune system behind Rock at St.Enodoc to check on the sand martin colony a couple of days ago and a pair of stonechats caught my eye and as I watched they were carrying food to a nest site on the ground amongst some bramble.

Never one to miss an opportunity I worked out their usual route to the nest and where I could get some good shots as they went about their daily routine.

Fortunately I've got permission from the landowners and it was an easy place to take my car and use it as a mobile hide. The birds didn't give me a second glance as they were used to vehicles in the area they'd chosen to nest.

Cars are often an easy way to get close to birds without spooking them.

So a beanbag resting on the drivers part-open window and the rest was wait for the action.

The female stonechat was the most co-operative and used an array of perches whereas the male was difficult and often flew directly into the nest without perching. 

Male Stonechat

So I tried an afternoon watch and the light was very harsh so this morning I was there for 06:30 and stayed till 10:30 and got a nice variety of photos.

Here are a few of my preferred ones!

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

 

An Otter in North Cornwall today. 14th September 2020

 

I was delighted to get some shots of this otter here in North Cornwall today.

It was feeding on crabs at high tide although I'm told it has been active at various states of the tide.

I took all the shots from my kayak so the "miss" rate was pretty high! 

Battling waves from passing speedboats and a bit of a breeze I was often too close to it but it paid little attention and swam under the kayak at one stage & hauled out with food on several occasions.

I took a dunking twice this afternoon, falling over whilst getting out of the kayak at a beach & then slipping on the rocks when the otter disappeared around the corner. However the excitement of seeing this beautiful animal was worth the cut knees & elbows! 

Got to suffer for your art!

Here are a few more images.....

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

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