Birds at Yarner Wood, Dartmoor. 31st May 2018

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Spent a few hours at Yarner Wood on Thursday although the weather was good on the moor it was very dull & misty down in the valleys.

However the Pied Flycatchers were actively feeding young and the Woodpeckers looked ready to fledge at any moment.

We also found a nesting Redstart, high up in a tree and not in a nestbox.

Great place, just needed a bit more light!

Never happy!

Male Pied Flycatcher

Male Redstart

Female Redstart

 

Robin nesting in the car park

Birds in Hungary Day 6. Woodpeckers in the Bukk Hills. 19th May 2018.

Male Lesser spotted Woodpecker

We'd traveled about an hour and a half from Tiszaalpar up into the Bukk Hills and booked into a small hotel in Bogacs which was clean and tidy but not overly welcoming.

We had said goodbye to our good friend and guide Istvan and were now in the capable hands of Attila. Luckily we had him as our new host at the hotel spoke no English other than "David Beckham, Wayne Rooney & Bobby Charlton"!
(He didn't speak like them I add, but seemed to know their names and claimed to have coached them all in his time as an Hungarian International Football coach! I think a lot of information was lost in translation!).

The first afternoon we watched well, but photographed poorly a pair of White backed Woodpeckers which were high up in a forest canopy and we had to climb up a steep wooded valley in order to get any angle on the birds.

The next morning we were introduced to a local ranger who took us to see Grey headed Woodpeckers but a bit of rain and an uncooperative bird made for more low quality pictures.

However we then met with a Dutch guy who was living nearby and was a bird guide and he took us into a marshy edge of a bit of woodland and right to a 2 metre tree stump with a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers nesting at eye level.

These birds were fantastic and allowed us to photograph them at close range... albeit with a 500mm lens but they were a treat!

Male Lesser spotted Woodpecker

Female Lesser spotted Woodpecker

Female Lesser spotted Woodpecker

 

Female White backed Woodpecker

Grey headed Woodpecker

Birds in Hungary Day 5. Red backed Shrike. 18th May 2018.

Male Red backed Shrike

Another bird that struggles to retain a foothold as a breeding species in the UK is the Red backed Shrike.
They are however a frequent bird in this part of Hungary and it was not uncommon to see several perched on their vantage points as we traveled around the countryside.

Male Red backed Shrike

Male Red backed Shrike

Snow buntings in Cornwall Jan 2015

Male Snow bunting

Spent several hours photographing a pair of snow buntings at Godrevy in West Cornwall today with Dave Chapman.

They were very easy going and allowed us to get quite close. The light was variable but at least the rain stayed away!

Free running dogs and an annoying Pied Wagtail were the main disturbances to these super little winter visitors.

Male Snow bunting

 

Female Snow bunting

Male Snow bunting

Male Snow bunting

 

Male Snow bunting

Beautiful Demoiselle

A male Beautiful Demoiselle

 

One of my favourite insects that frequent our river systems in the summertime.

A male Beautiful Demoiselle

 

A male Beautiful Demoiselle

More Woodpeckers

Male Great spotted Woodpecker at nest

This is as close as I reckon I'll get to the image that I've wanted for many years of a Great spotted Woodpecker at the nest with the chick with its head out of the nest hole and the adult sharp. I've got so many pictures where the chick is a blur as it is always in a frenzy to be fed that it never keeps still.

I had to push the ISO up to 1600 to get it but with the full frame Nikon D600 the file size was huge and I'm pleased with the results. Ultimately some sunshine and a lower ISO would give better quality but this is Cornwall and we all know there are no 2 days alike where weather in concerned!

Female Great spotted Woodpecker at nest

 

Great spotted Woodpecker chick awaiting a feed

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

These Great spotted Woodpeckers were feeding young in a hole in an oak tree on the outskirts of Wadebridge this morning.

Dappled light didn't make it easy for exposures but I guess we need to make the most of this beautiful sunshine when we can!

I'm hoping to have another session when the chicks put their heads out of the tree.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Pied Flycatchers

Male Pied Flycatcher

 

I took advantage of the fine weather and took a trip up to Yarner Wood on Dartmoor today to try to find Pied Flycatchers and Wood Warblers.

I was happy after finding several pairs of Pied Fly's merrily feeding away and carrying food to and fro to their nestboxes.

They took virtually no notice of me although I did come with copious amounts of camo material and scrim to break up my otherwise attractive outline!

There were 3 pairs nesting along on bit of path in almost every other box. Those without Pied Fly's had great and blue tits in residence and I also found a nesting pair of Coal tits but they were in a natural nest hole in a stump of hazel.

As for the Wood Warblers they were vocal and it was great to hear but they were high up in the canopy and I couldn't get the camera on them.

All in all a successful day!

Female Pied Flycatcher

 

Male Pied Flycatcher

Male Pied Flycatcher

Male Pied Flycatcher

Female Pied Flycatcher

Male Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatchers

Female Pied Flycatcher

A few more images from our trip to Finland recently.

Pied Flycatchers were one of the commonest nesting birds we saw in the eastern border area with pairs in many of the available nesting boxes we found.

Here are some shots of both the male and the female although the male often passed food to the female away from the nest and she delivered to the nestlings.

Female Pied Flycatcher

Female Pied Flycatcher

Male Pied Flycatcher