Autumn foray to Luxulyan valley, Cornwall. 1st Nov 2021.

 

 

 The Wadebridge & District Camera Club held their autumn foray today at Luxulyan valley .

The weather was mixed with heavy showers making the ground very wet, muddy & slippery. That said, the light was great for the type of photography we were doing, fungi, fast flowing streams and woodland landscapes.

Here are a few of my efforts......

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!

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.

Golitha Falls on the River Fowey.

Spent yesterday at the splendid Golitha Falls and The Cheesewring with friends from the Wadebridge & District Camera Club.


Just the perfect time at the falls as the beech leaves were in their best colours and just enough water to make great patterns as it swirled amongst fallen leaves.


I'll follow up with the Cheesewring pics in a couple of days.

Here are a few more from Golitha.....

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.

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!