Here are a few photos of one of the many Great White Egrets that now breed on the Somerset Levels as it flew into the reeds near to the Avalon hide and proceeded to hunt for fish in the shallows.
Always a bit distant and always very harsh lighting but still a joy to watch a master craftsman in the art of fishing!
 |
| 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!
Our annual pilgrimage up to Somerset in the early summer was well timed today to coincide with the viewing of the long-staying River Warbler.
A vagrant bird more used to the heat of Eastern Europe across into Russia it sang it's little heart out for us today.
These birds are gradually spreading into parts of Western Europe but it was a first for me in this country. I did hear one singing in Hungary a couple of years back but got no photographs.
It must have been at Ham Wall reserve for about 10 days now and I never expected it to be still around & even less be as showy as it was.
I'd done my homework on it's song and it was immediately recognisable as soon as we got near.
It was about 10 metres from the path into the Avalon Hide and came very close to us as we stood in awe of this stunning songbird. Standing on the tops of cow parsley and reeds the sound of it competed with the backdrop of clicking camera shutters.
At the end of our day we saw it easier and more often than any of the other warblers such as Reed, Sedge and the very vocal Cetti's.
Here are a few more images.
I received a message from a friend yesterday afternoon to say that his mother had a Rosy Starling (Rose-coloured Starling) regularly visiting their feeders in her garden and was I interested in photographing it.
Goes without saying I was very keen but... we had our 2 young granddaughters for the day and I couldn't (or didn't want to) get away so I agreed to go later that evening.
However it came in really wet and dull with the classic Cornish sea mist descending on the area. We then decided to leave it till this morning to try.
I was concerned as with all things wildlife that the bird may have moved on and I'd have got the "you should have been here 5 minutes ago" scenario!
I arrived at the prescribed time and asked "is it still around?". "Oh yes it's in the garden now" was the reply.... I'm not used to that!
I went into their house and lo and behold it was on a dead tree stump at the bottom of their garden just stood there posing.
What lovely people too, they let me photograph resting my lens on an an upturned vase on the draining board and through the kitchen window. Realistically there was nowhere else to get a good angle from so it worked out really well.
I've seen and photographed a few of these birds over the years but none as brightly coloured or as showy as this fine adult bird.
This species regularly ventures into Western Europe from its breeding range in the Asian Steppes and there had been recent reports that this year could see a lot of them in Britain. Indeed as I write there are about 5 we know of in Cornwall.
It was feeding on fat balls in 2 feeders hanging from a dead tree stump and was quite aggressive to the house sparrows and common starlings that were "regulars" at this feeding station. It did hold back when a larger jackdaw was feeding but attacked everything smaller.
I watched it bathe in a pool of water on someones flat roof and then sit around with it's 'punk' hairstyle whilst it dried.
I stayed about an hour and in that time it was in the garden for about 90% of the time and I took 355 photos of which here is a small selection.
 | |
| Our Cornish "mountains", Roughtor left and Brown Willy right. |
We usually go up to the moors this time of the year to check if there are any Whinchats. Every year they seem to get scarcer and we only spotted one female although she did appear to be feeding young so that was promising.
Team Whinchat consisted of myself, Dave Conway, Derek Spooner & Dave Thomas.... a motley crew!
 | |
| L to R: Dave Conway, myself, Derek Spooner & Dave Thomas. |
The weather was superb although it did cloud over a bit in the late afternoon but it was very hard going especially in the Moor grass tussock areas. Aching all over this morning!
I had great views of a songthrush singing its heart out at the very top of a conifer when we first left the cars but surprisingly we didn't see or hear any mistle thrushes.
 | |
| Songthrush |
Many of the insects were missing with one distant dragonfly, a handful of large red damselflies and a few small heath butterflies. No fritilaries!
 | |
| Green Hairstreak butterfly |
We had great views of a Roe deer as it broke cover in the vally bottoms and bounded along through the wetland.
 | |
| Roe deer |
Just before lunch we spotted a single female Whinchat but that was our only one.
Not long after we spotted a Hobby circling over us as we ate. Always high in the sky it was nonetheless fantastic to watch.
 |
| Hobby |
 | |
| Hobby |
Lunch was taken at a little tumbled down cottage in a beautiful part of the moor.
After another hours hiking we turned back to start the long stroll home.
Cuckoos had been calling all day but none came close enough to photograph & a kestrel made laps around us as we walked.
The best pic I managed on the way back was this newly fledged Meadow Pipit which was still being fed by its parents on the wing.
 | |
| Newly fledged Meadow Pipit |
 | |
| Female waits for the male to leave the nest |
An early morning trip up onto the high moor to the East of Bodmin moor was fruitful today with 2 pairs of Wheatears nesting in the stone walls and a pair of Redstarts.
Fortunately I had my pop-up hide in the car so set that up at a distance from the wall and started taking pics with the 500mm lens.
The birds accepted the hide straight away and I was able to move a bit closer after an hour. It was only then that I noticed a large Highland cow with massive horns ambling my way! Fears of it having a scratch at my expense on the side of the hide were fortunately unfounded!
A few downpours of rain made me glad I brought the hide as the birds continued to feed all through the rain and I watched from the dry.
Fears of many birds struggling to find insects in the cold weather we'd had were forgotten as they brought back a continuous stream of flies, caterpillars & even a damselfly.
Here are a few images from the morning, I'm hoping to have a go at the Redstarts one evening as they were in full shade in the morning.
 |
| Female Wheatear |
 |
| Male Wheatear |
 |
| Male Wheatear |
 |
| Male Wheatear |
 |
| Male Wheatear |
 |
| Male Wheatear |
 |
| Female Wheatear with a damselfy |
%20(1).JPG)
