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| January to May 2005 |
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| I made the late decision (at about 10pm on Tuesday evening) to go for the Belted Kingfisher in Scotland. Having dipped on it in East Yorkshire like many other birders and being busy when it appeared in Staffs, it was great to finally lay eyes on this superb bird, in a picturesque setting as well. The bird showed very well for scope views, but was too distant for decent photos - better for digiscoping. Dipper was also seen as we watched the Kingfisher. Definitely worth the 16 hour round trip! Click on the image below for more: |
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| Peterculter, Aberdeenshire 6th April 2005 |
| Bradwell, Essex and Worthing, West Sussex 7th April 2005 |
| An adult Great-spotted Cuckoo was first reported in the Worthing/Shoreham area on Sunday evening. I dipped it on Monday, but news came through while I was in Scotland on wednesday that it had been present on a golf-course just down the coast near Worthing for its 3rd day! News of a Short-toed Treecreeper in Essex (about an hour from home) also came through while I was twitching the Kingfisher - it became clear that some more serious twitching was to follow. Fortunately both birds were still present on thursday. The Treecreeper was seen fairly briefly at close-range, but was generally fairly elusive, so I decided to head for the Cuckoo, hoping for a more obliging bird. I was not disappointed as this quality bird hopped about on golf greens and tees down to 15 yards. Many photos were taken, the pick of the bunch can be seen by clicking on the head shot below.... |
| Farnborough, Warwickshire 6th March 2005 |
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| A first-winter female Lesser Scaup. Forced by ice to move from the pond where it showed nice and close. Not close enough on the day we decide to go. Boring stuff. |
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| Lesser spotted Woodpecker, Farnborough, Warwicks, 6th March 2005 Canon EOS 20D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens, with 2x converter |
| This male Lesser spotted Woodpecker moved around through the park and was heard drumming and calling regularly. Crap photo, but probably only the second I've ever seen, compared to three Lesser Scaups, which is a bit silly. After Farnborough, I headed back via the M40 Red Kites, which showed ridiculously close. Missed out on most of the decent photo opportunities though. |
| Red Kites, by the M40, Oxon, 6th March 2005 Canon EOS 20D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens |
| Farnborough, Warwickshire 12th March 2005 |
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| Another try for the first-winter female Lesser Scaup. Click on the head shot below for the pick of the 1300 shots taken. (Update - Since then it has been noted that some evidence suggests that this bird may be a hybrid.) Prints of this bird are available for sale |
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| Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex 14th & 19th March 2005 |
| A visit for the Ring-billed Gull in Essex, and a second visit aiming for Mediterranean Gulls. Click on the photos below for the galleries. |
| Landguard NR, Suffolk 20th/21st/24th March 2005 |
| Three visits to Landguard to try and nail the male White-spotted Bluethroat. While checking some local spots around Hadleigh (the best bird being an escaped Chiloe Wigeon), the message came through on the pager of a male White-spotted Bluethroat at Landguard - perfect! So while I drove to the site, Marc took some stupid photos of the journey (below) |
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| Breydon Water, Norfolk 29th March 2005 |
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| A visit for the Killdeer at Breydon Water. After a brief appearance yesterday around midday, the bird reappeared in the same area today (29th March) and has stayed around pretty much all day. Too distant for any decent shots, but I took a few for the record. Click on the image below for a couple more: |
| After about 14 hours at the site and a lot of strategic positioning, the bird walked out right in front of the photographers on several occasions, showing very close indeed. The bird had previously been quite flighty, moving from bush to bush and ranging about 300 yards up and down the common. Another, more brightly coloured male was also present but not showing so well - as it favoured a bank inside the compound fence. On the third visit, the showy bird sang out in the open regularly. Click on the head shot below for more pics of this bird: |
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| Christchurch Harbour, Dorset 10th May 2005 |
| I was just making plans to go for the Stilt Sand in Norfolk tomorrow, when news broke of a probable Elegant Tern in Dorset. The Sandpiper quickly forgotten, I waited a bit for more news but with none forthcoming I thought I may as well go down there and check it out, seeing as its only 30 miles away. All negative news on the way, and it was looking pretty bad with many Sandwich Terns about but the Elegant apparently not amongst them. I was just sitting in the car about to leave when I saw some terns land on a sand bank offshore, I checked them through the binoculars to find that the Elegant was sitting there! The other few birders there at the time had got onto it, and I quickly set up the camera to get some record shots. The bird flew off fishing after about 5-10 minutes, and was seen distantly by the many arriving birders. It eventually flew back and did a couple of passes fairly close, at one point flying right over our heads, where I got the flight shots below. I left it sitting on a buoy distantly offshore. These record shots are for sale |
| Oare Marshes, Kent 18th May 2005 |
| A visit for the female Red-necked Phalarope reportedly showing well at Oare Marshes in Kent. It was distant on my arrival and didn't come any closer after about an hour of waiting. I was close to giving up and getting back before rush hour traffic on the M25 when the bird flew.... and landed about as close as it could have done! I blasted off over 1000 shots, mainly using a 2x converter as the bird was so small, here are the pick of the bunch..... Great bird, reminded me of watching them on the Loch of Funzie in Shetland, although they are a lot closer there! The journey home also turned out better than it could have done... considering it was the M25 in rush hour! Click on the Phalarope below for more photos.... Photos of this bird are for sale |
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| Various parts of Scotland 14th May 2005 |
| The main objective was to twitch the Barrow's Goldeneye, too distant for good photos, but good scope views of a good bird.... good. |
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| Landguard NR, Suffolk 21st May 2005 |
| Bill Baston and I arrived late in the day for the Trumpeter Finch, which eventually showed close enough for some photos. Suffolk again proves what a great county it is. Photos of this bird are for sale I may find some more reasonable shots of this bird over the next few days when I've got time to go through them all properly. |
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| Norfolk 12th February 2005 After hearing a report of not one but two Glaucous Gulls at Blackborough End Tip near King's Lynn, we decided to head to Norfolk for Saturday's birding. First stop was Lynford Arboretum, where s couple of Hawfinches were seen in flight, and a large flock of Siskins was noted. Next up was the main target of the day - Glaucous Gulls! A serious bogey bird for myself and Marc. The usual first-winter was located on arrival on the pit adjacent to the tip, and a few record shots were taken. Not close enough and the light was shocking. The bird eventually drifted off to feed on the tip, but was soon replaced by a second first-winter bird. This bird was in more advanced plumage, appearing strikingly white - a much more attractive creature. Years failing to even see one Glaucous Gull, and then two in one day! |
| Black-winged Stilt, Titchwell, Norfolk, 12th February 2005 Canon EOS 10D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens, some with a 1.4x converter |
| 1st winter Glaucous gulls, Blackborough End Tip, Norfolk, 12th February 2005 Canon EOS 10D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens, with 1.4x or 2x converter |
| Finally, a visit to Titchwell produced the usually smattering of close common species, and "Sammy" the Black-winged Stilt was seen very close to the path on the brackish lagoon nearest the sea. He looked pretty knackered, feeding very slowly, probably due to the fact that he is really rather old now. |
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| Isle of Sheppey, North Kent 28th February 2005 |
| More common bird photography- after a relatively unproductive visit to Warnham LNR, we headed for the Isle of Sheppey in North Kent. We cruised round the Harty Ferry area using the car as a mobile hide, and successfully nailed Fieldfare, Lapwing and Ruff. Click on the links above for many photos of these species. A few Marsh Harriers were also seen, including this female which came quite close to the car as it hunted a reedbed. |
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| Warnham LNR, W Sussex and Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex 25th February 2005 |
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| A successful day of common bird photography - first stop was Warnham LNR near Horsham. The star here was a very showy Water Rail, which sat about in full view in the feeding area for about 2 hours. Various other common birds seen and photographed. After that we headed for Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, hoping to nail the Ring-billed Gull and maybe a Med Gull or two (via Dartford, where a flock of around 60 Waxwings was seen briefly). One Med was seen briefly on the sea as we arrived, but otherwise there were few gulls around. We chucked some bread around to try and attract some more, and close enough for photos, but we only succeeded in attracting quite a few Sanderlings and Turnstones. These birds were very nice to photograph, so we stayed with them, despite hearing that the Ring-billed Gull was apparently showing on the casino roof - probably not great for photos anyway. |
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| Marsh Harrier, Harty Ferry, Kent, 28th February 2005 Canon EOS 10D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens, with 1.4x converter |
| Waxwing, Dartford, Kent, 25th February 2005 Canon EOS 10D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens with 1.4x converter possibly |
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| North Norfolk 6th January 2005 Today looked like being the last day of remotely decent weather before I go back to university. So the plan was to go up to North Norfolk fairly early and try and make the most of it. However, being rather lazy and not setting an alarm, I only got out of the house at about 10am. Problems with a broken windscreen wiper delayed me further, but I finally managed to get up to the coast by about 12:15. With limited time, I decided to go for some stuff which should be easy to photograph.... I opted to stop at Stiffkey first, despite the fact that I didn't even see the Lesser Yellowlegs last time I went for it... Fortunately, this time it was being more obliging, and somehow I managed to blast away over 300 shots of it in a fairly short time span... (combination of 5 fps on the new camera and a fast new CF card I think!) I got some quite pleasing results of this much photographed bird.... E-mail me for prints Click on the image below for more: |
| Also in the Stiffkey area was this juvenile Spoonbill, showing fairly well on the saltmarsh about 1/2 mile west of the Yellowlegs. |
| Spoonbill, Stiffkey, Norfolk, 6th January 2005 Canon EOS 20D and EF 500mm f/4 L Image Stabilizer USM lens, with a 1.4x converter |
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| North Norfolk 14th January 2005 - Big Trip Report thing here |