Grey Wagtails

Regular readers (if there are any) of this blog will probably know by now, that I'm a big fan of Grey Wagtails.  They've been an on and off photography project on my patch for well over a year now. And no, that's not just because there's nothing else to photograph in the park, that's almost, but not quite true.
 Over the autumn and early winter they spent about half the time too close for my lens to focus, then come January 1st they became elusive, I hadn't managed a passable shot since.  This seems to be their pattern, or at least it has been for the last two winters. But now, they're back, and with five fledglings!
On Friday, conveniently whilst looking for any Grey Wagtails, I found several fledglings around the Boating Lake and the Wash. The light was too high to really bother taking many images, so Saturday morning I got an earlier start. Naturally, it was cloudy. Still, beats the harsh midday sun.

 I headed back again in the afternoon, and found all five chicks lined up along the edge of the lake. While their parents were busy proving themselves amazing at fly-catching, with some incredible speed and agility! A pair of Pied Wagtails also joined them for this.  Probably the closest the park will get to a Flycatcher this year....

I would like to take this moment to apologise to my camera for the overuse of it's shutter - Sorry!  But a superb day out photographing.

Autumn Begins...

The Autumn migration,  ah, that fantastic time of year.  In retrospect, I've never really been able to observe Autumn migration at its full capacity. The sheer number of birds passing can be incredible.  So it was, on Monday I found myself in an awe at the numbers, at the magnitude with which some species were present.

 Arriving at Seaford Head before the sun was fully risen, I was greeted by House Martins.  Thousands and thousands of House Martins.  The sky was full of them, the Sea, the cliffs... everywhere you looked there were House Martins.  It seemed rather an unreal sight to behold.  Three, to four thousand seemed about right.  I imagine I had watched them for at least thirty minutes before I could drag myself away to look at Yellow Wagtails, which were in decent numbers also, although nothing like the House Martins.  Over the day I had a respectable thirty-forty of these stunning yellow(ish) migrants.

Similar numbers of Wheatear were also present, with one field containing over ten.  It was a good field to say the least and, after two hours, some did come rather close.  I recall one surprising moment when a Wheatear ran directly at me and stopped no more than twelve foot away.  There was however, in rather typical fashion, a single blade of grass going across its face.  Here's one from twenty foot instead.

Among all the migrants - Whinchats, Redstart, Willow Warbler, Whitethroats and Swallows - I did make time for some non-avian wildlife. I must be mad.  I suppose it's excusable to be distracted by an Adder though isn't it? Yes, I was lucky enough to find my first ever Adder, basking in a gorse bush by the edge of a path.  Just amazing.  Seeing a wild snake was one of my hopes this summer, I'm sure I can make do with getting it in Autumn though...

Rather a nice way to break into the new season don't you think?

Mostly Weather

It's truly amazing the weather difference between England and Ireland.  I returned from a week of grey skies, rain and the oh so rare glimpse of sun, to what can only be described as a heatwave.  I got back yesterday afternoon and have already had more sun that in the whole week in Ireland.  I'm not sure which I prefer...
 Nonetheless Ireland was enjoyable, despite only being able to make it out birding on two days.  On both days we had Arctic Tern, which had been a lifer. With how many I've now seen I'm surprised it took so long.  Other than the Arctic Terns it was a quiet trip for birding, save for a group of Manx Shearwaters.  My first from dry land, but still hectic to keep up with.
 Though most privileging, and likely most exciting, was coming across dozens of Natterjack Toadlets.  When I first found them I will admit I was ignorant of their identity, and for the sake of the species I will keep the location secret.  It was good to see such an incredibly rare species doing so well.  Strange to think that I've now seen every species of Amphibian naturally found in Ireland, something I'm far from achieving over here.
 With the addition of just a little more rain that pretty much sums the trip up.  How long until I'm fed up with the sun though?  Until I want to photograph something I would imagine.

Back in Numbers

Ah, at last.  I've located the Grey Wagtails on the patch again, and it's not just the adults anymore... they now have fledglings with them!  A rather early brood of four, who, it seems have taken after their parents, they're pretty showy.  After finding them on Friday how could I not spend Saturday morning photographing them?  Lying in stinging nettles wasn't the nicest experience, but well worth putting up with.  My, it was a fantastic morning.  And I will admit to being slightly trigger happy, I ended the morning with over a thousand shots of them, with how well they showed though...  surely it was excusable.  I'l let you judge.

Still Here

It had been almost three weeks since I'd last seen the Kingfisher on the patch.  So as I'm sure you understand I was beginning to doubt that it was still here.  Although with the amount of locations around the park people have told me they'd seen it.... It was hard to be sure.  I kept up a visual anyway and tried all the locations I could but to no avail.

 So Sunday morning when I walked into the park and the third bird I saw was the Kingfisher, well, I was -I believe the phrase would be- over the moon.  It only showed briefly, but after its long absence, even a few second's view was appreciated.   I just wish I could find out where it frequents.  If it does frequent a particular area that is.  At the moment is seems rather spontaneous. 

 To continue on from the Kingfisher, it was a successful patch visit.  We managed about 32 species and it looked as if a new record could be in sight, maybe 38?  But then we got the Grey Wagtails.  I suppose you could say I got a bit carried away.  The Wagtail showed amazingly, some of the best views I've had yet.  It may even have come too close for the camera.  At least that's my excuse for the out-of-focus shots.  Or perhaps that's just because they're such erratic birds? Before it came so close though, it sat preening for quite a while.  I've noticed them preening a lot recently, perhaps they are beginning to moult into their spring plumage? Again this could be due to our mild -if a little wet- weather this winter.  I haven't photographed them in their summer finery before, so I for one am looking forward to when they do change.  Whether or not that's the reason for this increase in preening I don't know.   Time will tell.

Old Faithfuls

Yesterday I took fellow young wildlife photographer Yusuf Akhtar around my patch for a morning of photographing Grey Wagtails.  I'd say that it was quite a successful morning, although I personally didn't get many shots to keep. The light was good but for the most part the birds stayed just a little out of range.   As they were a bit distant to start with I spent some more time noting there behavior, the most noteworthy of my mental notes being that they never leave the canal.  Despite flying in the completely opposite direction when flushed they will always come back  naturally further down from where they were disturbed. The more I know the easier it'll become to get shots -in theory.

 In the end the wagtails started to show quite well for me and Yusuf, not as crazily close as they have, but a more respectable distance, some fifteen foot or so.  At that distance I managed to get one more shot for the archives...

 This is going to be my last visit to the Patch before Christmas I'm afraid, but it was an enjoyable morning nonetheless, it's always good to meet other young wildlife photographers and it's always fun to photograph Grey Wagtails.  I've got quite a few plans for the Wagtails in the new year, from snow shots (if it ever comes) and possibly even wide-angles, so I will try my best to keep you updated.

Slightly Late Storm Damage

My patch is closed.  It has been for seven days now, one whole week.  Can you guess why?  Well remember that storm eleven days ago? That's who's to blame.  Strangely, I visited the park about twice after the storm before the park closed.  So I have no idea why they waited so long.  While I was there I did see a couple of fallen trees, and there was a lot of branches everywhere.  But why keep it open a couple of days before closing it if there was any danger? Personally, I would have thought the park should have been checked out the day after the storm.  That would be more logical.  Right?  Oh well there is nothing I can do but wait.
 Recently I've been working on photographing Grey Wagtails. surprisingly  they seem to be tolerant of my presence (at last), so it doesn't go too well with me to be away from photographing them for so long.    It's just so nice to spend time with a particular species.
I may have taken a few shots of them so far.  One day I did take about 400 images of one bird.  So I do need more, and I do have more. But for now this is all  you can have of my collection.  Once I've got more shots I will do a full write up, but until then that's it.  Just to keep you in suspense, they do come close...

So I am hoping they get their gear together over in the parks department, the park has been closed way too long.  Surely it won't take any longer to clear up?  Only time will tell.  But I live in hope...

The Joys of Patch Birding.

As I have often mentioned on this blog my patch is not the kind of place birders would usually choose to go.  There have been many days when I have seen nothing more attention grabbing than a Little Grebe.  But on the days it comes together it is all worth it.  I have had few of those days, but I will let on now that today was one of them.

 The joys of a local patch is that you know what to expect in certain areas, you know generally what you can hope to see.  If you were - like me, a wildlife photographer and visited Valentines Park for the first time, you might not choose to come back.  That however is your loss.  Not mine, because I do choose to come back.  And if you know the right areas some great opportunities can be had.  Valentines, being an urban park, sees a lot of people.  The wildlife also sees a lot of people.  Thus it becomes somewhat accustomed to their presence.  Not enough to tolerate people walking directly at it (save in the case of Squirrels) or too close but still, more tolerable than their cousins in the true wilds.

 I've been particularly lucky on my patch with Green Woodpeckers.  They still are shy and flighty, but not as bad as elsewhere I must admit.  I've managed a couple of pleasing images, nothing too spectacular, but I'm working on it.

Anyway, back to today.  We thought we would pop around to see if we could spot Valentino.  The all famous Med Gull back for his/her 14th Winter.  First look at the lake and we didn't spot it.  So we moved on and at the fish pond we had our first stroke of luck - the first two Shoveler's of the season!  This came as a surprise as I don't usually see them until winter usually.  The lighting was quite nice on the lake so I fired off a few shots.

We then moved on to see if we could find the Green Woodpeckers (that shot was from a couple of weeks back) but they were not to be seen, so it was that we moved to the canal.  Where I had just a little bit of luck with a Grey Wagger....

 To top it all off we finished the day with fantastic views of Valentino, the best I've yet had!  A day total of 32 was reached, which is pretty good for the patch.  Also some fairly pleasing images.  So a very good day at the patch.

 It proves that you really don't need to travel far to find amazing wildlife.  Valentines Park is just a couple of hundred meters from my house!