Seabirds from Skomer

I recently returned from staying two nights on Skomer. It's a fantastic island, and what's especially good is that by staying overnight you have the island to yourself (except for the wardens, a few volunteers, and the other overnight guests) up until 10am, and from about 4.30pm. Here a few shots of seabirds other than Puffins.

First up a couple of Guillemots:

And a couple of Razorbills:

And now a couple of a rather unusual find, a Manx Shearwater out of its burrow in daylight.

Here's a few of the ubiquitous Lesser Black-backed Gulls

And last but not least, a Kittiwake in front of one of the hides:

Next time I'll have some more Skomer shots to show.

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Silhouettes

A couple of silhouettes taken earlier this year.

Mandarin

And a Great-crested Grebe

My 200-400 is being repaired at the moment, so apart from some macro I haven't done much photography recently. This should change when it comes back though!

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Some more macro

A few more macro shots this time. First up is a Bumblebee feeding on flowering thyme. I wanted to get the Bee on the thyme with a nice purple foreground and background, so am quite pleased with this one. The bright yellow of the bee stands out very nicely as well!

This Blue-tailed Damselfly was sitting on a fence panel, so allowed a very close approach.

And lastly, a Weevil perched on top of a grass stem. The wind was rather strong when I was taking this so I had to take over a hundred shots to make sure that I got some sharp ones!

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Macro season!

Exams are finished now, so I should have a bit more time to get out with the camera. I'm going to Skomer at the beginning of July, before I'm off to Sicily on holiday a short while after that. I'm particularly looking forward to Skomer as I'm staying overnight, so am hoping for some nice light in the mornings and evenings, and then some rain during the middle of the day; not too much to ask for!

Damselflies are out in force at the moment, and so seeing that the forecast was for cold temperatures and overcast skies, I headed out yesterday to see if I could find some. I was just setting up for one when another one landed in front of me with prey, so I quickly changed subject! One problem I had with photographing these from very close is that because the width of their head is relatively large due to their eyes, it is difficult to get everything in focus, especially when there is a slight breeze blowing!

Here's another which is a bit closer:

The subject is a teneral Blue-tailed Damselfly I believe.

On the way back to the car, I spotted this Soldier Beetle (I think) clambering up a grass stem:

 The forecast doesn't look good for the next few days, and I'm back at school on Monday (although only until June 29!) so it looks like I won't get much more photography done this week.

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More Bitterns from Minsmere

Following on from this post:

This post will have a lot of images I'm afraid, but please make sure you have a look at all of them. It will be worth it, I promise!

I wanted to have another go at the Bitterns that evening, so headed back to the Island Mere Hide at about 3 in the afternoon and waded through the water to get underneath. Because it was the afternoon this time, the sun was at a better angle, and was lighting up the side of the reeds from where I hoped the Bittern would appear. While I waited, there was nothing else in front of the hide, except for a Greylag Goose and some Sticklebacks in the water just in front!

My parents were in the hide above me, and were getting a bit bored by now, but I kept persuading them to stay a little longer. Luckily the waiting payed off, as at about 5.30 I saw the Bittern swim out of the reeds and then it gradually started coming towards the hide, hugging the reed margin very closely.

As I was fairly low down, I soon lost him (I think it's a male as it has some blue at the base of the bill) as he progressed closer and closer through the reeds, the only sign of his presence being the odd movement of a reed or the sound of him as he crept towards me. Occasionally he would pop his head up though:

Eventually he made his way out of the reeds and started walking across more open water. This was the moment I had been waiting for, and I couldn't believe that I was watching a Bittern so close. The resulting images are some of my favourite shots I have ever taken.

By the end I couldn't even fit the whole bird in at 400mm, and it was only about 5m from the hide. Suddenly, with its harsh call, it took flight and flew off into the reedbed.

I only have another week and a half of exams, so I am looking forward to when it's all over, and I can get out with the camera again.

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Song Thrushes and Blackbird

Just a quick post today, over the Easter holidays I visited Kensington Gardens on a couple of days hoping to photograph the Great-crested Grebes. The light was great and there was lovely mist over the water, but the Grebes refused close except for occasions.

Instead, I found a Song Thrush that was flying down onto the grass to collect worms and then taking then back to, presumably, its nest, in the hedge.

While waiting for the Thrushes to return from the hedge, a Blackbird was also feeding in the grass.

There will be no new images appearing until June as AS levels start on Monday, so I'm going to have my head down for the next couple of weeks!

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Minsmere - Marsh Harriers

While I was waiting for Bitterns, there were usually several marsh harriers floating over the reeds. Here is one from a dawn start one morning, quartering over the reeds in the mist before the sun had risen.

As the sun came up over the trees, it shone through the Marsh Harriers' wings giving lovely backlighting.

Here is another one with the light coming from a different direction.

Next up will be some more Bitterns.

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