Shropshire - 23 - 24th Feb

Whilst in Shropshire for the weekend and prior to my trip across the border for Red Kites, I made an early morning jaunt up on to the Long Mynd in search of Red Grouse. The roads up were pretty icy and its always reassuring when the road signs read something along the lines of don't use in winter. But my new car powered its way up and around the single track bends on quite a steep accent no problem, and I reached the top in no time.

The temperature at the top was a good 4 or 5 degrees colder than in the bottom of the valley and a keen wind blew across the moorland, window down I drove at a crawling pace, ears pricked to pick up the call I was hoping for. Within about 50 yards of the gliding club entrance I soon heard the distinctive 'chut!chut!chut!chut!chut!chuttt....' call. A quick scan an I could see a Cock Red Grouse stood upright against some very similar coloured heather. A stealthy approach on foot didn't allow me any closer as the bird rocketed off from the heather with its fast-whirring wingbeats. 

Giving up on the foot approach I stuck to the car, seeing and hearing 13 or  14 cocks calling from fairly near the roadside. One did come close enough to the car for a shot through the window, but I left via the Church Stretton end feeling pretty unfulfilled  Plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylark also on the top with the occasional Pheasant popping up out of the heather.

Red Grouse

After visiting Gigrin on the Saturday, Sunday morning we headed up towards Shrewsbury, to Venus Pool, the weather was bitterly cold and overcast so we never spent to long in the hides, the highlight being a pair of Great-crested Grebe displaying and sharing weed not to far from the hide. A pair of Shoveler slept on one of the islands along with c.40 Lapwing and c.60 Snipe, several pairs of Gadwall and Pochard on the water.

The woodland hide and feeding station was very busy as it was on my visit earlier in the month, plenty of Chaffinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinch and a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker all visiting in the short period we sat watching.

All in all a fairly productive if not frustrating weekend with the weather.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

If you are a social media user, Feel free to follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for up to date sightings & photographs, any 'Comments & Criticisms' are welcomed.

Facebook  •  Twitter  •  Google+

Watermeadow Sunrise - 15th Feb

Having enjoyed the sunset so much the previous evening and having done a bit of weather research, a clear dawn beckoned so begrudgingly I set the alarm for 6am in the hope of getting a little closer to the feeding Mute Swans for some nice low level photography.

Opening the door as the first hint of light hit the dark sky, the cold fingers of Jack frost latched on to me pretty quick, I would need a coat! Walking through the water meadows I could already see a hint of colour against the dark sky. I managed to get myself over the rather narrow bridge in the dark on through into the water meadow.

I set myself up led down in the hope of some low level Swan images and waited, it wasn't long before the sky started to brighten, the pastel hues effecting the colour of the mist that hung above the frosty ground. I don't ever remember being out on such a stunning morning watching the atmospherics changing every second.

Early Morning Light across the Watermeadows

Unfortunately my plan didn't really come to fruition with the Wildlife all the Mute Swans from the night before fed on the floods but they were along way away from my lens, Plenty of Greylag & Canada Geese along with Mallard & Gadwall went about there business flying above my head, every wing beat audible on such a still morning.

A lone Brown Hare emerged out of the mist in front of me, but the light on the ground was still to dark for photography, a real shame as it looked very atmospheric shrouded in mist. As the light started to improve 2 Little Egrets appeared and dropped swiftly down on to the water, soon followed by a Grey Heron, I managed a shot of it landed through the mist although it didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped.

Descending Heron in the morning mist.

As the light got brighter I started to think about making tracks back towards the house and get ready for work. Not what you want on such a stunning morning. I did take a couple more landscape shots before I left the sky now pinker than the original orange colourings half and hour or so before. Quite a stunning hour and a half well worth braving the early alarm and cold for.

Pink sky in the morning - Beautiful

If you are a social media user, Feel free to follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for up to date sightings & photographs, any 'Comments & Criticisms' are welcomed.

Facebook  •  Twitter  •  Google+

Watermeadow Sunset - 14th Feb

St.Valentines Day, you may ask was I enjoying a romantic evening with my girlfriend? Well no as she lives 110 miles away, so I was rushing home from work at 5pm to make full use of the remaining light. It had been a cracking day weather wise and having spotted some wintering swans on a freshly flooded area of water meadows I headed off armed with both cameras, big & small lenses. Who needs romance?

Hoping for an exciting wintering Swan visitor I had to make do with our native Mute Swan, but 28 of them fed on the fresh clear shallow channels now covering the meadow. By far the largest number I've seen on the meadows and around the village. Several groups of Geese flew over occasionally coming into land. 12 Canada Geese and 6 Greylag feeding not far from the Swans.

Through the fading light I managed to pick out 3 Snipe on the furthest of the led water, and they were frequently joined by 15 or so Starling. A couple of White outlines against the pastel sky immediately caught my attention in the hope of Barn Owls, but proved to be the ever present Little Egrets.

I tried a couple of slow exposure photographs of the Swans as the light started to dim to no avail, swapping cameras over to make full use of the gorgeous purple, pink and orange hues of one of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Simply Stunning!

Swans at Sunset - What a scene!

Stunning Sky

Long exposure Swan fest

If you are a social media user, Feel free to follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for up to date sightings & photographs, any 'Comments & Criticisms' are welcomed.

Facebook  •  Twitter  •  Google+

Boxing Day Little Grebes

With the weather dismal over Christmas, any opportunity where there was a break in the clouds on Boxing Day morning, I was out of the house, covered from head to toe in waterproof clothing and perched on the River Bank camera in hand.

After a brief glimpse of the Kingfisher fleeing downstream, I waited for the arrival of the Little Grebe, there is quite a healthy population at the moment with a pair seemingly every 200-300 yards along the river. They are a species that I can never seem to get to see close up. Walking the banks if you spot one 100 yards away they always seem to have spotted you first and are down under the water and away to skulk unseen at the waters edge.

However I was in position for them this time, concealed against the footbridge and a nearby Willow, it wasn't long before a pair had drifted down within camera range. Movements were reduced to a very slow minimum in an attempt not to spook them, and it worked this time. My closest photos to date, just a shame about the poor lighting conditions.

As a few spots of rain started to fall, I thought I better head back through the flooded water meadow at risk of getting drenched. I flushed a single Snipe, my first on the new patch but hopefully a good indication of more to come. And luckily I got back just in time, before the rain fell again.

Little Grebe

Little Grebe

http://www.facebook.com/MartinClayPhotography Up to date pictures and sightings, prior to me getting around to writing these blog posts, I would be more than grateful for any 'Likes' or Comments on my FB Photography Page too so feel free to comment or criticise about anything.

Harbridge Buzzard

Leaving Blashford I thought we would have a quick pit stop in Harbridge, a small village near the River Avon. The river usually breaks its banks in the winter months and the water meadows are completely flooded and covered in various wading birds and Swans.

I had timed it right the overnight rain had added to the flooded meadows and also the village road, so pulling over on the bridge I had a good scan with my binoculars as the rain started to come down.

A few Mute Swans, a male Reed Bunting and distant flushed Snipe along with a lone Buzzard where the only birds of note.

Wet Buzzard

http://www.facebook.com/MartinClayPhotography Up to date pictures and sightings, prior to me getting around to writing these blog posts, I would be more than grateful for any 'Likes' or Comments on my FB Photography Page too so feel free to comment or criticise about anything.

A Black-headed Bombsite

With the cricket season here and the weather already proving a wash out, the first friendly was cancelled, so what to do with a unexpected free sunday? I know a trip down to the coast and Titchfield Haven NNR. The weather was still pretty indecisive and I must say any reserve that has enough hides to keep you sheltered from the frequent showers is good in my book.

The good thing about Titchfield is you park literally on the sea-front, the Solent merely feet away, plenty of action out on the waves but none of it anything other than Sailboats and Wind-surfers. On the opposite side of the road lies the Titchfield Haven reserve, a well managed and great location for watching wildlife, 6 Hides separated to 3 either side of the river that runs down into the Solent. The first thing that hit me though was the noise, thousands of Black-headed Gulls calling from the scrapes. A quick wander along the sea-front to the visitor centre and got my first glimpse of a pair of Linnets sat atop the surrounding gorse bush. Turnstones wandered up and down the footpath around the side of the small harbour totally unperturbed by the amount of human traffic. You often wonder when you turn up at these places, seeing the huge amount of cars and people if its going to be standing room only around the reserve, luckily nature didn't seem appealing to most, as once inside I probably only saw 10-15 people for the rest of the day.

The visitor centre side of the reserve has 3 hides overlooking the river and the water meadows. The usual Grey Heron, Cormorant, Mallard and Moorhen showed up on the river in the 1st Hide, the second two showing a bit more variety, a fairly biggish flock of Black-tailed Godwit grazed on the far side of the meadow, rising and falling regularly as they were often bombarded by Lesser Black backed Gulls.

Black-tailed Godwit

I did get quite excited about 15 minutes later when a stunning male Marsh Harrier (my first of the year) soared overhead spooking the Godwit flock and pretty much anything else within the vicinity. He landed briefly before being mobbed by 5 or 6 Carrion Crows, pretty rapidly disappearing back up the water meadows. Lapwing, Canada Goose, Teal and a Kestrel all showed well in the meadows as I sat dodging the rain drops in the hide.

A rather surprisingly nice lunch in the reserve cafe, and I was off out the other side of the river, All 3 hides over looking the scrapes and distant reed beds. It took a while to focus on any other birds as the Blur of Black-headed Gulls becomes more apparent. It would be hard to guess numbers but I'd say anywhere between 3000-4000 mostly paired off and nesting.

Just a narrow view of the Scrapes showing only a couple of Gull islands.

Once distinguished from the ever moving throng of Gulls, I spotted 9 feeding Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Avocet, Shellduck, Snipe, Shoveler, Gadwall, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull, Buzzard, Coot, Pheasant and a rather distant Fulvous Whistling Duck - a presumed escapee mingling with a couple of drake Mallard.

Black-tailed Godwits

Oystercatcher

Male Shoveler

So all in all a pretty a pretty good trip, with 35 Species logged, I'm sure there would be a few more if I could identify the bird song from the reed beds and trees. And an even bigger bonus I guess is I didn't get wet!