Bittern

With the first time in a long time the sun came out for more

than five minutes  i headed down to Marazion after hearing from Cornwall birding the had been 3 bitterns

there for the last past few day.

Knowing how hard they are to view or even see i prepared myself for a long afternoon

with a flask of coffee .

so you can imagine my shock and surprise when withing 5 Min's of me getting there

the bittern made its first appearance ,over the afternoon it made 4-5 showings .

The bittern was still a little to far away for my lens so the photos below have been enhanced

& cropped by photo shop.

  

GN Diver Newlyn

Black-Necked Grebe Newlyn

The Moon

On one of the quiet nights at work in the beginning of the year before the mad 

rush of holiday makers invaded. we was out in the back garden of the hostel with the telescope

looking at the moon and what ever else we could spot in one of this years occasional 

clear night sky.

The moon seemed  so clear and close i went back inside to get hold of my camera, so propping 

myself up against one the picnic benches  i snapped away hoping i was holding the camera  

steady enough to get a clear shot!!  

From Red Breast To Redwing

With no transport and the weather  being as bad as it has been  i haven't been out with the camera at all in the last few weeks, so i been looking through some of the photos Ive taken over the last 12 months a few caught my eye i decided to post photos of the red wing that i just managed to photograph .
I was just finishing snapping some photos of the red breasted flycatcher when on the way
back to my bike a red wing  flew past me and landed on the a branch of a tree. i started shooting away but before i  had any good photos in focus it flew off within seconds.
So i only got some record shots of the bird.



Red Breasted Flycatcher

With dark clouds building in the Sky and wind picking up

i left work not feeling to optimistic about the weather and my chances of locating the flycatcher, 

but since  i had my camera i decided to head down to the engine sheds at Kenidjack to 

try my luck.

My heart sank as  i arrived at the shed , no one was there except a couple of birders packing

away there scopes ( more in hope than anything ) i walked up to them and asked  if they have seen

anything but to my dismay they spent 2-3 hours looking but didn't see it.

I took a walk down the valley to look for any other photo opportunities around , on the way back to the bike

i seen a lone man standing by the bike with his binoculars glued  to his face . With him not moving and the binoculars still stuck tight to his face my mood increased the closer i got to him , taking a wide berth i slowly walked behind him and looked in the direction he was .

After a couple of moments  of scanning the area i finally got a fix on the flycatcher raising the camera to my

face  i started snapping of shots of the bird flitting between tree to tree .

Mute Swan - Drift

After checking the bird reports for anything new that has been spotted, i very quickly

came to the conclusion that what has been reported was to far away for me to get to and spend some time

getting photos, so i had a quick think of somewhere i haven't been for a while .

After a smoke and coffee drift came into my mind since i haven't been there at all this year 

on the account of the water level being so high. 

Once reaching the hide i opened up the shutters set the camera up and waited  to see what went past.
Apart from a couple of grebes on the far bank, a heron standing on a post in full view there wasn't really much going on . So there i was  just sitting there watching the swans and grebes doing there
thing getting a shot off here and there when i noticed this mute swimming closer to the hide.
Once he got within 5ft of the hide he started putting on a display by flicking water all over his back
and shaking it off again giving me some great  photos. ( maybe he just felt sorry for me sitting there. )

  

Choughs & Kestrels

Not really wanting to take another trip to Marazion after a full hostel 

checkout but not wanted to wast the good weather we been having the last few days 

i went down the vally to catch up with the choughs  and try grab some flight shots , but only 

manage a few shots of the choughs as they were mainly around the next valley but the Kestrels kept me 

entertained for most of the afternoon. 

Spotted Crake

THIRD TIME LUCKY  !!!

On my third time visiting the marsh to try a capture a photo of the crake i wasn't

feeling all that hopeful and getting what i wanted as the crake hasn't really been seen that often

in the afternoon and because of work and having split shifts the only time that i get

is the afternoon but i still wanted to go my luck .

A good 2-3 hours past and i was just thinking about packing up and heading

off to work when the bloke next to hurried to his scope and called out he's found it ,

as quick as i could  i got the camera and pointed the lens  in the  same direction of the scope.

It took me a little time to locate the bird but once i did i started snapping away. 

Ringed Plover

As i was down Marazion  i couldn't help taking a couple 

photos of this  Plover who walked right  in front of the lens  ,

my guessing he was a little jealous of all the attention being aimed

at the Buff-Breasted Sandpiper.