Whimbrel

I've been very busy in and out of work so I haven't had time to edit all my photos from my last trip to the Azores. But here are a few shots of a lovely Whimbrel that was on a rocky shore near Ponta Delagada. The light wasn't brilliant but the bird showed well and was seen to eat a few small crabs. During my stay on the island of Sao Miguel the weather was generally overcast and occasionally drizzly, while the weather here in Britain was sunny and warm. Surprisingly, a friend of mine was birding in Norway at the same time and the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius north of the Arctic Circle!

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Iceland - Whales

Marsh Tits at Leighton Moss

Spring Wheatears

Wheatears are one of the first Spring migrants to appear back in the country, usually sometime in March, but they continue to arrive well into May. These beautiful chats are always a welcome sight whenever they appear, but the first sighting is often of a white rump disappearing over a grassy tussock or sand dune as the birds fly away. Their name is reportedly a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon "white-arse", a totally appropriate epithet. While searching for Dotterel on Anglesey last month I managed to photograph a few of these beauties along with another common migrant, a Swallow perched on a wire by a small farm.

Male Wheatears are very smart-looking birds.

Female Wheatears have a more subtle plumage.

This Swallow was observed preening
outside a farm building.

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Wheatears

Norfolk in October

Sperm Whale

"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me." So wrote Herman Melville in the opening chapter of Moby Dick.
I too feel the need to spend time by the coast or on the sea in search of seabirds and especially cetaceans. The naturalist and writer Mark Carwardine speaks of his need for a regular whale or dolphin "fix", and these animals, unlike any other, act like a drug on the minds of many people; once addicted there is no cure. The pleasure in seeing a distant blow as a whale surfaces, or the joy felt seeing dolphins at close quarters surfing the wake of boats or riding the bow-wave is unlike any other wildlife experience.
So for my fix this year I returned to the beautiful Azorean island of Sao Miguel, to search for whales and dolphins. I undertook five trips with the experienced Futurismo team, who virtually guarantee cetacean sightings. On my trip here last summer I was unfortunate not to see any species of whale, so I was more than pleased when one of my trips on the catamaran Cetus, produced sightings of a regular Sperm Whale know as "Mr Liable" for his reliability in showing up in the waters near the capital Ponta Delagada.

A 45 degree bushy blow is a good indication that you have spotted
a Sperm Whale.

Sperm Whales dive deeply in search of prey such as squid
and as such show their tail flukes when diving.

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Whitethroat

It's been a busy month for me at work (they've imposed a holiday ban for the next two months which is not conducive to finding and photographing Spring migrants!) and I've also done a fair bit of running.
On the May Bank Holiday I spent a windy day on Anglesey fruitlessly searching for a trip of Dotterel. Compensation was had by photographing migrant Wheatears. The afternoon was spent as South Stack RSPB but there were still no auks on the cliffs, but a Harbour Porpoise was feeding just off the stack.
The previous Saturday I spent the morning in North Wales where I had fabulous views of thirteen lecking Black Grouse, along with Whinchat and Whitethroat. I had planned to try and photograph more warblers this Spring, but the unseasonably cool weather and lack of time off have put paid to that mini project. I did photograph a Whitethroat at Inner Marsh Farm RSPB on the 20th of April. I had been visiting the site to see a male Blue-winged Teal which was far too distant for even record shots.
On the 11th of May I completed the 33 miles Sandstone Trail challenge in Cheshire in very changeable weather conditions including rain and hail. I did see my first Cuckoo of the year though, and views ranging from the Shropshire hills, Welsh hills and Jodrell Bank made it a very enjoyable day.
The next day, despite some complaints from my leg muscles I ran the Chester Half Marathon in a time of 84 minutes!

Whitethroat at Inner Marsh Farm

Meadow Pipit in the rain, North Wales

Whitethroat, North Wales

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Marsh Tits at Leighton Moss

Short-eared Owl

Manchester Marathon

It's been a few weeks since my last post, so apologies. I've got a few wildlife photos to post, but most of my spare time this year has been taken up with marathon training. Carelessly, I forgot to enter the London Marathon this year, mainly because I was concentrating my effort on completing my first ever Snowdon Mountain Race. So as an alternative I entered the Manchester Marathon.
My training was not up to standard early in the year because of an on-going hamstring injury, and then the cold, snowy weather of late winter and early spring really tested my mettle.
I was a bit late leaving home for the marathon and this was was exacerbated slightly by queueing for the Man Utd car park. But at least I didn't have to wait long before the race started.
A 26 second silence, followed by 26 seconds of applause was observed before the start of the race to honour the victims of the awful events of two weeks ago in Boston.
The race was started by running legend Ron Hill at 9 o'clock, just over the road from the "theatre of dreams" that is Old Trafford. There was a 3 hour pacemaker near me at the start and I planned to try and keep him in view for most if not all of the race. The first mile was a tad quick a 6.25 so I slowed and decided to pace myself. (6.52 min/miles are required to run 26.2 miles in 3 hours.) There were a few switchbacks on the course that allowed good views of the leading runners. Andi Jones, a demon on the Snowdon Mountain Race, was setting a blistering pace in the lead, I haven't seen the full results so I don't know if he won.
There was a bit of a headwind on the road out to Sale, but the fabulous support all around the course from the good people of Manchester, helped keep me at my target pace. My legs were beginning to ache at around 10 miles, which always surprises me because I am running at a pace over half a minute slower than my usual half-marathon pace; maybe it's purely psychological. A quick loop around Altrincham, were the support was again superb, brought me to the halfway mark in just over 1 hour 29 minutes. Despite the wind, conditions were good for running; not too hot and none of the forecast rain. At 21 miles I was feeling comfortable and thought I would be close to my target time. I kept my pace going until about 22 and a half miles. At that point my legs really began to seize and I had slight pins and needles in my fingers. I slowed considerably just as the 3 hour pacer went past! I had nothing in the tank to try and stick with him, so from then on it was just a case of damage limitation.
It's a times like this that supporters really help; shouts of encouragement and "keep it going Keith" got me through the last few difficult miles. The organisers thoughtfully printed runner's names on their numbers.
I crossed the line in just over 3hours and 3 minutes, a personal best! In retrospect I am delighted with that time and know what I've got to do to "crack" 3 hours. The organisation was faultless, the other runners were supportive and the crowds were amazing! Thank you Manchester.
And now I'm ready for a few beers. I'll post a picture later when they become available, hopefully I won't be looking too haggard!

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Llanbedr-y-Cennin

I broke my recent scarce bird dipping duck with, well, a duck! An American Wigeon to be precise. The bird was present on the saltmarsh pools at Neston, Wirral for a few days and gave reasonable 'scope views but was far too distant for photography. A visit to North Wales on Saturday also produced sightings of Hawfinch, so things are definitely on the up as far as birding is concerned. I arrived early in the morning by the small church in the village of Llanbedyr-y-Cennin in the beautiful Conway valley. No sooner had I left the car than I spotted a Hawfinch high in a leafless tree but it soon dived for cover in an adjacent Hornbeam. The sun was shining and I was happy to stand for a few hours as small parties of Hawfinch flitted through the trees uttering their sharp tack calls and occasionally flying overhead revealing broad white wingbars. I took some distant "record" shots of birds perched high in the trees, but managed some more acceptable photos of a bird on the ground feeding on a handout of seed.
After a pleasant lunch at Conway RSPB I drove home via Llanddulas beach were vast flocks of Common Scoter were 'scoped along with a few winter-plumaged Red-throated Divers and a pair of Goosander.
I ventured up to Blackpool yesterday to run the Blackpool Marathon. Conditions were excellent with blue skies and only a light breeze. As this was only a preparatory run for my attempt at the Manchester Marathon later this month I took it easy but steady, and despite a recent stomach bug, I crossed the finish line in 3 hours 12 minutes with plenty of running left in my legs. I even got a "year tick" during the race in the form of a Wheatear seen on the grassy slopes north of the tower. I celebrated at home later with a few well-deserved beers.

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Marsh Tits at Leighton Moss

Short-eared Owl

Dipping Out

"Dipping out" is a term used by birders when they fail to see a bird they have travelled to see. Not wishing myself any further "dips" I have to say I have missed a few scarce birds recently, in fact I am on something of a "dipping streak". None of them would've been life ticks for me, but when you put the effort in to try and see a bird it's nice to achieve success once in a while. Additionally, maybe there should be a new term for bird photographers who actually manage to see a species but then fail to actually obtain a photograph! This has happened on two occasions recently when I have found urban flocks of Waxwings both on main roads which have then flown off before I have even left the car, not as a result of my presence I hasten to add. Waxwings are getting harder to pin down as the year progresses, probably due to a lack of suitable berry-bearing bushes combined with their urge to return to their breeding grounds.
Recently I have also failed to connect with (another birders term meaning "see") Hawfinches at a number of sites, Great White Egret at Hale and Black Redstart at Neston. I even failed to see Crossbills at a favoured site in North Wales today. But I have a plan; leave all my photographic equipment at home and the birds will be tripping up to feed out of my hand!
But, ever the optimist, there is always something to photograph as shown by the following shots of Bullfinch at Leighton Moss and Red Kite in Wales.

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Kestrel

Short-eared Owl

Marsh Tits at Leighton Moss

Last week my friend Jane and I visited Sizergh Castle in Cumbria in the hope of seeing Hawfinches. We pulled into the car park in bright sunshine but it soon started to snow. A thorough search of the area failed to produce our quarry so we went for a short walk in the surrounding countryside; the coldness of the weather did not diminish our appreciation of this beautiful part of the country. After photographing common birds such as Robin, Wren and Blackbird, we returned to the car park but there was still no sign of the target birds. We decided to head south so we could lunch a Leighton Moss RSPB.
Passing through Milnthorpe the clouds unleashed a veritable snow blizzard of Dickensian proportions. It was almost a total whiteout! We drove on to Leighton Moss where we enjoyed a picnic in Lilian's Hide. I prefer to eat outside to maximise the wildlife viewing opportunities.
But to say the weather was changeable was grossly understating the situation. In the film version of H.G. Wells' classic novel The Time Machine, the time traveller views the passing days as a strobe of night and day; similarly the weather that day fluctuated rapidly between bouts of sunshine and mini snowstorms driven in by a bitter Easterly wind.
Undeterred by the elements we enjoyed a great day's birdwatching. One of the highlights for me was the newly built shelter by the bird feeders where we enjoyed great views of common woodland birds and scarcer birds including one of my favourites the subtly beautiful Marsh Tit. We rounded the day off with a very welcome curry in nearby Carnforth.

 

Robins and Wren photographed at Sizergh Castle.

Marsh Tits.

Common Snipe.

Immature Mute Swan in snowstorm.

Male Wigeon.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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Stoatally Amazing



Leighton Moss