Sunny Summer Days

In total contrast to the last few years, this July has been one of the warmest and driest in living memory.
I have been making the most of the sunshine and have been out and about with my camera and have also walked up Mount Snowdon twice! Here are a few recent shots. Get out there and enjoy the weather!

Dark Green Fritillary near Ruthin, North Wales.

Male Common Redstart, Ynys-hir RSPB.

Large Red Damselfly, Ynys-hir.

Fledgling Robin, foot of Snowdon, taken with compact camera.

At the start of Crib Goch ridge, Snowdonia.

Common Pheasant, Ynys-hir.

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Butterflies and Dragonflies

Ynys-hir

Norfolk 2013

I've been busy working and marathon training recently so photographic opportunities have been limited. But, as usual, the weather hasn't been conducive to producing decent wildlife images.

On the 24th of last month (February) I ran the Blackpool Half Marathon in a decent time of 83 and a half minutes, which I was pleased with because of a recent hamstring injury. Its two minutes slower than my time at the same event last year but I'm not complaining. After the race I visited Marton Mere local nature reserve but was failed to find any Long-eared Owls; I've seen them here a few times before but they can be difficult to find without local knowledge.

At the beginning of March I spent a family weekend in Norfolk. I had problems with the image stabilisation system on my 500 lens so many of my photographs were unusable. I saw many Barn Owls on my morning runs, often perched on roadsigns or on one memorable occasion sat on the fence in the back garden of our cottage! I love Norfolk, it really is a very bird-filled county.

Brent Geese Over Blakeney



Curlew at Wells

Oystercatcher, Wells

Pheasant

Rooks fighting at Kelling

Song Thrush

Fieldfare

Sunset over Cley Windmill with Blakeney Church in the background.

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Norfolk

Norfolk in October

Norfolk in October

My family and I spent a long weekend in the bird-filled county of Norfolk at the beginning of October. Unfortunately for a birdwatcher like myself the weather conditions were not conducive to the arrival of many migrants or rare birds. It was sunny and calm nearly every day, unlike the end of the month which was dominated by easterly winds and fog; these conditions produced large falls of thrushes and other passerines on the east and south coasts, but also unfortunately resulted in the demise of many birds that landed in the sea exhausted.
But back to my weekend in Norfolk. Pink-footed Geese were arriving in reasonable numbers and the one continental migrant that I saw regularly was the Jay. The only rarity of note during my stay was a Pectoral Sandpiper at Kelling Water Meadows, it has been a good autumn for this nearctic wader and this was my second sighting of this species this year.
We stayed on the outskirts of Cley in view of the famous windmill, and were treated to good views of Barn Owl most evenings. The nearby reedbed at Cley Norfolk Naturalists Trust Reserve also held good numbers of Bearded Tits.

There seem to be an inordinate number of pheasants around at the
 moment. As this photo shows they are beautiful birds, but they
have a significant detrimental effect on our native invertebrates.

This Blue Tit, the Long-tailed Tit and the Pheasant were all
photographed in the cottage garden at Cley.

A stunning male Bearded Tit at Cley.

This Barn Owl was observed catching a Shrew, which was duly
 stolen by a Kestrel; fascinating behaviour.

Barn Owl before being mugged.

Lapwing at Cley

Dunnock in its usual brambly habitat.

Juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper at Kelling, record shot.

This Chaffinch and juvenile Goldfinch were photographed at
Burton Mere in Cheshire at the end of September while waiting
and failing to see a juvenile Sabine's Gull.

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Norfolk

Wildlife of the Azores

PB and Martin Mere

After a week when my marathon training didn't go to plan due to an upset stomach, I managed to set a personal best today. I ran the "Mad Dog" Southport 10k in a time of 37minutes and 37 seconds which is almost a minute faster than my previous best so I must be doing something right in my training. My time was no doubt helped by a course that was flatter than the proverbial pancake and the absence of any wind.
I decided to visit Martin Mere in Lancashire after the race as it was not too far to drive, mainly to pick up some birdseed for my garden birds but also for lunch and a quick birdwatch. It was a very dull and overcast day, not the best conditions for photography but it's always worth a try.
Saw my first treecreeper of the year.

Male Ruff, nice reflection on a dull day.

Male Ruff giving a theat display to another male.

This male Pheasant brightened up the

grey day.

Photographed these these fungi on a dead oak tree using my

zoom lens as I didnt have my macro with me. I'm not skilled

at fungi identification so will update the caption once I have

identified the species!