Scotland ~ Days 7-9

~Friday~

On this day we decided to visit Sanna Bay; the beach here is probably one of the most beautiful in the UK, and so it was with no hesitation that we spent a while exploring what the dunes had to offer. Lots of Sand Martins were visiting their colonies (the peninsular as a whole had an abundance of these), and a male Wheatear was busy collecting food.

Wheatear 

On our drive back we pulled into a lay-by to scan the ridges for eagles. Alas there were none, but we were still very glad we stopped as we had very good views of a pair of Whinchat, along with my first Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary of the trip.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Male Whinchat

~Saturday~

As it was my final full day at the house, I decided to start the day by getting up early and explore the woods near the cottage. 3 Wood Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher were good to see.

Wood Warbler

We then drove to the RSPB's Glenborrodale reserve. En route we stopped as Matt spotted a large raptor just breaking the horizon, which excitingly turned out to be a Golden Eagle!

Golden Eagle

The reserve itself provided a very pleasant walk with 2 Spotted Flycatchers, a reeling Grasshopper Warbler, several Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and 1 very fresh looking Chequered Skipper!

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Chequered Skipper

Chequered Skipper

~Sunday~

The long drive back from the highlands to Rugby took all day, though a brief stop near Arnside yielded a few Northern Brown Argus, the 2nd butterfly lifer of the trip for me!

Northern Brown Argus

Wild Goose Chase!

Last Saturday I went on a small venture to the South Coast around Milford-on-sea/Pennington! The weather forecast was promising, but somewhat predictably the heavens opened at the moment of arrival and took a few hours to finally clear! Still, this did not deter from our mission - to see a Red-Breasted Goose! Whilst everyone else was preoccupied watching an American wading bird that looks very similar to a species we have over here, with a few minor adjustments(!), I decided it would be nice to photograph something completely different...

Upon arrival we were told "the bird was just here about an hour ago", the worst, though often most common phrase heard when looking for a specific bird! After a somewhat lengthy wait we eventually spotted the goose distantly feeding with 250+ Brent Geese out on the saltmarsh ...

As the tide rose, the flocks of geese split up, and began to gradually swim closer to shore. To try and get some closer shots, I hid behind a nearby wall and watched as the Red-Breasted Goose slowly edged closer. At this stage it was still quite distant, but at no point did the bird move away from the brents (a large proportion of which were Juvenile, proof of a  successful breeding season in Siberia). As the goose came closer, and more ID features on this distinctive bird were picked up, it soon become apparent it was a 1st Winter. This was something of a surprise as myself along with a number of other birders presumed this bird was a returning adult that has been wintering along the south coast for the past 3-4 years now! Anyway, the bird...

The bird just kept coming closer until the brent flock suddenly stopped some 20m offshore. Here the Red-Breasted Goose showed superbly, before slowly swimming back out to sea! 

EDIT: Well my blog has decided to mess up the two best photographs of the goose, making them appear dark, noisy and just generally a bit hideous! If anyone knows why please let me know, I am editing on Aperture 3. The problem is shown to a certain extent in the photo above. Anyway, to view the two best shows of the goose, please see the Wildfowl Gallery on my website here:

http://www.alexberrymanphotography.co.uk/waterbirds1#h18cf34b8

or on flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexberryman/with/10446590545/

After this amazing encounter (which I doubt will be matched in quite a while!) we headed off to Pennington Marsh to catch up with another rarity, a Long-Billed Dowitcher, an American species. The bird was picked up fairly quickly despite reports that it had been flushed by a Peregrine, though unfortunately was a little distant for the camera...

The local Turnstones showed well however...

As always you can keep up to date with my whereabouts on Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks for reading!

Bearded Tits - Hyde Park

Yesterday I went over to Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens to photograph the Bearded Tits/Reedlings that have been in Hyde Park for nearly a month now. After a somewhat uneventful journey I arrived at the reedbed opposite the Diana Memorial Fountain, and there they were; incredibly close and seemingly unaware of their admirers, they fed happily in the reeds just 3-4 metres away. Perfect photo opportunity? Well no, not exactly.

The wind was appalling, the birds were blowing all over the place. They seemed perfectly content, but my camera's autofocus was definitely not. Then there was the light. If the sun was shining, the birds were skulking at the base of the reeds, and when the light was crap again, out they came!

Nevertheless they are real stars. If Hyde Park is easily accessible for you and you're not familiar with Bearded Tits, head over there, you won't be disappointed!

So time for some images:

Please let me know which is your favourite, and once again, thanks for reading! I will try and post some more photos before I head off to Norfolk!

2012 Review

Well it is a tad delayed for which I apologise however here is a quick summary of the past year. 2012 was without a doubt the most successful and enjoyable year for my photography and I have enjoyed numerous wildlife encounters and competition success.

The year got off to a slow start but by spring I had a number of photographic projects running simultaneously. I followed a local Great Crested Grebe and managed some nice shots by shooting with the reeds as a reflected background:

I also got to work on a Kingfisher project. I did not have as much time with the birds as I perhaps would have liked, which limited the experimentation stage of the project, however this is something I am keen to work on next summer...

2012 was the year for me to photograph a variety of different wildlife  in order to discover which I found the most interesting; this led me to photograph some absolutely wonderful species...

I was particularly captivated by Firecrests, a rare species which I am lucky enough to have breeding 10 minutes away from my home!

Over my June half term I went on a family holiday to France. Despite not being a holiday dedicated to photograph, I was still able to photograph an array of new and exciting species, some of which would simply not have been possible back here in the UK...

With 8 weeks off during the summer holidays, I returned once again to some local projects. The results were mixed (as is so often the way with wildlife photography) but I achieved some of my best photographs at this time, one of which won a major international competition. Winning RHS International Junior Garden Photographer of the Year was without a doubt one of the highlights of my year. It resulted in my photograph appearing in 'The Telegraph' and 'The Independent'! Below is the winning photograph, and a previously unseen shot of these birds' nest site (of course during this project the birds were not disturbed by myself or by the camera)!

You may have noticed I usually focus almost exclusively on photographing birds, however this year I also took up macro photography. It was a bit of an experiment and a huge learning curve, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I began with simply reversing my kit lens, but found the depth of field far too restrictive, especially with invertebrates that were constantly on the move. This led to me purchasing a dedicated macro lens at the end of this year so the macro photography will hopefully continue and improve in 2013!

Furthermore I enjoyed ventures to Norfolk (allowing me to get close portraits of Bearded Reedlings - a favourite bird of mine!) and to Shropshire/Mid Wales, allowing me to photograph Red Kites well for the first time; both are areas I will be returning too in 2013!

As if all of the above was not good enough, the end of 2012 was perhaps the best. Once again Waxwings invaded (see my previous blog post for photographs) and I enjoyed trips to photograph rare and exciting species, two of which are below:

The year ended with another photo competition win which can also be found on my previous blog post.

Well, if you have made it this far, you have done well. Sorry it is so long, but 2012 has been a great year for me. I am not quite sure what I will be up to in 2013, but with my GCSEs in June, I am unlikely to have as much time to do photography related things as I would like. I have 4-5 'mini projects' I will be working on, including Kingfishers, Firecrests, Little Owls and the other 2 I will keep quiet for now! Thank you very much for reading and please stop back soon for some wader photographs!

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