Portland Again!

Well for the second time this year I visited Portland Bird Observatory for a few days for a combined birding/photography trip. The former was somewhat difficult with a real lack of scarce birds - the best being two of the least cooperative I have ever come across...

Red-Necked Grebe

Pomarine Skua

Two species of owl were seen and both in exactly the same area, a small disused quarry. Although both are species I can find locally, it was nice to be able to see them in an entirely different context

Barn Owl

Little Owl

Before we get onto some half decent photos, a few more 'record shots' from the trip include...

Black Redstart

Kittiwake

Whilst the birding was considered fairly dull by the locals, many of the species seen (including those above) are extremely rare locally, so it was good to be able to photograph these for the first time. One bird I was particularly pleased to see was the Purple Sandpiper. I have seen this a couple of times before but on this occasion the showed exceedingly well feeding amongst the rocks...

Purple Sandpiper

And being within such close proximity to Weymouth, photographing shags was certainly not unexpected!

It was great fun watching them struggle amongst the waves that followed storm Jude (which as a side note was one of the most mundane weather events I have ever witnessed)...

The Rock Pipit is another scarcity in my local area, though at Portland they were plentiful with flocks of 20+ seen along the clifftops on some occasions...

 And my favourite...

And last but by no means least, the Arctic Tern. With Autumnwatch's theme this past week being 'Migration', this seems a particularly fitting bird to end on. This bird is a juvenile, born earlier this year, however by the time it dies, it may have undergone the longest distance travelled by any species of animal. With a migration that totals 44,000 miles a year, in its lifetime this bird will fly a distance equivalent to 3 round trips to the moon, an incredible feat and a beautiful bird!

Arctic Tern

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!

Wader Portraits

As promised, it is time for some waders. I mentioned in my previous post that I had a number of small projects going on throughout 2013 and another which I forgot to mention is my simple (or so it may seem) aim to capture eye-level portraits of as many of Britain's wader species as possible. This is a mission I set myself towards the end of last year.  Living in the North of Hampshire means the best areas of wader habitat are nearly an hour's drive from my house, which does of course restrict the amount of time I am able to spend photographing them. So far I have managed to photograph 6-7 species well, and by the end of the year I would like to try and double this figure. I am off to Norfolk in February and with vast areas of mudflats and shingle beaches, I hope to capture Redshank, Knot, Grey Plover and either of the two Godwit species.

18 months ago, during a family holiday to Scotland I managed to capture a nice portrait of a Dunlin (which incidentally came 2nd in the Junior Scottish Nature Photography Awards 2011).

Back to Hampshire and one species high on my wishlist was a Spotted Redshank, a fairly scarce wader but perhaps one of the 'easiest' species to find in Hampshire, with one particular individual returning to one location in the South East of the county for the past 7 years. What is most remarkable about this individual however is its amazing confidence when around people. It resides in a stream which is a haven for dog walkers, yet the bird continues to feed just feet away from them without the slightest concern. When I was down there, the bird did little, however came amazingly close so I was able to get some nice portraits of this stunner.

By now you are probably getting a little fed up so I will try and move this post along a bit. I haven't covered a single species in as much details as these two (you'll be pleased to know!) so now for just some odd shots including Ringed Plover, Sanderling and Turnstone (all taken at one beach in Hampshire!).

You are probably now losing the will to live with all these static subjects so time for an image with a little more going on! 

Thanks as always for reading!