Local patching

The weather and other commitments have kept the photo trips down, but I have grabbed a few hours here and there.
At Black Rock on the salt marsh I was hoping for a skylark or wheatear, but the odd meadow pipit was the best I found.   That said a view of a fly past merlin was a first for me here.

Back at the car park / picnic area the mistle thrushes are back, appearing to listen hard for worms, whilst the flowering trees framed some of the more common birds.

At Caldicot Castle the jackdaws have been building their ungainly nests again, sometimes leaving you wondering how they squeeze in over the top - I plan to go back when the young are near fledging, but I might visit again before then just to see how the pair in the archers slot actually get in and out!

Even nearer home I finally got around to having a first go at the local rabbits.  One showed quite well for a while, but managed to find the one plant stem to sit next to, so the second shot is cropped.

The first fledgling blackbirds are around, and the blackcaps are ever more vocal.  I've kept an eye on this tree for the last couple of years.  Can you see the nest hole?  Actually it turned out not to be the large one on the upper right, but the small one on the lower left being topped up by the blue tits, apparently tying bows in the nest material.

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 A few more pics in the web albums

Keep trying!

In the end I'll get a decent shot of a corn bunting, but the venue continues to frustrate, so it might be a while.  Too many multi-stemmed twiggy bushes on the wrong side of the road!  Factor in my ineptitude - grab the camera on arrival to dash off a few shots of an unexpected clear sighting, then remember you didn't reset it after the last outing - and sad to say not the first time I've failed to learn that lesson.  That said it looks like what it is, an early morning shot and I quite like it.  Didn't seem to be an oft used perch though, but an earlier start, some good camo and who knows.

There are still a few buntings around, but frustrating to get full frame shots, so these are all crops.

The linnets were a bonus.  I just wish the site was a bit nearer to allow me to get a feeding station running.

Talking of camo I have taken quite a lot of shots in full view, but lying down, for example at my woodland puddles, and a bit of patience can bring surprisingly close views.  However I have felt that softening the outline further might help, leading to the purchase of a ghillie suit.  If you have ever seen one you would realise that it is quite easy to feel a prat in one!  I put on the hood and jacket when snapping the linnets, lying on the ground.  I didn't have time to move the camera when I saw a bird glide effortlessly along the hedge bottom.  It landed no more than 8 feet from my head and spent the next couple of minutes looking round, and at times having a good peer straight at me.  No alarm though.  If I can fool a sparrowhawk maybe it really does work.

In the briar patch

Although I enjoyed the lovely weather last weekend I didn't manage to get out with the camera, so apologies for the fact that some of the following were taken on grey days shooting into the light - never the best combination!  My puddles have been found by some 'wildlife photographers' whose idea of the art is to chop down to ground level all the reedmace and sedges that provided the shelter, and the tangled buddleia that the birds would work down to the pools.  Add in the horse jumps they created as camera rests and you have an idyllic micro-habitat ruined, at least in my eyes.
So I have been to some pastures new(ish), and have found much of my time spent amongst brambles or in thickets ................
Blue tit

Robin

Dunnock

Yellowhammer

Corn bunting (one day I will get a shot with the sun behind me!)

Great tit

and to close a stray wagtail that wandered onto the scene, and a crow.

 

The irony - only a few miles from home (and 61 million seconds)

In a recent post about my trip to David Whistlecraft's photo hide I called crossbills a bogey bird.  My views had been mainly in Scotland, and always in the high treetops, so whilst I was realistic about the chances I did hope to finally see them more closely in Norfolk.  Not to be, though.

After driving all that way it came as a true delight then just 8 days later to have 3 appear in front of my lens at my old favourite woodland puddles.  When I first went to the puddles crossbills and hawfinch were the hoped for species.  Hawfinch I saw in year 1, but it's taken 708 days, 16992 hours, 61 million seconds (don't you love websites) for the crossbills to appear.

 I think they are cracking birds, although Kay was less impressed - "Is that it?"

 As always the light was a bit awkward, but it's a start.

 This is a quite heavy crop, but it looks good enough on the web.

More views in the woodland puddles album HERE.  Now 24 species snapped and one which evaded the memory cards (a group of young crows).

Norfolk coast

The woodland hide was great, but the day before I had a few hours to kill in the afternoon.  I went to see the snow buntings at Salthouse, and found a range of waders at the beach car park which seemed quite habituated to people, coming in to feed on bird seed.  Redshank, turnstone, knot.  I also got my first half decent shots of teal, a species I often find quite shy.

The snow buntings took a while to arrive, but when they did I was taken aback by the large size of the flock, tens of birds at least.  They were mainly feeding on a grassy bank - convenient for some eye level shots from the car, although I could really have done with some pruning time.  The range of colour variation was clear as you looked at the flock.

The sun took a while to appear, and then I was torn as  to whether to stay at Salthouse or have a look at another spot David had steered me towards.  In the end the option of exploring further won out and I headed further up the coast to take pictures of ....... horses? 

 

Look in the background to the left!  There were several barn owls out hunting in the late afternoon, something we never see before late dusk down here.  Sadly they didn't come too close, but still lovely to watch.

 More views and better detail in the web alums here.