North West to World's End?

Friday night. That's usually the time of the week when I finally make up my mind about where to head on the weekend. And so it was this weekend, when the shots seen during the week of a lone Dartford Warbler in Wales, persuaded me to plan a trip that way.

Had it been the only bird that way , I might not have bothered, but pics from a friend (Carl) of black necked grebes not million miles away, tempted me to get up very early (for a Saturday) and blast up the M6. I hate the motorway with a passion, but at weekends, when I'm not going for a company meeting, it seems almost pleasant. Using Google's Street View, I'd worked out where to go, and before 9am I was stood, lake-side, scanning the water for the grebes.

Didn't look promising at first, but once my sleepy brain had remembered that the grebes were smaller than coots, I managed to spot a couple... and then 3 more.

Ideal conditions for pics, no. Not for the first 2 hours or so, and stood being piddled on, beside a breezy lake when I could have been at home having a lie in, did make me question my sanity.

Once the sun appear, my decision was justified, though the light was still harsh. Almost satanic-looking birds, with the ruby-red eyes and flame-like facial feathers. They did look fabulous against the green reflections on the water. Aside from diving for tiddlers, they seemed pretty content with picking off flies from the surface. All in all, there were 2 pairs, plus a loner, which was still not quite in summer colours. Clouds rolling in once more, I decided to head over to World's End, in a remote spot not far from Wrexham, though the road getting there reminded me of those from the moors near Aviemore. Could be a spot worth exploring more, on a full day.

Using instructions from Carl and Dave (cheers!), I eventually found the right area, and clocked the Dartford warbler, posing right in front of Carl! Deserved, as he'd been waiting for a couple of hours for it, and I had to advise him to delete his pics, when he showed them to me shortly afterwards. What are friends for?

Didn't have to wait long for seeing the bird close up, and what followed was a couple of hours of watching and waiting, and then snapping furiously, as the proud warbler zipped around his territory, singing away from whatever lofty perch he could find. Back in 2009, I must have spent about 20 hours walking around the moors near Minehead, tracking down the Dartfords, hoping for a shot, and managed a few in the end. This seemed too easy, but hell, I wasn't complaining. In full breeding plumage too.

Eventually though, time was ticking on, and I knew I'd got the shots I was after. Would have been nice to spend a day there, but the breeze was drying my eyes out, and yet again I looked vampiric, so home seemed the sensible option.

That just posed the problem of condensing 900+ photos down to a handful for airing online...

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Stuck in Manchester most of the week on business, I was monitoring friends' movements from their blogs with envy, with Max's shots of the lesser spotted woodpecker really rubbing my nose in it.

Hence, as soon as I was back and able to, I shot over to the same spot and sat in wait of it... Would it come out as it had been doing? It seemed rather strange, as commented by another hopeful tog in the hide, that waiting for a woodpecker to appear in a reedbed was very unusual!

After a couple of hours, of watching a pair of wrens potter around, and three gadwells chasing each other on the pool, I was left alone to continue my vigil. It took another 90 minutes before I heard a strange sound from the edge of the reeds and there it was, pecking furiously at the stem of a bullrush.

Tiny! What a tiny little woodpecker. Ok, I've seen them before, but against a tree it's difficult gauge size, but here on this thin stem, it showed how very small they are. A male, with a vibrant red crown.

Just a shame the light was so poor, but I wasn't complaining after the wait - I was just chuffed to see it.

When a reed bunting landed behind it, you could see the minimal size difference, with the lesser spotted woody being only marginally larger.

I waited for another hour after it had flown away, but the light got worse and despite the recent warm weather, the return to winter-temperatures encouraged me back home again.

Wonderful Woodlands

Since the demise of my fotopic sites, I've been spending any available time in front of my PC, working on the new website. I've managed to add more galleries into the birds menu, plus additional pages for About, News, Guestbook and Links. Hence I've been seemingly slacking in the Blog upkeep. With work being so manic at the moment, any chance I get to go out and forget about that, I take, and I have headed into the woods lately, to see what I could find! No bears I'm afraid, but I have stumbled on other gems.

Twice now, I have wandered around the Wyre Forest, starting at Dry Mill Lane's car park, and strolling along the path towards Lodge Hill Farm, and beyond. I had hoped to see crossbills, but alas they failed to show for me. Buzzards a plenty though, and once I'd slid my way down to Dowles Brook, I spotted a dipper on some rocks downstream. Approaching quietly is almost impossible when the banks are strewn with dried ferns and you become entangled in brambles, but I seemed to be getting close enough for a shot, when I hear "BLIMEY, IT'S REALLY MUDDY HERE!!!!" shouted from a mountain biker, as though he was trying to communicate with someone half a mile away, instead of his mate, who was about half a yard back.

Needless to say the dipper flew off. Brilliant. After pulling various thorns from my legs, I followed, but it had gone. I had time on my side though, as I had been up very early, so opted to remain in the area, and it paid eventual dividends, when a pair of dippers flew back, and this time, without any foghorn-leghorn cyclists nearby, I managed to get some shots. Ok, so the setting isn't quite the mossy falls of the Dales, but lovely to see, and now I know where I can find them, I ought to be able to get better shots soon. Also around the woods were siskins, redpolls, woodpeckers and very distant, a hawfinch. Another woodland area I love to explore is a Worcestershire Wildlife Trust reserve, called the Knapp and Papermill. If you've never been, you're missing out. The orchard area beside the river is great for woodland birds, such as tits and finches, plus wagtails and apparently kingfishers, though I'm yet to see one there. I did see though, and a close quarters, a treecreeper, scurrying up trunks, and under and along branches, as they normally do.

However this one did something I've never seen before - it flew off the tree, and caught insects mid-flight, over the river. Maybe it's been watching flycatchers? Impossible to photograph, but fascinating to observe.

Last but by no means least, is Whitacre Heath. The feeder hide in the middle of the woods is a fantastic spot for woodland birds, especially in the winter, where the food on offer brings them in by the dozen. Here I managed to bag shots of redpolls, siskins, goldfinches, marsh and willow tits, plus a few shots of more common characters, like blue tits, after I spotted a shortage of decent images on my new website.

Amongst the lesser redpolls were a couple of mealy ones, which despite their size advantage over the lessers, were chased off the feeders by them frequently!

The highlight of the woodland session though, came out of the gloom like a bolt. I'd had to use just the 500mm lens without the TC, as the light was poor, but my goodness was I pleased with that move, when a sparrowhawk attacked, missed and then (at last for me) perched up nearby! Had I been using 700mm, he'd not have fitted in the shot, but at 500mm, it was full frame and glorious. He even stared right down my lens before flying off.

What a fabulous bird!

Website Woes

A short post regarding my websites, or lack of them as it would appear. Fotopic seems to have vanished, and I can't see any definitive information about what is going on anywhere online.

As such, my Birds, Wildlife, and 2 other galleries I maintain have gone, hopefully only temporarily. I'm not best pleased, given the number of images involved, not to mention information about where pics were taken etc.

Anyway, I'm not completely at a loss, as recently I set up a Flickr account, and have a lot of images over on there. It will be here that I add most shots of birds and wildlife that I photograph on a regular basis, and it will complement the small selection of shots that feature on here.

And, even more recently, I got my act together and sorted a proper website (www.petewalkden.co.uk), albeit in its infancy at the moment. This website showcases my best work; images I am really pleased with and also ones that folks could purchase, as I know the quality of the images are up to that task.

I'll be adding content to this personal website over time, and including more features and information.

Both these websites can be accessed from the Links Section on this Blog.

Thanks for your ongoing interest!


Cheers,

Pete.

Playing The Game

As a rule of thumb, for weather forecasts I tend to check the various websites about 5 days before any time off (weekends and something called a "day off", which is apparently not possible for me at the moment, according to the boss, although he can take time off...), because I find the accuracy to be better than the forecasts made the day before. Based on this method, I'd worked out that the weekend wasn't going to be anything special, so decided to stay local.

This was possibly a bad move, as most people I know in the world of Bird Photography were heading to Lincolnshire for the short-eared owls, and this could have extremely annoying consequences if they all bagged wonderful shots. Still, I had managed a fair few recently, in good light, and wanted something else instead.

Getting Dad out of the house with the poor weather recently has been a challenge, but a couple of weeks back, he got out after I'd convinced him he ought to try somewhere new, and proudly showed me a few shots of treecreepers, goldcrests and best of all, red legged partridges, from a woodland in Warwickshire. Green-eye syndrome flared up, and hence I set off there, in the hope of getting some myself.

It wasn't a promising start, as it was pouring with rain when I left the house, and had barely eased by the time I parked up. By then, I'd experienced the usual with a perched up buzzard. See it whilst driving. Find somewhere to turn around. Park up nearby. Slowly get the camera ready and window open... and off it flies. I could scream at times...

Buzzard frustration aside, the sun did eventually come out, and after a couple of hours, the partridges also pottered out of the woods. Amusing characters, how they scuttle around, and they're fast when they need to be. You almost expect to hear them utter "meep meep" as they hurtle off.

Also around were treecreepers, pheasants, a goldcrest, masses of chaffinches, but no brambling alas, woodpeckers and a couple of siskin, though they never came out of the shadows.

Of course the problem with woodland is the gloom, and birds have a habit of not appearing when the sun does, so I had to drop back to a mere 500mm, to get better speed for the shots. Some birds strayed too close at times, and I realised how much I miss not having a 2nd camera, with the 100-400mm attached. Should be back from repair this week though, the 40D. It got soaked at RAF Cosford last summer, and has gradually been failing since. New circuit board required. Ouch. Add that to the failed shutter mechanism, and the 40D has cost me a small fortune. It's a good camera though, when it works!

The icy wind finally got the better of me, and the heated seat of the car was most welcome on the drive home.

With a gig on Sunday night, I avoided the long trip up north, and as it turned out, it was a wise move. My friends waited all afternoon for the owls to show, but they failed to appear. A timely reminder that nothing in bird photography is guaranteed!

Short-Eared Magic

At last, a weekend with a day of good weather forecast, though when I arrived in North Lincolnshire to find it shrouded in mist and drizzle, I have to admit to have uttered a few expletives. A new area for me though, and one that promised good things.

Initially I checked out the marshes where I'd be heading later in the day, and was pleased to spot a pair of short-eared owls performing some aerial acrobatics, albeit somewhat far off. And later, I spotted a marsh harrier heading by.

Nearby was the reserve Far Ings, and this location seems to pay dividends to locals, who bag wonderful shots of bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits, plus occasionally the likes of a passing osprey. Sadly the weather dampened down anything that might have shone that morning, and my timing seemed out, as I arrived in the main hide to find I'd just missed a passing bittern (and later discovered after I'd left, I missed a merlin!).

Such is bird photography. The weather seemed to be brightening up a bit, and Stuart had now joined me for the remainder of the day, and hopefully the main event.

Readers of this blog know how much I adore owls, and any chance / excuse I have to photograph them, I try to take. Some of the very best short-eared owl shots I've ever seen had come from this spot, so I hoped my luck would change. The weather had certainly changed, and the sun was now out, with a light but rather chilly breeze.

After seeing the owls performing at the other end of the area from where we'd set up, we opted to wander down the road to both get a bit closer and also try to warm up a bit. Annoyingly, the owls refused to come closer, and the only chance for a decent shot when a lone bird flew over from behind us, left me cursing my camera when it wouldn't lock on. Stuart bagged some lovely shots.

As the light was fading and our cars were at the other end of the road, we wandered back towards the area we'd been originally stood, and it soon dawned on us that the gathered crowd had something rather special nearby. Unbelievably, a short-eared owl was perched only a few yards away from everyone, and didn't seem to be bothered by the excited photographers one little bit.

Needless to say we took advantage and joined in, getting shots from the other side of the road - I had to back off to fit the bird in the frame, and switch to portrait to compose the image.

What a stunning, gorgeous bird. Those eyes...

The slightest movement of the owl brought on a wave of shutter clicks, but it just sat there. Eventually, after a bit of a preen, scratch and ruffle, it moved away and down into the undergrowth, leaving everyone with huge grins and images of an unforgettable day.

Worth the 300 mile round trip? Oh yes!

Bits & Bobs, and a new Diver

Last weekend was rather bitty. Saturday I trundled over to see if I could see Little Grump, and did, when a passing car spooked it out of its hiding place and into the open, but the dreadful light meant shots weren't anything to write home about. The same could be said about a male kestrel I spotted nearby, but the image turned out okay in the end.

A brief spell at the Moors Pools later yielded little, aside from the usual, though I was pleased to see a fieldfare guarding the apples on the path again. Perhaps one to try for on a brighter day.

Sunday started with a browse through pics on various websites and resulted in me heading to Clayhanger Marsh, the spot where I saw a hoopoe last year. This time it was for a black-throated diver that had been seen on one of the pools up there.

After getting local info as to how to find the lake (handy!) I wandered down to the bank and set up, setting the camera up using a passing mallard. Good thing I did, as seconds later, the diver surfaced virtually right in front of me! Needless to say I grabbed a few shots - what luck!

The diver then glided behind an island in the lake, and along with some birders who'd joined me by now, we guessed that it would appear around the other side, so moved over to wait for it. Another wise move as it appeared pretty close again.

Disappearing beneath the surface, it reappeared in a small hole in the ice at the edge of the pool. Rather than dive under again, it seemed to panic somewhat, and flap / slide / scuttle across the ice back to the open water again, which was amusing to observe.

After a bit of a preen, it headed out into deeper waters, and I didn't take another shot. By then though, I'd already fired off 230 pics! Enough I thought, and opted to head 10 miles north, to Cannock Chase.

The cloud seemed to follow me, and despite there being sunshine back home, I had to endure gloomy conditions at the feeding site, but still bagged shots of great, willow and coal tits, nuthatches and a female bullfinch.

Not a bad end to the day, and enough images to keep me amused during the dark evenings of the following working week.