Farewell Shorties

It has been a good winter for observing and photographing short eared owls. There seem to have been good numbers throughout the country and Lancashire has seen reasonable numbers. These sightings presumably have been linked to a good supply of voles which constitute the main food item of these wonderful birds.

West and South Lancashire has fared best but few have been seen in the Pilling area of North Lancashire which three winters ago hosted good numbers and photographers flocked to the area to record the event.I have joined in this winter's invasion visiting sites on the mosslands of south and west Lancashire where on the right day the shorties have performed well for the camera.

I made what will probably be my last visit at the end of last month and enjoyed a wonderful display as the owls enjoyed perfect hunting conditions with little or no wind and a warm and very welcome afternoon of Spring sunshine. Mike and I had first visited Marshside RSPB as mentioned in a previous post. From there we travelled further south as we had heard that barn owls had been showing well but were nicely surprised to find the short eared owls instead.I have shown a selection of many images taken that day and these will probably be the last of the shortie shots as they will soon be returning to their breeding haunts on the moorlands of Northern England.

Hope you enjoy my selection and I look forward to more memorable sessions photographing these fabulous birds in seasons to come.Thanks for looking and next time I will be posting an account of time spent recently with great crested grebes when I was fortunate to obtain images of the famous weed dance .

Marshside Reflections

I am not quite ready to post the owl shots as promised in my last blog. A lot of images to choose from and a little work required before they are ready for blogging. In the meantime a few images from a recent visit to Marshside RSPB when the calm conditions and the presence of hundreds of wildfowl provided some nice photographic opportunities.

Mike and I were on our way further south to look for owls but spent time in Nel's hide watching the comings and goings of the many hundreds of wildfowl. The calm conditions and closeness of some of the birds gave me some nice opportunities for reflection shots. I was reasonably pleased with the results and have posted some of the results above.

Mike and I later went looking for barn owls but instead we found a number of short eared owls hunting an area where they have now been present for many weeks.I don't think they will be around for very much longer so I took full advantage of this opportunity.I am still processing the images but will post some very soon. Thanks again for looking in and have a nice weekend.

Elusive Birds

As mentioned in my previous post I had excellent views of bittern and water rail on my recent visits to Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve. Neither of these birds is easy to see and even more difficult to photograph. I struck lucky however and managed some excellent images of both these birds.

I have already posted some images of the bittern but make no apologies for showing a few more together with a couple of the water rail. It has been an excellent week for photography with better weather and these normally very shy and elusive birds performing well for the camera. Opportunities like this don't come along very often so I hope my readers enjoy looking at a few more bittern images.

My next posting will possibly be another one showing yet more short eared owl shots taken at the end of last month.These birds will not be around much longer and I was pleased to see them hunting in excellent conditions and obtained some nice images for the portfolio. Watch this space and thanks very much for looking.

Out Of Hiding

I returned to Mere Sands Wood this week hoping for better views of the bitterns that have been residing there for a number of weeks. The bitterns have at times been elusive but at other times have showed well to the assembled watchers and photographers.I have made four visits and have not had good views until this week.

On a previous visit my camera had packed in and I had to return early. Fortunately the lens was still ok but there appeared to be some problem with the shutter mechanism and the camera has had to go away for repairs. I am lucky enough to have another camera body and so I returned to Mere Sands Wood hoping for a chance at some decent shots of the bittern.

The Rufford hide was still busy with hopeful photographers but prior to my arrival one of the two bitterns present had departed to a nearby area and was not visible. The other bittern was in it's usual place close to the hide but well concealed in dense cover. It did show briefly and I got some nice portraits in the very nice afternoon sunshine. I spotted the other bittern returning to the area where it has previously shown well. All the big lenses were now trained on the bird as it made it's way slowly down to the water's edge and began to come nearer to the hide.

There was much excitement in the hide as the rapid fire of camera shutters followed the bittern's progress towards us. It gave some lovely views to all present as it picked it's way across the open area and once more vanished into the reeds. It had been a wonderful experience to watch this normally very elusive bird show off the wonderful markings of it's plumage which conceal it so very well in it's reedbed habitat.

Some of the many images I took are shown above and more will be posted later together with shots of a water rail ,another elusive bird which also showed well on a different part of the reserve.I hope my readers enjoy the account and images of the bittern which finally came out of hiding to delight those fortunate to be present on a lovely day in early spring. Thanks for looking.

Hide and Seek

As promised in my last post this one will be about the bittern that Paul and I had gone to see earlier in the week at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve. The bitterns ,two in number, had been showing well the previous afternoon but during our visit only one bird was on view. I say on view but it was extremely difficult to see the bird as it skulked in the reed bed.

The Rufford Hide was busy with birdwatchers and photographers all hoping for a sighting of the elusive bittern.Everyone struggled to find the bird and if you looked away it was extremely difficult to spot it again.Paul and I stayed for a couple of hours or so and we did manage to get a few shots of the bird. In all the reedbed shots above there is in fact a bittern lurking.It shows what wonderful camouflage the bittern has and when it extends it's neck and points it's bill skywards it is almost invisible.

In some of the images above the bittern is fairly obvious but in others your eyesight will be tested to see the bird. I have also shown a couple of images of goosanders ,a party of which were patrolling the lakes,a male with his colourful plumage and the female with her nice hairdo.Hope you enjoy the images and marvel at the fantastic cryptic plumage of the bittern. Thanks for looking.

Try and Try and Try Again

There follows an interesting account of a recent sighting at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve. Paul and I visited the reserve this week to see if we could catch up with the two bitterns that had been showing well in front of the Rufford Hide.We did eventually see and photograph the bittern but that will be the subject of my next blog.

Whilst waiting for the bittern to show we were entertained by the antics of a young heron which was fishing close to where the bittern was hiding in the reeds.It suddenly caught a large bream which was to be quite a beakfull for the young bird to handle. For the next half hour or so the heron struggled to swallow the large fish.It made numerous attempts to get the fish down it's throat but it just wouldn't go.It tried every angle but in the end gave up and left the fish for another predator to find.I like to think the bittern may eventually have found the bream and with it's larger bill and throat would probably not had much difficulty in swallowing the fish.

The antics of the heron did of course provide numerous opportunities for some great action shots some of which I have posted above.It was an entertaining half hour or so and later we did managed some shots of one of the bitterns which all the time hardly moved from it's spot in the reedbed. Hope you enjoy my account of this encounter with the heron and bream and as promised my next post will feature the lack of action shots of the bittern, as it spent it's time hiding in the reedbed. Thanks for looking in and hope you enjoy the images above.

Up Close....Sanderling.

Prior to last week's visit to see the barn owls, Martin,Dave and myself had spent time at Rossall Point,Fleetwood watching the high tide wader roost.It was a pleasant day cold but bright and was ideal for some close up work with the roosting sanderling. The sanderling which gather at Rossall Point on a high tide are very confiding and allow a close approach with the camera gear.

We all three had a great time and at times the sanderling came too close for focusing with the big lenses.Dave was trying out a new low level support for his camera which allowed eye level contact with the birds.Both Martin and I were also able to shoot from a low level and get some intimate portraits of these beautiful little waders.

Sanderling are one of my very favourite birds and I am looking forward to returning in a month or so when the birds will be moulting into their colourful breeding plumage prior to their departure to their High Arctic breeding grounds. A few images from hundreds I took are shown above for your enjoyment.