Poor Old Fox

I photographed this fox yesterday, I guess I certainly got the eye glint in this image.

Sewage Treatment and Turdus

What a day I picked for photography, overcast and gloom. First stop was Chapel Carn Brea to find the Richards Pipit, no luck though, the weather was to windy on the hill for me so it was back to Tregeseal Valley and a look at the sewage works for overwintering Chiff Chaffs. Three Chiff Chaff were present along with Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Wren and Robin and in the field opposite the works there were several Redwing feeding, unfortunately they were nervous and distance. I had to push the ISO to 640 and 800 to achieve a mediocre shutter speed and the images were captured with the camera handheld. Also shooting through a chain link fence for the Wag and Chiff was a challenge

Red Wing ( Turdus illacus)

Long Tailed Tit

The Long Tailed Tit has been a bogey bird for me for some time, moving to quickly through the trees not allowing a good photo. However today the garden attracted in four LTT's having a quick feed on the peanuts and then off they flew. They certainly live life in the fast lane.

A Few More from the Garden

Not that I am to lazy to get out and about but it is that time of year. Lisa is now working as a Staff Nurse so its putting up the Christmas decorations for me.

Pineing, as I do for the camera and getting out in the countryside I set my gear up in the kitchen and occasionally took a few shots. THANKYOU FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND FOLLOWING THE BLOG IN THE PAST YEAR AND I WISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

More from the Garden

These following images are from Sunday Afternoon so the last three posts are photographs from Sunday 13 December.

We have numerous birds visiting the garden this time of year especially when the cold weather arrives. I am glad to see the Greater Spotted Woodpecker ( female)back in the garden, she is a difficult bird to photograph as they are very nervous. You may feel that the sharpness of the images are slightly off as they were all taken through our windows, apart from the male Blackcap, we have been fortunate enough to have two males and one female feeding in the garden. In the field behind our house a flock of Redwing have been feeding recently but I am yet to have one in the garden this winter.

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Odds and Ends from Sunday ( Little and a Little larger)

A few more images from Sunday, two of a Little Grebe and two of a Little Egret.

Gulls and Divers

Today Carbis Bay produced Divers and Common Gulls ( not so common and generally seen in the winter months). The White bait has turned up early in St Ives Bay and caused a feeding frenzy and according to the local godfather Carbis Bay was full of Auks, Gulls and good numbers of Divers. The Pacific Diver was there today showing fifty to a hundred metres or yards if you prefer, off shore and has been for a few days giving good views. I attempted a photograph but failed to nail a good shot, however I did manage with some success the Gulls. When the tide started to push I went around to Carnsew and photographed the 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull. A Purple Sandpiper was in amongst the numerous Dunlin but no sign of the P, Diver at Carnsew. Please click on the images to enlarge


Med Gull


GN Diver Med Gull 2nd Winter

Common Gull

Common Gull

Shag Head

Please click on the images to enlarge, its worth it to see the weird pupil.

Hayle Estuary

Sunshine at last, I had a day off today and went down to Hayle Estuary. No P Diver today, I guess rough weather and low tide is best. Dunlin crammed together on one of the small mud islands at Ryans Field. Grey Plover and Lapwing aplenty and an extremely obliging Shag at Carnsew . The estuary is buzzing with birds and with the impending cold weather we may get a few more species of duck.

Carnsew Basin

I went down to Carnsew for an hour today hoping to photograph the Pacific Diver, I know this is old news now but I would still like to get a couple of images for my own record. Three times I have been down, the first I missed it, the second I took the binoculars and not the camera and had good views. Today it was there on the opposite side to me and by the time I got around to its location and it had took off. I noticed that Matthew Sallis won the Birdguides photo of the week with his Carnsew P Diver image, with the quality he produces it was only a matter of time.

If you want to piss yourself off read Lee Evans UK 400 Club blog on the Ruddy Ducks annihilation.

Black Cap and Blue Cap

I have trawled up an image from my holiday back in September in the Canaries. The first is a Blue tit from the canaries ( Teneriffae) and the second is as you all know is out local species I photographed in the garden about eighteen months ago.

Female Black Cap

It has been a while since my last post I think the recent weather has driven me underground and there is more bad weather to come to come.

Today I managed to capture a couple of shots of a female Black Cap feeding on the Cotoneaster in the Garden.

Red Breasted Merganser At Penzance

Here is a couple of  average shots of the R B Merganser ( thanks John) at Penzance Yesterday just off Battery Rocks.
To far away for the 300mm.

Purple Sandpiper (Calidris Maritima) (Paarse Strandloper)

I have photographed this species before and as the local birders will know they overwinter year on year in Mounts Bay and their principle roost is close to Battery Rocks and the swimming pool and they feed on the small beach.

The Purple Sandpiper Breeds in the high arctic tundra with one or two breeding pairs in Scotland and are classed as amber status, in other words under threat, the site is kept secret to deter egg thieves. The location of their overwintering area in Penzance is the area that the Isles of Scilly steam ship company along with the local authority want to reclaim from the sea, back filling the area and creating a new docking and loading area for the Scillonian. I also saw within 50 metres from the shore a Red Breasted Merganser, one Razorbill,numerous Turnstones on the shore, feeding shags, Oyster Catchers and Curlew. All within one hour. The question is do we destroy important habitat for commerce, or should they look for an alternative site preserving this historic area and habitat for a species under threat.

Garden birds

I took a couple of photographs in the garden. In a previous blog a mentioned how the cotoneaster feeds the birds in the winter and as you can see the black bird is gladly helping herself. They are ravenous with several coming in dailey to feed.

Kenidjack Valley

Here is a couple of images from yesterday Sunday 15th November. We went for a walk down through kenidjack valley our local area and we saw the big four of the Raptor family again. Lisa captured these images of a Common Buzzard taking off from a rock face near the coastal end of the valley. I think a Buzzard is always worth a shot and these two are amongst the best we have taken so far.