Peregrine

I have been watching these Peregrine Falcons for a couple of weeks and managed to capture these flight shots. My apologies for the grain in the images but once again they were a fair distance and had to be heavily cropped. Their is a nest with three chicks on the verge of fledging ( if not already fledged) but I decided just to look at them through my scope as you need a license to photograph them. No location given as Peregrine nest sites are protected. As most of you will know they are persecuted by illegal Falconers, who let the parents do all the work in their rearing and then snatch the chicks just before fledging to sell or rear for their own use. Please click on the images to enlarge

Struggle Harder To Blog

A day off today so I took a trip down through Kenidjack Valley, I live in Tregeseal Valley so its an easy excursion for me. My photography fell apart today, some days it is a struggle to produce something descent to blog.
Have you noticed how rough the plumage of the birds have become as they come to the end of their breeding season . I guess they will soon hide and go into moult. My kids have fledged the nest, then one came back, my plumage is in a hell of state and beyond repair.
The butterfly is a Small Heath ( I hope) then a Reed Warbler, followed by a Juvenile Blackbird, and finally a White throat.
The Lens I used on the Blackbird,Reed Warbler and white throat was my 18 to 200 zoom. Please click opn the image to enlarge

Pendeen Lighthouse

Two hours at Pendeen Lighthouse on Friday evening produced some acceptable Gannet shots but the core subject of this post are the Manx Shearwaters and Auks,( Guillemots and Razorbills). The distance for effective photography of the Manx Shearwaters and Auks was to far but the Manx is an important Migratory species and Pendeen is a key location for the coming seabird watching. Click on the image to enlarge

Moorland Birds and the Cuckoo

It has been a few days since I my last post, its that gardening time of year and that is exactly where Ive been, in the garden. However I managed a couple of evenings out on the local moors and got more shots of a Willow Warbler, a female Stone Chat,good photo's of a Lark and a couple of interesting record shots of a cuckoo being harassed by a Meadow Pipit. I guess the Meadow Pipit has got wise to the Cuckoo' intentions and according to the experts that is one of the reason's for the decline of the Cuckoo in the UK in recent years.The Cuckoo was to far away for good photography but I had to try and grab the moment as walkers were approaching, and they were closer than me. Click on th images to enlarge

Female Stone chat

Skylark

Cuckoo

Willow Warbler Versus Chiff Chaff

The first image is of a Chiff Chaff, and I do experience difficulty in Identifying the Willow Warbler from the Chiff Chaff unless I hear the song. Hopefully this post will help those of you who struggle as I do in differentiating between the two species.As you will see in the Chiff Chaff, has dark legs and the faded eye stripe and then compare it with the Willow Warbler images.

The following are two images of the Willow Warbler working hard to feed the chicks. . The three main differences are the song, the leg colour and the accentuated eye stripe of the Willow Warbler.As you can see the sun in the second image has illuminated the the legs of the Willow Warbler showing well their colour.

Juveniles

Its that Juvenile time of year when the chicks are fledging the nest

Juv Gold Finch
Juv Great Tit
Juv Greenfinch

Is it a Bird Or Is It A Plane

Sorry no wildlife but a visit to The Royal Cornwall Agricultural Show.

The photograph is of The American stuntman Dave " The Human Cannonball" Smith, and it is a flight shot. He is from Seattle and is the world record holder for the longest distance a human cannon ball has been fired, Like over the Grand Canyon!

Down in The Valley

Five images again from Kenidjack Valley, the Damsel Fly is a female Beautiful Demoiselle, and the butterflies are a small white and a Large Skipper . Please click on the image to enlarge.