Merry Christmas From Santa and Rudolph

I have been conspicuous by my absence lately and hopefully will get back into my photography soon, to all my followers and fellow bloggers have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photograph Group

Today I attended a field meeting with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photographic Group, I didn't have a lot of success but I put that down to too much chatting. Here are a couple of shots of a Kestrel and shot of some of the group,also spot the Ring Necked Duck

More images from Hayle ( Dunlin And Grey Plover

All common but good tosee and photograph. Dunlin and Grey Plover.

Pale Bellied Brent Geese

Me and my son Simon went to Hayle this afternoon and captured these Pale Bellied Brent Geese at Carnsew Basin at Hayle.

Cranes On The Horizon

Lisa and I went down to the Lizard peninsula today in hope of connecting with the visiting six Cranes. I had heard that  Steve Rogers (SW Optics) was also on the hunt for them so I phoned him from Lisa' mobile and his directions was spot on. He said they had flown and he was tracking them around the Kennack Sands area. I stayed around the original location and within twenty minutes they had returned. We viewed them from the road that ran by Little Trethvas farm towards Cadgwith and on to Grade, I would say around 300 to 400 metres past Little Trethvas and they are located in  maize stubble (corn on the cob) on the right hand side. Photography was difficult as I was fighting the light, basically shooting into the sun and they were distant, the 800mm lens helped immensely.

Bufflehead

Work has seriously clipped my wings and confined me to weekend birding, today I managed to connect with the female juvenile Bufflehead at Loe Bar. First found by George Jefferys on the Lizard peninsular and allowed some wonderful photographic moments for Steve Rogers and all. Unfortunately for me the Bufflehead confined itself to mostly the mid-water section of Loe Pool viewed from Degibna, so the distance was significant, it was mobile and elusive but I managed to grab a couple of reasonable record shots.I have also included a couple of shots of Northern Shoveler duck who were far more confiding.With all these American species visiting our county my Daughter in Law must be happy as she was born in America, to an American Mother and a Cornish father.

Great White Egret

I had a couple of much appreciated phone calls today with news of a Great White Egret arrival at Marazion. I arrived only to see the bird fly into the reeds. John Chapel who saw the Egret fly in marked its landing place in the reeds, so we all lined up and played the waiting game. Within half an hour it flew up out of the reeds and went west.

Yellow Browed Warbler

The first of the Yellow Browed Warblers have started to migrate through with two found in Cot Valley today and one in Kenidjack. Here are a few images of  the individual located at the bottom end of Cot Vally. I captured these around 1730 this afternoon in poor light and foggy weather.

Glossy on a Gloomy Day

On what was a gloomy day with fine rain me an Lisa's very old Uncle went off to Stithians today to hopefully connect with the Glossy Ibis.We had Instant success from the Stuart Hutchens Hide only to be foiled by two dog walkers who flushed the Ibis, my understanding was you should stick to the footpath and not venture onto the reserve. We soon found the Glossy and had better views from the road although the chain link fence impeded photography.  The following images are record shots as the distance in poor weather and poor light was about 150 two 200 metres, we also saw the Pec Sand and an adult Med Gull.

Juvenile Rose Coloured Starling

This Juv Rosy Starling has been in St Just for over a week feeding on a bird table in a private front garden.

Raptors

Whilst out yesterday I photographed one of these Raptors soaring the thermals and looking for prey, some love these highly evolved creatures and others despise them. One of my favourite birds is the Peregrine Falcon, along with the Sparrowhawk with its supreme flying skills. The Peregrine is the fastest flying bird in the world and has been recorded in its stoop (or dive) at over two hundred miles per hour, in fact Frightful a captive bred Peregrine was clocked at 242 miles per hour  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/animals/birds-animals/birds-of-prey/falcon_peregrine_velocity.html

The reason for this blog is to highlight the plight of our Raptors, we recently have had incidents of intentional poisoning of our birds of prey under the pretence of saving our songbirds.In  Gloucester, Devon and in my home town we have experienced poisonings, birds such as the endangered Goshawks, Sparrowhawks and our Peregrines have suffered by the hands of these ill informed criminals. Deadly poisons have been used lacing dead pigeons with the poisons and leaving them in places, even public places endangering children. The fallacy of blaming our song bird decline on raptors is purely based on hear say and myth .  Check this link for the scientific facts                                                                                                                                                http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/birdsofprey_songbirds_tcm9-188711.pdf                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Convolvulus Hawk Moth

John Swann trapped and photographed this Convolvulus Hawk Moth today, when we wonder at bird migration this moth has made its way up from North Africa, amazing!!!

Nanquidno Valley

What seemed like the hottest day of the year  I went down to Nanquidno valley to try and catch up with the Hawfinch  unfortunately I had only fleeting views in the morning and nothing in the afternoon. John Chapel got me onto three Yellow Wagtails and we had great views of a Whinchat and Pied Flycatcher, also  two Redstarts push through but  were distant.

Pectoral Sandpiper At Tregiffian