A classic ..........

............ pose for a male Reed Bunting in early Spring, high and handsome establishing its territory and singing to make potential mates aware of its presence ........ Spring has arrived and so has an early trickle of summer migrants arriving back in the country to lift our seasonal experience, fantastic.

Linnets

Out and about last weekend I came across a small number of Linnets in a mixed flock with Reed Buntings and Goldfinches.

With over half a million pairs in the United Kingdom they are considered common but nervous birds and difficult to approach thus surprisingly difficult to see and photograph. I doubt that I would have got these fairly close quarter images if I had not been in a hide.

They make a handsome couple though.

                                                                       Male

                                                                     Female

A brightly illuminated Cock Greenfinch ......

This image is as taken, full frame, not re-touched and looks exceptionally colourful due to the intensity of the spring sunshine.

The bird was only about fifteen feet away from the hide, it's close proximity, spring breeding plumage and very strong light have accentuated it's already stunning yellow / green hue.

Who says we don't have spectacular looking birds in the UK ?.

I think that the practice I am putting into '' in flight '' shots at Titchmarsh LNR is starting to pay off.

Following the Great Spotted Woodpecker image yesterday from Titchmarsh LNR here is a Cock Chaffinch in the same excellent light - 1/2000 sec exposure.

Of course, its a set up. 

To the right , just out of frame is a seed feeder and chaffinches are not very good at perching on these food containers so they tend to hover for a while before trying to settle.

Time spent observing is part of my approach to bird photography, having seen this activity it allowed me to pre-focus on the feeder and then move the target area slightly to the left, then a bit of patience and concentration is required until the subject presents allowing the opportunity to rattle off a few shots.

All in all a very satisfying experience.

Sometimes ..... just sometimes ......

....... conditions that can conspire against you relent and give you a break, it makes all of the time and effort that we invest in our hobby worth while.

At Titchmarsh LNR this afternoon the sky was cloudless, the spring sunshine was warm and mellow and the subject was fairly predictable allowing me to pre-focus on a spot that it was flying to on a regular basis.

I don't know how many times the shutter release on my D300s has actuated since I purchased it but the resultant image in this case is worthy of being up there with the best that, as an amateur, I have achieved.

I am away tomorrow so I couldn't resist posting this image today, love it !.

A dual nationality Duck .......

The United Kingdom has its own resident population of Shelduck which is swelled in winter by large numbers of European migrants.

Very attractive ducks the male is easy to identify in spring due to the red knob at the base of its bill and it is slightly larger than the female, otherwise the sexes are similar.

A versatile feeder it upends in deeper water to reach submerged food and is also a siever when found on mudflats.

All in all very smart ducks.

ISO test .... Nikon 300s + F4 300mm.

Well after sunset, ISO 3200, Barn Owl flying away, fairly crisp image ........ maybe next time I will get  the bird flying towards me !. ...... 

F2.8 lenses are really the best for this sort of low light photography.

The thing with Barn Owl photography is that there are no guarantees when they will come out or where but rewarding if you can get it right ..... which I didn't quite manage this time.. 

Alert to competition

In recent weeks I have spent a lot of time photographing and observing Nuthatches at my feeding station near Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire.

On occasions I have had five Nuthatches in view at the same time.

This image is typical of a pose that I have seen often, when coming down to feed the Nuthatches view the surrounding trees to check out for the presence of competitive Nuthatches.

When two Nuthatches visit at the same time they do try to chase each other off and frequently have quite energetic battles.

Elegant on the wing

Little Egrets are common at my local reserve, I recently saw five flying together at the same time in a loose formation in transit between the gravel pits. 

With their relatively slow wing beats they are probably more graceful in the air than on the ground.

Pochard, not totally a winter migrant ......

........ because in excess of five hundred pairs do nest and breed in the United Kingdom, first noted in our Isles around 1800 A.D.

Most of the 85,000 plus migrants to the UK in winter come from Northern and Central Europe and central Russia.

Our maritime climate makes us a really attractive place to stay in winter for birds from their frozen home territories.

Certainly a bonus bird for the gravel pits at my local reserve.

A very welcome winter migrant ....... Goosander.

Titchmarsh LNR is hosting a number of these long bodied sawbill ducks, its difficult to do too an accurate head count because of their mobility but I feel that there are at least eight males and 12 females on the reserve at the moment.

And what a strikingly handsome bird the Drake is with its black and white body, pinkish hued winter flanks and dark green head.

Its only when you have opportunity to view them at length the meaning of ''long bodied ' is truly apparent compared to other Duck species.

Kes .........

This electricity pylon is a favourite perch for the Kestrels on the reserve, this particular bird always uses the same angle of the structure to rest and scan the surrounding rough grassland for prey.

In the nearby vicinity are a couple of old nest boxes that they have used for breeding in the past.