Common or Ruddy Darter ? .... I think the latter due to its black legs

This hand held image was taken with my 300mm F4 + 1.4 Teleconverter at a distance of approximately three meters.

When disturbed this Dragonfly kept on returning to exactly the same position on the walkway and I liked the way that the texture of the wood was off-set by the hard, brightness and geometry of the chicken wire. 

p.s. - A friend tells me that it is indeed a Ruddy Darter.

Overhead Glider .........

Unusually for a Sparrowhawk, this bird was flying in a very leisurely manner with a couple of wing beats followed by longish glides, this allowed me to pick it out at quite a distance and hope that there was no change of direction.

I was tucked up into the edge of woodland wearing a dark green fleece, I'm not kidding myself into thinking that it did not see me so I suspect that my silhouette was sufficiently broken up not to represent a threat to this most secretive and suspicious of raptors. 

I have mentioned before that I wear a pair of green gloves when photographing birds, I am convinced  that they obscure the movement of my hands when raising the camera for the shot.

A pleasing image. Of late I seem to have been having more than my fair share of opportunities to photograph birds of prey !.

Old emerald eyes ..........

The gravel pits at Titchmarsh and Thrapston hold a large population of Cormorants.

On my last outing they were particularly active frequently flying from pit to pit, some times as many as  thirty +  birds in the air at the same time. 

You can not say a flock as their formation is very loose and detached, whilst they are strong flyers, on the wing I think that they look a bit ungainly.

Perhaps this is because they have a dual purpose design and construction to accommodate life in the air and also under water where they are certainly very aquadynamic.

In the right lighting conditions their plumage really come to life.

Nearly a happy chappie ........

Of the Hobby Family at Titchmarsh LNR as far as I can tell this juvenile is the only remaining bird, I think that the parents and the other two fledglings have already departed.

This bird is very active, feeding well off the Dragonfly stocks  and quite tolerant of my presence.

Hard birds to photograph due to their speed and aerobatic hunting flight I think this is probably one of the best images I have achieved, you can see a Dragonfly in its talons, apparently when they capture a Dragonfly the first thing they do is remove the wings to improve aerodynamics

This image makes all of the time spent observing these amazing aerial acrobats so worth while !. But I still need to get the memorable shot, the wall hanger ...... maybe next year.

Tremendous raptors, I will miss them when they finally leave the reserve until they hopefully return next year.

-

Lackford Lakes and Burwell, Suffolk and Cambs.

Lackford Lakes is a compact and very friendly reserve run by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust located in between Elveden and Bury St Edmonds. The numerous hides are well located and well managed overlooking a variety of habitats comprising of reed beds, scrapes and gravel pits.  

Our objective was to connect with Kingfishers and we were successful, otherwise the reserve was fairly quiet awaiting the arrival of winter migrants for which it is renowned.

Given the above we decided to relocate to Bakers Fen and Adventurers Fen, Burwell  which abuts Wicken Fen on its south western border. 

Just before we left whilst we were loading our kit into the car a very showy Chiffchaff was in a hedge no more than ten feet from us, the light quality was superb and really made the birds plumage shine.

Again, Burwells' Fens were fairly quiet, I'm afraid its that time of the year, Little Egrets, little Grebe and a Kingfisher was flitting about and fishing  in front of Charlies Hide.

Graham Barker ( https://www.youtube.com/user/gwafilms/videos ) will be posting a video of our trip shortly on his U-tube site. 

                                                                  Heavily cropped.

                                                                  Heavily cropped

Tomorrow .......

Three of us are off to Lackford Lakes between Elveden and BSE ( Bury St Edmonds ).

Lackford Lakes is a very  well run and friendly reserve in Suffolk run by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, it has a good mix of old Gravel Pits, scrapes and reed beds ..... it can be a good location for connecting with Kingfishers.

I say can because I have heard mixed reports from various contacts, I guess nothing can be Guaranteed in life !.

The weather forecast is overcast but warm, seven o'clock start so an early night for me !.

Quite a challenge .......

I believe this is a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly and I can tell you that Dragonflies are very challenging subjects to photograph on the wing as they flit around, the light was not great and light quality is such a important factor contributing to good photography.

I was at the reserve today in the hope of connecting with the Hobby's but sadly they were not very active so to while away the time I decided to focus on their prey.

I plan to take these on as a bit of a project to improve on this image although it is getting  late in the season., but certainly next year, as Dragonflies nicely fill the gap between summer and winter bird migrants.

I guess no matter how quiet things seem to be there is always a new opportunity  to pursue, you learn every time you go out, that's the lovely thing about wildlife photography ....... a regular and very friendly dog walker and his good lady wife on the reserve shouted  across in a very jocular  manner ..... '' haven 't you got a home to go to '' ......... I understand the sentiment and it made me smile  ..... but observation is key to success otherwise you just go for a walk and see nothing.

One from Cannop Ponds, The Forest of Dean, earlier in the year - Mandarin Duck.

Cannop Ponds near Parkend village in the Forest of Dean has long enjoyed a reputation for attracting these imperial looking and colourful ducks, probably because the ponds, which are served by a slow flowing stream, are surrounded by Rhododendron and ancient deciduous Forest, an important factor for a duck that nests in holes in trees.

Its interesting to note that the current UK population is possibly greater than that of Japan with which its name is associated.

With an omnivorous diet, in autumn it is often found on the ground under oak trees eating acorns and snails.

What a visual impact this drake has.

Handsome Chap

I had a Dental appointment at Oundle mid-morning today so as I was in the area I thought I would drop in at Barnwell Country Park.

To describe the weather, '' Indian summer '' comes to mind, sunny and warm with the end of September fast approaching.  As is the case at Titchmarsh LNR, Barnwell is really between seasons bird wise awaiting the arrival of winter migrants. 

It is a nice little reserve offering quite a variety of habitats in a fairly small area, I heard a Cetti's calling but nothing else of great note apart from the usual Country Park suspects, Red Kites were drifting around as is their wont.

For birding I suspect that this reserve is at its best in winter, less people, leaves fallen and a warm winter sun on your back.

                             In this image you can see the woodland reflected  in the lens of the birds eye.

         

          Our old friend the Cock Pheasant ......  An under rated stunner. 

The best laid plans of mice and men !

Yesterday, Sunday, was overcast with bad light quality making photography nigh on impossible.

This is a real shame because the Titchmarsh Hobby family were very very active and presenting well over the reserve hunting and playing, it was great to see all five in the air at the same time. 

As the light was great today I went back but sadly there was no sign of them, they could have been hunting very high up or maybe they have started their migration despite the dragonfly stocks still being very abundant, last night temperatures dropped significantly, maybe that was their trigger to move on.

A friend of mine, Steve Thornton, suggested that with the amount of ploughing and harrowing taking place currently in the vicinity of the reserve they may have turned their attention to Crane flies for a change of diet.

( p.s. they were back the next day, all I need now is some good light ! ).

Some consolation came in the form of six Red Kites over the reserve all at the same time.

   

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

On my trips between home and Titchmarsh LNR along the '' Old road '' through Slipton I have been passing a set aside field that looks just the right habitat for Barn Owls.

The other evening I saw a Barn Owl flying over the road in the direction of this field which was a promising sign. 

Nothing ventured nothing gained, so today I drove up the track to the farm which is actually a mixed small holding to ask if the occupants ever saw Barn Owls hunting over the field.

Glen, the tenant, was very helpful and explained that whilst he hadn't seen Barn Owls he had seen Tawny Owls and also indicated that they may have resident Little Owls. The position of the house is such that the field is not immediately visible from the living rooms of the property so I was still encouraged.

So, the bottom line is that I got permission to park on Glens land and he also pointed out that an old disused public footpath passed through the field so whilst the field was not his property access should not be a problem ....... great !. 

It was really interesting to see the mix of animals on the small holding, horses and foals, sheep, geese and a party of young cock and hen Peacocks.

                                 Traditional farmyard Geese almost marching in step

                                                              Canada Geese get everywhere

Its amazing what you can find off road.

Nowadays all things are not black and white ..........

I think that black and white is a very nice medium so I had a bit of a play about today to see if it really works or enhances bird pics.

This is one of my favourite Short Eared Owl images.

I converted it to B & W with my Nikon View 2 software, Hmmm ........... I'm not too sure that it works for me but it does have a different dimension and visual impact.

This is the original image as I took it at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell from the '' influx '' we had a couple of years ago.

I think that the B & W shot is a bit cold compared to full colour ( and I can tell you that when I took it on a hard winters day in late afternoon light it was indeed very cold ! around  -5 degrees C).

I need convincing that it is worth doing a bit more work on this subject.

All comments and observations from viewers of this blog page are greatly appreciated and most welcome !.

The following are examples of shall we say ..... less successful photo opportunities with Short Eared Owls. They had the potential to be great ..... could have, should have, might have  ...... 

                         This guy suddenly appeared and nearly knocked the hood off my lens. 

                                                                           What a frame filler