Odd Gull - comments welcome

Short-toed Eagle in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex - Sunday 22nd June 2014.

Silhouettes In Kent

Nightjar in a Kentish Woodland - 31st May 2014.

The Red Kite on the local patch today - Hinxhill - 1st June 2014.

Photo catch up and an identification question.

Singing Sedge Warbler at RSPB Dungeness from the Hookers viewing ramp - 21/04/14.

The pair of Black-winged Stilts at RSPB Dungeness on the hayfield behind Christmas Dell - 27/04/14.

Tern Species at Conningbrook GPs - 02/05/14 - at first I thought that this was an Arctic Tern but I am now not so sure. ANY COMMENTS GRATEFULLY RECEIVED.

 Then some time spent in Norfolk:

Drake Garganey from the Bishop's Hide at Cley NWT - 19/05/14.

Common Sandpiper from the Redwell Marsh NOA hide at Holme - 20/05/14.

Fire in the Norfolk Sky

The sky turned to fire as the sun set on Sunday 16th March 2014 at Heacham South Beach, Norfolk.

During the 9 day holiday a few birds performed for the camera:

A female Bullfinch showed well on the seed table at the Sculthorpe Moor Hawk and Owl Trust Reserve.

A Black Brant also showed well on the saltmarsh, with
Dark-Bellied Brent Geese, from the Stiffkey campsite wood carpark.

Firecrest at Dengemarsh Gully - Saturday 8th March 14

One of 2 showy birds in the Gully this afternoon.

Sparrowhawk Attacks !!!

Saturday 8th February 2014

I woke up this morning to find this female Sparrowhawk on the back lawn, tucking into a recently killed Starling. It devoured the bird over the next half an hour, while I too had my breakfast (Marmite on Toast - not Starling !!!) and snapped a few photos through the window.

Glaucous Gull and Slavonian Grebe

1st-Winter Glaucous Gull by the fishing boats at Dungeness on Saturday 1st February 2014

Slavonian Grebe from the Castle Water viewpoint on Sunday 2nd February 2014

Great-Northern Diver at the Sussex end of Scotney GP's

This juvenile GND that showed well at Scotney GP's this afternoon is the first bird that I have photographed in 2014.

More to be added over the week.

Pink-feet at Stodmarsh

Stodmarsh, 11:00 to 14:00

4 Mute Swans, 3 Pink-footed Geese (with Greylags in field by NNR car park), 3 Barnacle Geese, 10 Teal, 3 Little Egrets (Cow Corner), 4 Marsh Harriers, 1 Kestrel, 300+ Lapwing, 1 Redshank (over Marsh hide), 1 Kingfisher, 2 Meadow Pipits, 3+ Water Pipits (Marsh hide), 100 Fieldfare (circa), 1 Bearded Tit (Heard).

A GWE returns to Conningbrook

Conningbrook GP, 09:45 to 12:15

 1 Great White Egret - flew in from Wye, then at south end of pits before continuing along the Stour towards Ashford.

6 Wigeon, 50 Gadwall (circa), 1 Teal (female), 4 Shoveler, 30 Pochard (circa), 100 Tufted Duck (+), 3 Little Grebe, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Kestrel, 1 Water Rail, 30 Lapwing (circa), 30 Common Gull (circa), 1 Kingfisher, 3 Green Woodpecker, 10 Skylark (circa), 5 Meadow Pipit, 3 Pied Wagtail, 2 Wren, 1 Dunnock, 2 Robin, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Chiffchaff, 10 Long-tailed Tit (circa), 2 Treecreeper, 2 Jay, 1 Siskin (female with c20 Goldfinch & Chaffinches), 1 Reed Bunting (female).

Getting back on track with the Blog - starting with a Hedgehog photograph.

I am hoping to get back on track with the Blog over the coming weeks. It has become a bit neglected over the summer and autumn.

First up is a photo of a Hedgehog that visited the garden on the 27th October - presumably feeding up, ready for winter hibernation.

More to follow...

An update at long last !!! - Yellow legging it to Cliffe Pools RSPB

Wednesday 25th September:

A rare visit to Cliffe Pools RSPB tonight for the Lesser Yellowlegs, which showed really well from the viewing ramp on Black Barn 2. Nice to catch up with a few Kent Birders too. Might be back again for seconds at the weekend.

Record shots below.

Juvenile Swallows at Bough Beech

A rare visit to Bough Beech Reservoir and KWT reserve yesterday (29th June). A couple of families of Swallows provided a few photo opportunities.

Oh Canada Eh - Part 9 - More from Victoria

Thursday 9th to Friday 10th May - Victoria.

After fish and chips at Fisherman's Wharf, we took a nice stroll around the harbour of Victoria. I manged to spot and photograph this Black Oystercatcher - a great addition to the holiday list. There were also plenty of Glaucous-winged Gulls (I think!)

Black Oystercatcher - right side.

Black Oystercatcher - left side.

More Gull photos !!!

On Friday 10th we departed Victoria and Vancouver Island for our final destination - Downtown Vancouver. Waiting for the ferry to depart I snapped these Shags/Cormorants.

The last evening of our holiday was spent dining on a sunset cruise around the Vancouver coastline. The desserts were delicious - all three of them !!! Prior to boarding, this Great Blue Heron showed brilliantly on the pontoon by our cruiser. With Camo Cam tucked safely in the hotel room, Angela lent me her camera so I could get this shot.

Great Blue Heron - this was much tamer than our Greys.

Oh Canada Eh - Part 8 - The Whale Cruise.

After a break, it is back to blogging and more updates from Canada.

Thursday 9th May - Victoria.

Angela and myself had been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time... the chance of seeing a Whale, something neither of us had seen in the wild.

Our intrepid group of Whale watchers departing Victoria harbour.
My camera by this stage had been nicknamed 'camo cam' by the cruise companies' personnel.
Angela is once again behind the camera.

We traveled straight out to sea while the Zodiac boat headed along the coast. Luck would have it that they would make the radio call first. A quick u-turn and a burst of speed from our captain...

And this was the sight that we saw !!!
A young male Orca (Killer Whale) moving along the coast with his mother.
What a fantastic experience !!!

Angela's photo of the male Orca as the sea mist rolled in over the coast.

The female leading the male. It was difficult to photograph the two Whales together
but Angela managed it.

While we watched the Orcas moving WNW, I managed to
snap a record shot of a pair of Rhinoceros Auklets.

With big smiles all round, the journey back involved a stop at Race Rocks - lots of wildlife sightings here too.

Angela's photo of Race Rocks, the Lighthouse and an Elephant Seal on the slipway.

A colony of Californian Sea-lions.

The lookout.

A bit of a poser this one.

Elephant Seals keeping a close eye on our boat.

Harbour Seals - completing the trio.

Back in Victoria Harbour I spotted this pair of River Otters on the rocks, viewed from our cruiser.

River Otters - we later saw these from Fisherman's Wharf -
closer but more nervous and not easy to photograph.
The fish and chips here was tasty though.

And a flypast to close the successful trip out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.