Sunday 29 September 2013

Bargain Lifer

Set off for St Abbs this morning at 6am for the Sardinian Warbler, i arrived at 7:30am and had the bird in the bag at 7:45am :) got some decent views and a few shots of the bird, it was also singing and calling on and off, Great bird. Other birds in the area were 3 Yellow-browed warblers and a flyover Black redstart, nothing else about so decided to head back down A1 for the Richard's pipits at Whitburn, 1 bird was in the mowed field which was showing on and off at the other side of the field and out of range for a photo :( not to worry though as it was another year tick taking my total for the year to 261 :0 shortly after i left the second bird showed before both flew off west. The new van performed well, a trip from Winlaton mill to Whitburn via St Abbs and back cost only £21 :) £60+ in the land rover :( bring on the next twitch at that price!!! lol.
Sardinian Warbler @ St Abbs, one of the best birds ive had this year.

flyover Black redstart, didn't have time to change settings though :(



Thursday 26 September 2013

Red Breasted Flycatcher

A Red Breasted Flycatcher was at  Hartlepool headland in the croft today, possibly 2 birds and 4 Yellow-browed warblers were on show. A Richards pipit was at jewish cemetery but flew off before the troops could get there :( not to worry though as the RBF was a new year tick :) heres a few shots from today.
Red breasted fly

cropped a bit more

Rbf

Ybwarbler

Ybwarbler

Wednesday 25 September 2013

2 ticks

2 ticks today :) Bluethroat and Yellow-browed warbler, both birds were on coastal path between Hartley carpark and st marys, other birds in area were whinchat, wheatear, redwings, sandwich tern. The winds are now forecast to change to a southerly with clear skies tomorrow morning, so the forecast of 3 days of easterly's is no longer on :( shame. lets hope a few of today's goodies hangs around :0



Saturday 21 September 2013

agp take 2

Dipped the whitley bay american golden plover yesterday :( just arrived as the tide was covering the causeway :( the bird was still on show this morning but a bit to far for any shots so just snapped a record shot using the phone and scope, not bad considering the distance :)

Sunday 8 September 2013

How to photograph Black darters

How to photograph Black darters Dragonhunter style, "just get them to land on your hand and then fire away" lol.
Or in my case wait until the Dragonhunter pins one down perched :)

Black darter @ Burdon moor

Wednesday 4 September 2013

More waders

Shibdon pond:
12 Black-tailed godwits
3 Greenshank
1 Ruff
20+ Snipe
20+ Redshank
20+ Lapwing
2 Red eared terrapin

Lamesley wm:
3 Black-tailed godwits
1 Green sandpiper
20+ Snipe
10+ Redshank
20+ Lapwing
Black-tailed godwits @ Shibdon pond



Monday 2 September 2013

Rare wader at east chev

A White-Rumped Sandpiper came on the pager today whilst i was in Shibdon pond :0 off i dashed to tick my 255th species of the year :) very distant though so only shots i could get were with my phone threw the scope, cracking little wader and the 4th white rumped sand iv'e had :) Decided to look for a new vehicle today as i'm sick of the 20mpg that the landrover drinks, think i will go for the new mercedes citan van which gets 70mpg :0 imagine the twitches i'll get to in that? even somewhere to sleep if an overnight stay is involved :) lol. hopefully i will have it before i set off to the scillies as the fuel bill will be nothing :) i best get my finger out and get the deal up and running (like tomorrow) lol. Not a white one though.
White-rumped sandpiper @ east chev

Redshank @ shibdon 400mm lens

Lapwing @ shibdon 400mm lens + 1.4 converter same distance as redshank (testing)

Snipe @ shibdon 400mm lens + 1.4 converter little closer than lapwing (testing)