09 November, 2012

Woodlark

Wahey! The big 200th blog post, how's about a few shots of Woodlark (an unexpected surprise on a return visit back to Thursley Common) to celebrate it with.

These particular birds, under the Biodiversity Action Plan due to national declines in breeding range, were a nightmare to photograph, constantly feeding within the heather in small, extremely alert groups. I tried the classic approach of waiting for the birds to come to me, which they did on numerous occasions, but half the time all I could see in the viewfinder was part of a beak, or an eye, as they skulked about, extremely well camouflaged.


On rare occasions, when the flock moved on, one or two birds would occasionally fly up and perch on a nearby branch or vantage point, allowing for slightly better views, before dipping straight back down to feed...
 

 

After accepting the fact that the Woodlarks weren't going to play ball, I made my way back to the car park, bumping into the Great Grey Shrike along the way; which showed nicely for a while, as well as a distant Raven and several fly over Crossbills...
 
 

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