Hayling Island

Hayling Island...

David Campbell and I spent the day today on an RSPB Guildford walk around the Oysterbeds at Hayling Island.

The group started off at Langstone Harbour where the highlights were Greenshank and a few Mediterranean Gulls in amongst the Black-headed Gulls. Brent Geese were feeding out on the mudflats as were Dunlin, Bar and Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Little Egret and various ducks.

The habour...

Greenshank...

Moorhen...

On to the Oysterbeds, and we immediatly got on to the regular group of about 20 Black-necked Grebes far out in the harbour. Amongst them were a few Great-crested Grebes, and more surprisingly, a female Velvet Scoter which is a new bird for me.

A few Kestrel were hunting over the scrubland for voles, and there were plently of Little Egret fishing along the shoreline. In the pools there were groups of Red-breasted Merganser, and whilst searching through the usual Brent Geese, David found a pair of Pale-bellied Brents- a less common subspecies around here.

Kestrel...

Little Egret...

After the walk, Sean, David and I went off to see if we could find the Green-winged Teal that has been present at Budds Farm SW nearby. There was so sign of the Teal, however Sean found 3 more Mediterranean Gulls.

In all, a great walk, with some great birds to top it off with. Thanks Roger, David and Sean for the lifts!

Waterbirds at Kew

Waterbirds at Kew...

I've probably said this before, but landscape gardens like Kew aren't really my cuppa tea. However, many of the birds there are quite used to humans passing through daily, and so sometimes allow quite good views, which can in turn be good for photography.

The weather today has been brilliant, and so we went to Kew Gardens today to meet family. Of course, I couldn't go without the camera, and after a while of strolling around slightly boring man made gardens, I found a small lake, on which a load of waterbirds were feeding, making good subjects for a few shots...

Greylag Goose...

Mallard...

Coot fighting in the afternoon sunlight...

Bar-headed Goose; one of the exotic species kept in the park, very handsome birds, even if they aren't wild...

Moorhen...

There are a number of Crocuses in flower at the moment in the Gardens, and I took out the wide-angle lens for the following shot, with the temperate houses in the background...

Bosham Brents

Bosham Brents...

The weather hasn't been good enough today to go anywhere, but yesterday, after visiting friends in Chichester, I stopped off at Bosham Harbour to see if anything was around.

Out on the mud, there were Grey Plover, with a few Golden and Ringed Plover mixed in. Oystercatchers and Redshanks were working through the rockpools, but all were too far away for a decent shot. A few Brent Geese landed in the small car park by the seafront and argued with each other like they do...

Brent Geese...

After a while, it started to get windy and the light began to fade, so we decided it was time to go home.

Garden Birds

Garden Birds...

The camera has stayed in its case for a week, which is quite a rare occasion. However, the garden has been quite active this morning with a few Long tailed tits and a very aggressive Great tit, so I took the most of the opportunity.

Great tit...

Long-tailed tit...

Woodpigeon...

Grebes Galore at Teddington

Grebes Galore at Teddington...

Took a stroll along the river at Teddington Lock this morning to try and catch up with a Black-necked Grebe that has been seen there the last few days.
After a while of searching around the Lock, sure enough, in the river, staring straight at us, was the Black-necked Grebe! At first it was quite far out, but soon dived and resurfaced relitively close.

Also on the Lock were plenty of Cormorants, and the Black necked Grebe's bigger cousin, the Great crested Grebe.

Black-necked Grebe...

Great-crested Grebe...

Cormorant...

Right, now back to English, Music and ICT coursework all for next week (arrggghh!)... I wouldn't be as behind on them if I hadn't gone for that Grebe!

100th Post

100th Post...

It's the blog's 100th post (yay!) and I don't really have anything spectacular to celebrate it with. A short afternoon visit to Pen Ponds in Richmond Park earlier today was the first time I've been out photographing this February.

There is usually a large variety of wildfowl present on the two lakes, with Wigeon, Pochard, Teal, Gadwall and Shovelers wintering in healthy numbers, however, today there were only a few Shovelers. Most of them were way out in the middle of the lake, but two birds were slightly more obliging, and although they weren't coming for bread (luckily!) and were quite shy, I managed to sneak up on them and get a few shots...

Shoveler

An interesting sunset

Tommorow I'm doing another local twitch to a Black-necked Grebe that been present at Teddington Lock for the last couple of day, a few minutes drive away. Fingers crossed it stays till morning!

The Moon

The Moon...

I took the photo below on Sunday 31st, the day after the full moon. I've never actually taken a photo of the moon before, but it was very bright and extremely hard to miss so I gave it a try. After playing around with the camera settings, I finally settled at f/6.3, Shutter speed 1/250 and exp. compensation -3.0... Still got a lot to learn though.