More Shorties

Just cant resist em.

White Crowned Sparrow

When someone from our photo group put a photo on our facebook page of a bird he thought was a White Crowned Sparrow, I quickly got back to him to confirm the sighting and that he should report it to the county recorder, and I would love to come down and take a look ( along with many others !). I was going away for a couple of days and hoped it would still be there when I got home. Luckily it was , so went straight down the next day to try and see it. The bird was a bit elusive at first , only giving brief views, but then I was kindly invited into the garage where the bird was showing really well in the back garden. Managed a few photos but not all that sharp as they were taken through the glass door. But a super little bird, a first for me and I think the first for Cornwall.

Short Eared Owls.

Always a pleasure to watch Short Eared Owls. I photographed two birds in the middle of the day as they hunted over some rough ground on the Cornish coast. Lovely to see.

Little Egret pose.

A common bird nowadays but still worthy of spending some time on, I just sat quietly by the waters edge watching a couple of these graceful birds preening and stretching in the afternoon light at fairly close quarters. This one posed nicely allowing some nice photos.

Osprey

16th October..We dont get to see too many Ospreys down here in Cornwall and Devon, just the odd ones passing through on their migration back and forward to the wintering grounds in Africa.So this one not that far from home in Wadebridge was one I had to try and see. It was fairly distant in its favourite tree but eventually took flight and flew quite close overhead. Majestic birds.

Lesser Grey Shrike

We were away for a week 'up country' right at the peak of Octobers 'anything could turn up quite close to home'time. So when a Lesser Grey Shrike was found on Caradon Hill, at Minions near Liskeard , only half an hour from home I thought I,d probably missed out, but thankfully it was still there when we got home, the very next day I popped along to look for it. A lovely sunny day, I searched for an hour with no joy ( although I did find a Black Redstart ).I was told that it had been seen earlier but had been flushed by someone flying their Gyr Falcon around the area !.I thought that was probably it,then on my way back to the car for a coffee, there it was, perched on a stone wall close by, I sat down and it came closer making a number of forays to catch incects in flight.Nice bird, only my second in the U.K.

Southern Hawker flight

It was late September and I still had a couple of Southern Hawker Dragonflies patrolling the pond, I spent some time trying to capture them in flight, not easy but quite pleased with the results.

Sparrowhawk

My wife shouted up the stairs to me " there is a Sparrowhawk on the garden fence". All I had to do was slowly open the window and point my camera . simples. I think she had just had a dip in our garden pond ( the Sparrowhawk not my wife,) and was sat on the fence having a dry and a preen. If only it was always this easy!