Ring Necked Duck

Just spent a week in Perthshire on the shores of Loch Rannoch, more of a family break than a wildlife photography trip really, beautiful scenery but the weather was wet most days. Wildlife was hard to find, did my best to find a Capercaillie but failed and even the local

View from Allean Forest

River Tay

Lots of Fungi around

Male Ring Necked Duck at Pitlochry

Ring Necked Duck

Ring Necked Duck

 Red Squirrels hid away every time I got my camera out .But an enjoyable week in good company.
We were not far from Pitlochry, where I saw on birdguides that a Ring Necked Duck was present, so took the chance to see it (even though it was raining and getting dark when I photographed it)

Pied Wheatear_the trials of trying to I.D a rare bird

We had friends down to stay last weekend for the Joyce's birthday, and they wanted to go down to West Cornwall to see where Poldark had been set, well I don't need any excuse to to visit that area, especially in mid October, peak rare bird season, and I thought I may be able to include one of the valleys into our itinery,and I took my 500mm lens along 'just in case' .We didn't arrive at St Just until mid morning ,so bought some pastys and headed to Botallack to see the mining area .After  a while   we settled down at Wheal Owles,where I took a few photos of a Kestrel ,so I had my camera ready, when I noticed a small flock of Meadow Pipits and with them a Wheatear, I knew straight  away this may not be the usual Northern Wheatear as the throat was blackish and the upperside was very dark,it came very close and I got a few nice shots before it carried on along the stone walls where I lost sight of it, and could,nt see where it went.I tried to relocate it but couldn't find it again, there were no other birders around .Anyway the bird was playing on my mind for the rest of the day ,but I couldn't get to download the photos until the next day, when on looking through all the fiedguides etc I came to the conclusion it was either Desert ,Black Eared or Pied Wheatear, I tried e-mailing a photo to a top birder in Cornwall, but for some reason the message was'st getting through, so the next day I sent a pic to the county recorder who confirmed that the bird was indeed a 1st winter Pied Wheatear, and went over to Botallack to take another look but with no luck. Pied Wheatear is a new bird for me, having seen

First winter male Pied Wheatear at Botallack

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear - a bit blurry but shows it head on

Black Eared at Nanquidno a few years back and a Desert at Looe a long time ago.I apologise for not getting the photos downloaded and the i.d confirmed sooner to any Cornish birders out there.

Silver Y Moths

We've had a couple of these visit the garden over the last few weeks, favouring the Sedum plants. The Silver Y Moth (autographa gamma) is an annual migrant from Southern Europe.


Silver Y Moth



Silver Y Moth

Silver y Moth

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

A couple of photos of our Great Spotted Woodpeckers. I can never resist them.

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker in our garden



Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

Hungary July 2015.

At last ,im getting around to putting a few photos from the trip to Tiszaalpar in Hungary with Oliver Smarts tour in the good company of Adrian Langdon. We got to see and photograph most of the target species with the highlight for me being so close to the Bee eaters and Red footed Falcons among many others. The very early starts were well worth it with fantastic light on our subjects , but was good to get home for a rest!,Just a small selection of photos here,many more on my main website.
www.adriandaveybirdphotography.co.uk

Bee-eater

Hawfinch

Male Red Footed Falcon

Roller

Wood Sandpiper

Meeth

I visited Devon Wildlife Trusts Meeth reserve, a big area with lots to see, although I thought the fences were a bit restricting, I like to be able to roam free, but once you found your way around ,potentially a great site, this day was fairly windy and most of the insects were staying out of the way, but I managed of few photos.

Common Blue Damsel eating some sort of micro moth

Fox Moth

Fox Moth

Southern marsh Orchid

Thick Legged Flower Beetle

Breney Common

A couple of weeks ago I spent a good part of a day at Breney to look for Butterflies, with Marsh Fritillary and Green Hairstreak the main target species, The Marsh Frits were not playing ,and only saw a couple low down in the grass but quite a few Small Pearl Bordered Fritillarys were on the wing ,I was very pleased to find a beautiful Green Hairstreak which allowed a close approach. Always nice to spend some time just wandering around looking to see what you can find.

Four Spot Chaser

Green Hairstreak

Green Hairstreak

Large Red Damselfly

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Tryblade

Green Veined White

Cornish Choughs

Down in West Cornwall, searched for the Purple Heron at Drift with no joy but still had a lovely day with Joyce around the valleys and beautiful coastal scenery of the area..at one site we parked the car when two Choughs landed on the grass right beside us, I grabbed the camera , they took no notice of me whatsoever as they fed away, allowing for some very close views and some nice shots.

Chough

Chough

Chough

Chough

Spain April 2015- other birds photographed

A selection of other species of bird photographed in Spain, mostly just record shots but nice to see all the same.

Bee Eaters part of a flock of sixty plus birds

Bee Eater a bit distant but you have to try

Black Redstart- common around the hotel

Bonelli's Warbler,watched in the same site daily near the hotel

Booted Eagle-the only one seen

Cuckoo mobbed by a Chaffinch- Cuckoos seen or heard every day.

Lark ,Crested I think

Montagues Harrier-Four seen but always distant

Nightingale-in good voice

Raven-First on the scene before the Vultures and Kites.

Rock Bunting-A first for me

Serin-In the hotel ground but could I get a decent photo?

Probably a Short Toed Treecreeper

Spanish Sparrow-nesting in the bottom of a White Storks nest

Spotless Starling

Stonechat with nesting material

White Stork in flight

White Stork pair at nest

Woodchat Shrike,quite common but couldn't get close

Red Rumped Swallow- Small numbers around the hotel along with Barn Swallows ,House Martins and Crag Martins.

Woodlark,nice to happen upon one of these.