Short Eared Owls

A trip down to West Cornwall to see the Short Eared Owls hunting over the moors. Had to wait for a while for them to show but the time was well spent when a number of Adders were found basking in the hedge, what beautiful creatures, also a Kestrel was on the prowl and came very close. The Owls eventually put in an appearance and we we were treated to great views of them hunting for voles etc. An unexpected bonus was when an Owl was mobbed by a Hen Harrier, I would have been happy seeing just one of these birds but the two together was very exciting.Great stuff.

Some Cornish Corvids.

A few photos of members of the Crow family taken in recent weeks along the Cornish coast.Jackdaw, Carrion Crow,Raven, Rook and Chough.

Cirl Buntings

So good to see Cirl Buntings doing well in Cornwall.Beautiful birds. A good news story for a change.

Fulmars

I popped over to the North Cornwall coast to give my new OM1 camera a bit of a test, Fulmars are biggish birds that dont fly too fast, so I thought they would make a good subject. I've looked at many You Tubers advising on the best settings to photograph birds in flight, and to be honest they tend to give differnt opinions on which is best, so only one way to find out,that is to see which I like the best. These were all taken using the bird detection and tracking, its certainly easier to follow the birds and all in all pretty pleased with the results. Next time I will try without the bird detection.I do like a Fulmar.

Nice birds on nice sticks

For those annoying camera club members who say on a regular basis 'another bird on a stick photo', here are two lovely birds on a really nice stick. No apologies. Siskin and Golfinch on Willow.

Purple patch.

When heading down to West Cornwall its always a must to look in on the prime location for Purple Sandpipers, on this occasion they were showing really well and close up views were had ,with the tide being fairly high they were feeding close to the path.

A quest for a crest that takes the p..s, but settle for a good duck instead.

A visit to Helston in West Cornwall, my mission to try and photograph Firecrests ( someone showed me some cracking pics from here so thought I'd give it a go ) and I was hoping that the female RIng Necked Duck would still be on the boating lake, which indeed it was , so I started off with that before going in search of Firecrests around the sewage works, ( nice). Chiffchaffs were everywhere ( never seen so many in one place), eventually a Firecrest popped into view, and then popped out of view, this was the story for about an hour, never getting a clear view for long enough for a decent photo. At this point I was getting desparate for a pee, so went behind a hedge,as you do, and I'm buggered if mid stream a Firecrest popped out into the open, right beside me, and stayed in the same spot for the duration, before dissapearing, never to be seen again!. Anyway the Ring Necked Duck was still showing well on the lake, so I stayed with that for another spell, getting some nice shots.