Ben's Blog - In Search of Nature

Happy Jays

2012-02-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

2012 hasn't really got going in terms of Wildlife Photography for me, January was made up of many sporadic local trips resulting in hardly any images worth keeping let alone blogging. The first month of the year was a mixture of bad weather, bad light and myself not managing to find any real subjects to concentrate on so i put it behind me and on February 1st i took a trip to London with 3 targets in mind....Heron's collecting nesting material, Starlings bathing and images of Jays. The Jays were the biggest success of the day, there is at least 2 pairs in Hyde Park (probably lots more) and a few individuals have become accustomed to people and the food that is put out for them. They are still rather shy and take fleeting opportunities to grab the food before taking it well out of sight to eat but with a little patience you can take some really nice images of them in natural surroundings despite being in an busy inner city park.

I now use the Nikon 200-400 VRII lens and am very happy with it, with 400mm at F4 it works a treat and even with the 1.4 TC on to give me 550mm i am still happy with both the sharpness and autofocus speed. Here are some Jay images all taken using the lens and more from London will come soon. I should have a brand new website soon and have a number of specific "projects" this year to keep me focused so keep checking back! Cheers!

2011 Round-Up

2011-12-30T23:09:00.000-08:00

2011 was probably my most productive year photographically. I ventured out more than i have ever done so before, i really got to grips with shooting fully in manual, began shooting in RAW and visited both Morocco and the USA in search of wildlife. Here is my round up of my 2011 with some images to accompany, not necessarily my best images but ones that remind me of a good year! Enjoy, thanks for reading my Blog and following it and i will see you in 2012!

January....this month was fairly quiet, looking back at my images i didn't seem to get out much and didn't take many decent images. Adam Hough, a friend who lives in Shefford found a large flock of Waxwings in his village and an extremely short sessions photographing them after his tip off produced my best ever Waxwing photos and my best images of the month....

February....Again not much going on photographically in the UK, a trip to Worlaby Carrs to see the Short Eared Owls with Adam only to spend 6 hours seeing nothing was a real lowlight but the month was more than saved with an absolutely amazing trip to Morocco with Daniel Trim and Ed Taylor. We clocked up a large number of new species, took thousands of images, drove from snowy Atlas Mountain to hot Sahara Desert and had a laugh on the way. Images of Desert Sparrow (probably the rarest bird i have ever seen!) and mating White Storks from out final night back in Marakesh stand out for me...

March....the month was a bit of a slow starter and the come down from Morocco was hard to take, however as the month ended i found a pair of Great Crested Grebes on a small fishing lake in Arlesey, they wouldn't go on to breed but went through the entire courtship process and were very photographable. The site was misty and sunlit in the mornings and golden and backlit in the evenings and proved to be a very productive site for me to visit before and after work (1 minute drive from work!)...i hope they return and breed on it in 2012!

April....the springtime had begun and the next few months would prove to be some of my busiest with lots of daylight and some good local sites. April saw myself, Matt Newman and Martin Bevan take in our "usual" Dorset trip to find reptile species, it yielded my best ever Sand Lizard image and my first ever sighting of a Smooth Snake..

April was also dominated by the local dung heaps, these sites attract good numbers of birds searching for food, water, nesting material and places to breed. Unfortunately these sites are on the decline and although we are blessed locally with some great places this year you wonder how long they will last. A few disagreements at the sites amongst photographers unfortunately spoilt some of my visits there, this seems to be a common occurence these days at busy sites and all i can say is i will always strive to put the birds first, i do not aim to cause arguments with others and respect the land and land owners. Yellow Wagtails are particulary good at these sites and can be encouraged to perch on a number of things for photos but this more natural image of a Yellow Wag in green grass was my favourite!

May...May was also productive and i also managed to find another site that would prove great for photography. A small back road with fields and farms either side proved amazing to photograph Corn Buntings sitting on fenceposts and calling their distinctive call. This site allowed close views and shooting from the car window and once again was very close to my work so i spent many mornings driving it, unfortunately over winter the fence posts have been removed...for what reason i am not sure but now the Corn Buntings dont have as many places to sing from and photographically the site wont be as good next year....shame.

May also saw the Dung Heaps still very busy and with such a warm and dry Spring more birds were visiting to find water. A local pro photographer was invaluable in helping this site remain productive topping up a drinking pool and the providing wet mud for Swallows to pick up for nesting material, a big thank you to him and this image wouldn't have been possible if not for him.

June -As spring became summer i was still very much active, a trip up Pegsdon Hills near where i live was quite productive photographically with baby Long Tailed Tits (pictured), Red Kites and Lapwing all in fine fettle in the evening sunshine but the trip was more memorable for me as i was chased down a hill by a really agressive bull! I am not sure why the bull decided to chase me as i was leaving the site but it did, i tripped on a rabbit burrow and fell down the hill and my Nikon D700 rolled down too....strangely i was more damaged than the camera and lens and lived to tell the tale!

June also saw myself and Matt Newman make a trip up to Bempton Cliffs. After a night watching Glastonbury on the TV i slept on the sofa, i fell alseep around midnight, woke at 3.30am, drove myself and Matt up the east coast and we were photographing the Tree Sparrows on the visitor centre roof by 8am! The day was scorchingly hot and sunny and although we didn't get loads of amazing shots our patience paid off as a Gannet landed exactly where we hoped it would on the cliff edge very near to the path and that important "head shot" was achieved!

July - Summer was now in full swing and photographic subjects of the bird variety soon became trickier, my Grebes had failed to nest and departed and the dung heap was far less active. A grey Sunday out with Erin in St Albans did however produce a moment of magic as i caught the moment a Grey Heron flung itself into the river and emerged with a massive Brown Trout, i couldnt believe it and was so glad to have caught this on camera, the image later went on to win an award for photo of year in the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trusts 2011 competition and was made into the front cover of their 2012 calender which makes me very proud indeed!

July also saw our local Spotted Flycatchers becoming very busy with feeding young, 3 pairs inhabited a churchyard near where i live and proved to be excellent photographic subjects! A big thank you to Daniel Trim and Richard Bowler for letting me know about these beauties!

August - traditionally a bit of a quiet month photography wise, but for my birthday in May i was very lucky to get the Nikon 105mm F2.8 Macro Lens which allowed me to concentrate on some interesting subjects of the insect variety. My favourite macro image is a strange one, it isn't necessrily a real detailed close up but shows a Banded Demoiselle within it's natural environment perching on some vegetation over a river, i like the shot and reall enjoyed getting it as it was a beautiful summers day, erin was sunbathing beside the river and i was pretty much submerged up to my shoulders in the water allowing me a real intimate view of the life of a Demoiselle...

September - This month was pretty much dominated by mine and Erin's big holiday to California. It was a really great holiday, we saw L.A and San Francisco, went to our friends wedding in Las Vegas and visited the natural beauty that is Yosemite National Park. I saw over 70 species of new birds and plenty of other wildlife, this picture of a Roadrunner is just 1 of many photos that i took but one of my favourite birds of the trip...

October - Back to the UK and once again a bit of coming home depression, I found it hard to get motivated and really didn't know where to go for photography until good friend Richard Bowler showed me a great place to photograph Red Deer. Unfortunately i had missed most of the main rut but still, it gave me ideas for next year and i did manage so nice images!

November - November was again fairly quiet, winter hadn't really kicked in and with money tight i didn't want to do many big trips away from home, staying local seemed the best idea and whilst out photographing some woodland birds a great moment with a mammal occured. This Bank Vole was spotted by Erin as she sat on a bench and after dropping a bit of seed on the ground the Vole was tempted out, i like the shot with the leaves in the foreground and it's a subject that normally i dont think i would get the opportunity to photograph, in fact i have been back since many times to the same site and haven't even seen a Bank Vole!

December - Well the year draws to an end and i decided to treat myself to a special day. I picked Mark Hancox's Kingfisher hide to visit for the day as it is well known as one of the best places in the country to photograph Kingfishers and they are definitely a species i struggle to get decent images of. It was definitely a great day, well worth doing and yieled me with some great images to end the year on, cheers Mark!

So that's it, a really enjoyable year and some magic wildlife moments. I'd like to thank Erin for putting up with me so much and my fellow photography friends - Adam, Dan, Ed, Matt, Martin, Richard,, Tony Duckett, Perry Fairman, Paul Riddle and Mark Hancox for helping me with obtaining better images. In 2012 i already have a trip to Scotland planned and really hope to improve of my images, work out my local spots even more and be a bit more focused on certain species and getting a decent range of images. Lets hope its a good year and good luck to all those doing the same, thanks for reading the blog and i will see you all soon!

Garden Birds

2011-12-28T00:22:00.000-08:00

Obviously what with Christmas it has been quite busy recently but here a few images taken in either my garden or the berry filled garden of my parents, quite envious of their berries at this time of year as the garden seems to hold good numbers of Blackbird, Chaffinch, Robin, Great and Blue Tit and even 2 male Bullfinch which was a lovely boxing day treat!

Urban Wildlife

2011-12-21T00:58:00.000-08:00

Spent a day last week in 2 of London's parks - Regents and Hyde with Daniel Trim. Had a great day photographing some common species in different ways and making use of their tameness and the food we had for them. Unfortunately alot of the wide angle stuff i tried didn't come out right (need a proper wide angle lens!) but was still happy with the results!

Life in the Hedge

2011-12-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

The weather was dismal on Sunday and what with Christmas looming i dedicated the day to shopping and general staying out of the rain. Did step outside my front door for a few minutes to photograph the House Sparrows that live in and on the large hedge row bordering a school....these birds are quite tame as people walk past all the time and often visit my feeding station, had 22 birds in total on the feeder at once during the summer! Enjoy...

Common Kingfisher

2011-12-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

Spent a day with wildlife photographer Mark Hancox at one of his Kingfisher workshops on Wednesday. It was a really great experience, not only are you in the company of an excellent photographer who can spend his time teaching you about cameras and settings but he has Kingfishers visiting a variety of perches fairly regulary and fishing directly in front of the hide. The sun was out all day and i really had a great time taking images, i was shooting in RAW for the first time too and think it really helped with detail of my images. Hope you enjoy them!

Norfolk Seals

2011-12-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

Here are a selection of images taken last week at Horsey in Norfolk of Grey Seals. As we pulled into the car park there was a mother and calf loafing about in the actual car park itself! We then walked down to the beach and turned left away from the colony as instructed as most of the seals are on the right hand part of the beach only to find a small group of mothers, pups and adult males....they clearly hadn't read the rules on where they are supposed to be! We carefully made our way around them and then repositioned ourselves low down on the ground to take some photos, the mothers were wary and protective but never threatened and it was only when the dog walkers turned up that the mothers began to guide their pups away to safety....

Great Southern Diver

2011-11-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Down South we aren't blessed with many waifs n' strays like the marine lakes do along the coast. Normally rare Grebes and Divers dont find their way this inland and if they do they are usually plonked out in the very middle of one of our massive gravel pits with photo opportunities few and far between. However, for over a week now a Great Northern Diver has been present on a popular lake in Milton Keynes and what's more the bird (a juvenile) seems to be fairly confiding.

On Wednesday i had a free morning so arrived at 7.30am and after a walk around the lake located the Diver sleeping in the middle, it took another hour for the bird to start coming near and once awake and alert it continually was on the move seemingly doing a circuit over and over again and constantly diving. The circuit it chose was good for photography because it would come close to the edge of the lake and pop up in front of me but it only did this once then swam back away again and would not return that close for another 30-40 minutes! The circuit also saw the bird spend time too far away for photography, swimming into the sun and swimming under a bridge which was very dark so all in all it wasn't the easiest photography session....i had to be patient and as time wasn't on my side i was always worrying i would fluff the few chances i had to photograph the bird up close!

By 11.30am after 4 hours of lying flat down on the cold hard concrete the bird had come really close about 4 times and the light was starting to fade as some clouds rolled in, i had however got my best shots of this species and more importantly observed this birds behaviour and spent some real quality time watching a really great bird being busy and flourishing in a rather odd location, here are the images...

Gigrin Farm

2011-11-21T23:23:00.000-08:00

After a wedding near Wales on Saturday Erin and myself travelled to Gigrin Farm on Sunday. Unfortunately the mist that we drove through didn't really clear and the spectacle was under cloudy skies with only small patches of blue and no sun on the birds whatsoever, this made photography tricky especially when the birds dived down and the background colour changed so i just focused on aerial shots of these gracious raptors. It was still an amazing spectacle with over 300 birds coming to feed, enjoy the shots!

Small amount of Shortie Success

2011-11-17T23:50:00.000-08:00

Managed a few shots of the Short Eared Owls currently inhabiting the Wicken Fen area on Wednesday. The birds were already out when i arrived at 2pm and busy hunting but the site is quite large with 4 or 5 large fields for them to choose from, you never quite know which one to look in and most of the time the birds remained in the centre of the fields. I didn't get a magical close encounter with any this time but hoping the winter brings some more success, here's the best of a bad bunch!

Red Deer Calm

2011-11-14T23:49:00.000-08:00

It seems the local Red Deer have calmed down and the rut is now over for another year. Sadly i missed most of the action in September whilst in America but here are a few images taken this weekend, the sun was rising behind a group of stags and made for some nice silouettes...

Rustle n' Bustle

2011-11-11T11:25:00.001-08:00

Spent some time in a local woodland attempting to photograph woodland birds foraging for the food i put down amongst the leaves. The Nuthatch was the most obliging spending longer on the ground than the other tits and finches and of course a few mammals waded in to have their fair share of food too including the Grey Squirrel and Bank Vole....enjoy!

Grey Heron...Black Background

2011-11-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

A few shots of a Grey Heron i took in Regents Park last week, a dark background helped make the bird really stand out!

Autumn Watching

2011-11-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

Some of my Autumn images....

USA Trip Part Fourteen: Best of the Rest!

2011-10-23T02:56:00.001-07:00

This is my final post from my USA trip, didn't realise how much i actually packed in to the 3 weeks i was there! This is the "Best of the Rest", unfortunately most of these images aren't that good but are images nevertheless and merely represent records of some of the really cool birds we saw on the trip but couldn't quite manage a decent shot of! I hope you have enjoyed reading my trip reports and maybe they have inspired you to visit the USA as part of a wildlife trip, my trip certainly wasn't wildlife based and we actually spent over a week of it in cities such as LA, San Francisco and Las Vegas but it just goes to show what you can see "wildlife wise" just when driving or talking a scenic walk! Enjoy....back to the UK stuff soon!

Canyon Wren, Joshua Tree NP

Pair of Acorn Woodpeckers, Yosemite NP

Mountain Chickadee, Mono Lake

Ladder Backed Woodpecker, Joshua Tree NP

Bank Swallow, Guadeloupe

Black Throated Sparrow, Joshuar Tree NP

Northern Flicker

Clark's Nutcracker, Yosemite NP

White Headed Woodpecker, Yosemite National Park

Brown Creeper, Yosemite NP

House Finch, Pismo Beach

White Crowned Sparrow

Common Grackle

Anna's Hummingbird, Monteray BayC

USA Trip Part Thirteen: The Pelican Brief

2011-10-23T02:52:00.001-07:00

This is my penultimate post from my USA trip and i have saved one of my favourite birds of the trip until the end. The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the 8 species of Pelican and we saw the Californian sub-species all along the California coastline from San Francisco all the way down to Las Angeles. The Brown Pelican has been threatened by many issues in the past including DDT and various crude oil spills but is having a comeback and numbers are now stable. All the Pelicans we observed had moulted into winter plumage with the adults having white heads and the juveniles brown.

Observing these prehistoric looking birds was always a treat, they are very confiding as they rest up around human populated areas such as piers and docks and i feel that with this species i managed to capture more of a range of photos than any other i encountered during the trip, i feel that i have a group of images to be proud of so here they are!

USA Trip Part Twelve: Life at Sea

2011-10-23T02:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images of wildlife that we predominantly found around the coast or out at sea...

Pelagic Cormorant

Ring Billed Gull

Brandt's Cormorant - breeds on Alcatraz!

Heermann's Gull - probably the most numerous Gull we saw

California Sea Lion at the famour Pier 39, San Francisco

The next few images are from a Whale Watching trip from Monteray where we saw just the fin of an Orca and that was it! Ah well! Some good birds seen but not photographed inc Pomarine Jaeger, Black Footed Albatross, Sooty and Pink Footed Shearwater...

Rhinocerous Auklet

Common Murre

Risso's Dolphin

Mola Mola (Sun Fish)

Heermann's Gull (different plumage)

Harbour Seal

Elephant Seal, unfortunately we were a bit early in the year to see the big males which hadn't arrived yet but some juveniles were beginning to test their strength out, amazing animals!

USA Trip Part Eleven: Elegant

2011-10-23T02:50:00.002-07:00

I am nearing the end of my USA Trip reports, it's been fun to look back on a brilliant 3 weeks and share the images i took so just a few more posts before it's back to Autumn and Winter UK wildlife. This post contains images of Elegant Terns, another new bird for me and a cracking Tern species similar to the UK's Little Tern in looks.

My first experience with this bird was at the Point Reyes National Seashore reserve which myself and Erin visited from San Francisco on a day trip. The reserve is a great swarth of marsh, beaches and rough grassland and at this time of year is well known for attracting plenty of raptors on migration as they stop off to hunt. We only had 1/2 a day there and could really only pop in to the visitor centre and then pick one of the beaches to have a walk along. We reached Limantour Beach and had a walk viewing the various wading birds along waters edge, on the way back to the car we came across a large group of Heerman's Gulls resting on the beach, Erin shouted out "what's that white one!?" and in amongst the group was a lone Elegant Tern! I initially identified it as a Royal Tern but after some more research decided it was an Elegant, here it is....

My next experience of these birds was a large flock on one of the gorgeous beaches on the 17 Mile Drive from Pebble Beach to Pacific Group. This group was quite wary and would take off and fly out to sea everytime a jogger or beach-goer would get near them, this made photography tricky as i spent ages slowly crawling along the sand towards them, only for them to be disturbed, take to the sea and then return in a completely different place! Despite being warm and sunny it was also very windy so i had to contend with sand blowing in my face and onto my camera and due to the warm weather and number of sand flies were around, you can see them in the images below. Anyways, here are the best of the images, enjoy...

USA Trip Part Ten: Lovers of meat!

2011-10-23T02:50:00.001-07:00

Raptors were one of the most obvious birds seen on my USA trip and behind waders were probably the most numerous type of bird seen. However as with the UK it wasn't always easy to get close to them and most of the time views were from a fast moving car or simply birds soaring high above us which isn't ideal for photography. We did see a few Hawks and Falcons on fence posts but once again they weren't keen on us approaching even slowly in the car and usually took off before we got level with them. Here are my better efforts, some merely serve as record shots but can't complain...

Bald Eagle - Only spotted one, and it was very distant!

Turkey Vulture -by far the most numerous bird seen on the whole trip, sometimes in massive groups as this photo suggests...

American Kestel - the first bird i saw on the trip as it hunted on the rough grass at LAX Airport, often seen on posts but quite flighty...

Red Shouldered Hawk

Red Tailed Hawk

USA Trip Part Nine: Black Skimmers

2011-10-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

On our very last evening in America we took a stroll along the beach in Santa Barbara. Approaching a large congreagation of birds i noticed some Godwits and a Snowy Egret feeding along a river, a Pied Billed Grebe was also swimming along the river and plenty of Gulls were bunched up on the beach. A jogger made his way along the shoreline and as he ran i noticed a large flock of birds take to the air, they flew out to sea only to return and settle back down again on the sand. They were tightly packed and looked like Terns, my inital thought was Elegant Tern as i had seen them previously like this on another beach, but as i approached i noticed they were bigger and the black and white colouration seemed odd.

I crawled closer fearing they'd take off again and identified them as Black Skimmers, a bird i knew of but only seen on TV documentaries, didn't think i'd see them on the trip, especially on the last night, it was a real treat! The light was really fading, there was a lovely setting sun on the birds but i knew it was only going to last 10-15 minutes before ducking down behind buildings so had to make the most of it. The birds remained stationary, huddled tightly in their group for 5 minutes or so and i didn't think i was going to get any variety of images then suddenly they all took off, after firing off some flight shots i noticed they were taking to the small river and either bathing or performing their "skimming" behaviour to grab a last drink before settling down for the night.

The light did fade hence my last images which are a little dodgy but overall i had seen a great amount of behaviour in such a short period of time and as said before, i really didn't think i'd get such a great wildlife experience on my last night!

USA Trip Part Eight: Waders

2011-10-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

I encountered many Waders or "Shorebirds" as the Americans call them on my trip, the rich California coast was teeming with birds and nearly every beach we pulled into had some waders working their way along the shoreline, here are the best of the bunch....

Marbled Godwit

Long Billed Dowitcher

Sanderling

Killdeer

Willet

Whimbrel

Black Bellied Plover

Black Turnstone

Snowy Plover

USA Trip Part Seven: Reptiles and Invertebrates

2011-10-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Plenty of Reptiles were seen during the trip, it was Fall so activity had dropped down a bit especially in the coastal areas but it was good to see a variety of species. Butterflies and Dragonflies were few and far between, we did see plenty of Monarch's on the wing and a few Swallowtails but nothing in great numbers, here are some macro images and a few lizards, enjoy!

California Sister Butterfly

Grasshopper

Western Garter Snake

Common Side Blotched Lizard

Western Fence Lizard

Western Fence Lizard

Variegated Meadowhawk Dragonfly

Common Sagebrush Lizard

USA Trip Part Six: Desert Life

2011-10-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

Time spent in the Mojave Desert area was reduced just to a few days, we did really enjoy our time driving through it and saw some great landscapes as well as wildlife. Birds such as Cactus Wren, Ladder Backed Woodpecker and California Thrasher were seen and poor images were obtained that may be shown here in a later blog. A lone sighting of a Greater Roadrunner (known as the "Earth Cuckoo" and in the Cuckoo family) as we were driving prompted me to fling myself out of the car and see if i could obtain any images, it was just one of those birds i wanted to see before even leaving the UK! Luckily the bird seemed extremely tame, it can fly but its flight is very weak and so prefers to run along the ground, this helped as i could keep track of the bird but it did have an akward habit of darting in and out of shade and vegetation making photography tricky. In the end i left the bird feeding and realised how far away i'd left Erin back in the car by the roadside, sometimes you can get completely lost in nature photography both physically and mentally!

Joshua Tree National Park was host to many of the desert specialities we saw including the famous Joshua Tree's which were fun to photograph in different ways...

Apart from the Big Horn Sheep mammals were few and far between, we caught glimpes of Gray Fox and Black Tailed Jackrabbit (Desert Hare) as well as this Desert Chipmunk...

2 species of Quail were also encountered running along the roadside and ducking into vegetation, even into people's frontyards! California Quail was encountered frequently as well as Gambel's Quail...

The desert was certainly fun with it's long straight roads and big skies, will have to return one day...

USA Trip Part Five: Blue Grouse

2011-10-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

On the last morning in Yosemite National Park we headed up to Glacier Point, a famous area with a panoramic view of the park. My reading had suggested that it was best arriving here as early as possible to avoid crowds, i also read that this area was probably my best chance of seeing Blue Grouse but my guide book did say i would be lucky to "catch a glimpse" of them.

As we pulled into the empty car park i was a little suprised to see a number of Blue Grouse just casually wandering around! I couldn't believe it! I asked Erin to slowly pull the car up to them thinking they would definitely fly off and i'd never see them again, my experience of UK Grouse and other game birds led me to believe this would happen. We drove up to them slowly....they didn't move...we got closer....they didn't move.....i got out of the car and walked up to them, they didnt bloody move! Erin got out the car and they didn't move either! These were probably the tamest birds we'd encountered on the trip.

I had a good session photographing the birds, we saw a group of around 10 birds, a mixture of adults and youngsters, males and females. I did find the session fun but also found it tricky, the light was not the best we'd had as the higher altitude lead to some mist hanging around and a fair bit of cloud. I also found the tameness of the birds to be a problem, it was great i could get so close but they were constantly moving and feeding, they never posed for very long and because i was so close when they did pose i couldn't frame them nicely. At the time it didn't occur to me to step back and try and find a nice image with some surroundings shown, however most of the time they skirted along the car park edge and the foliage so to be honest this location wasn't that scenic or picturesque. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable session, great to be so close to a bird i thought i may only gain a glimpse of so cannot complain!

USA Trip Part Four: Yosemite National Park

2011-10-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

During our trip we visited Las Vegas to attend a wedding, straight after this hectic time spent in the city we drove to Yosemite National Park which was completely different! We stayed in Curry Village in one of the static canvas tents which puts you right at the valley floor. Yosemite was simply stunning, the scenery was amazing and there is plenty of wildlife around, we had 3 full days in the park which felt just about right but im sure we could've spent longer. This post will also feature some scenery shots as well as the wildlife...

One of the meadows on the valley floor

Lodgepole Chimpmunk

One of the many fast flowing rivers in the park

Ground Squirrel

Stellar's Blue Jay

Me photographing Mule Deer in the meadow

Common Merganser on the river

Scrub Jay

Brewer's Blackbird Male...

...and Female

Another pictueresque view!

Common Raven

Mule Deer

The view from Glacier Point with me in the corner!

USA Trip Part Three: A Whole Lotta Otter!

2011-10-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

Probably one of the best wildlife experiences of the trip was a great close up encounter with an Otter near to Monteray. We had pulled in to a harbour to scan for waders and also seen a number of Sea Otters floating about on their backs sleeping, these were however quite distant but they were our first ever Otters we had seen so were quite content and drove off in the hope of a closer encounter. As we headed for the main road we saw a man lying on the floor near to the water filming something, we stopped to check it out, all we could see was water...strange! We approached the man and he told us to sit down quietly and wait, after a few minutes up popped an Otter! WOW! We then spent over 30 minutes watching it dive down for clams and use the small rock it had tucked under it's arm to break open the clams and then devour them.

Was a really amazing experience as the Otter was so close and another Otter also swam over to have a meeting, was truly memorable! Images below do not show a great deal of variety, unfrotunately the Otter repeated it's behaviour and did very little else, the light was dismal too so there wasn't alot of scope for a variety of shots but nevertheless i would've been happy with the experience alone, camera or no camera! Enjoy...

USA Trip Part Two: Seaside Snowy

2011-10-11T10:55:00.001-07:00

Plenty of birdlife was seen on my USA trip, i managed to see around 75 new species or "lifers" as they are known, 2 of them were Egret species...the Great Egret and Snowy Egret. Pulling into one of the state beaches on the drive down from San Francisco to L.A to see what was about a tidal pool held both species of Egret feeding together as the photo below shows.

I got down on my belly and crawled through wet cold sand towards the birds, the weather was rather overcast which was rare on the trip but this softer light was probably favourable when tackling bright white birds rather than harsh midday sun. As i crawled the Great Egret started to look wary and inevitably walked off to the back of the large pool and in a very un-photographable position. The Snowy Egret continued to feed close to the pools edge and didn't seem to notice my slow approach, my experience of Little Egrets in Europe lead me to believe that the Snowy (which is very similar in size/appearance etc) would soon be spooked and i wouldn't get anything decent. I was wrong, it stayed and fed and i got closer and it never once worried about my presence, i spent about 20 minutes with the bird until i made my retreat and was very happy with this collection of images...

USA Trip Part One: Desert Sheep

2011-10-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a great holiday with Erin to the USA. We drove from L.A to Las Vegas, across to San Francisco and back to L.A and inbetween these cities visited a number of national parks and amazing areas for wildlife. I have plenty of images to share ranging from landscapes and mammals to birds, reptiles and insects, it really was packed with plenty of great wildlife moments!

My first post contains a range of images of the Desert Big Horned Sheep that inhabit the arid regions of California, these images were all taken in Joshua Tree National Park. The sheep are a wild animal that originally crossed over to the USA from Siberia, this particular subspecies has specially adapted to the desert lifestyle they are forced to lead often going without water for weeks even months at a time and climbing high rocky areas. As this was the breeding season we found a large group of around 12 individuals that had found a small amount of water mainly consisting of females but with 2 or 3 adult males sporting their impressive large rounded horns.

All images were taken in the last hour of the day with the backdrop of an amazing sunset (we were treated to many amazing sunsets and lots of glorious weather on the trip!) Enjoy...

Grey Day but not weather wise!

2011-09-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Had a superb morning at Grafham Water on Sunday. Met some really nice birders who were really helpful when it came to finding the beautiful Grey Phalarope. Myself and Matt observed it running around the shoreline feeding not worried by the crowd of onlookers or the fishermen, some walking right past it! People always say these birds are tame and this one certainly was!

We asked permission to go down to the shoreline for some photographs which we were granted and the low angle really improved the photography, the beautiful sunny morning helped too! Once down on the shoreline myself and Matt laid a good distance away from the bird, we don't have massive lenses so just hoped that the Phalarope would walk towards, it began to head in our direction which was amazing, it clearly was not phased by human presence and wasn't disturbed by us being there, soon it was only feet away feeding and swimming and then it swam right alongside us, it was too close to focus for my camera so this was a real opportunity to look up and watch the bird properly, making eye contact with it you really appreciate how amazing looking they are and this beat any distant view through a scope, this was getting close to nature but still respecting the animal, it wasn't in the least bit disturbed and we got some amazing shots.

The bird moved past us and carried on feeding down the shoreline, we took this opportunity to move away and leave it alone, amazing!

Macro Inverts

2011-09-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't normally put images of captive wildlife on here but took this macro images over the weekend of some captive bred insects and thought they had a bit of character about them, just a bit of fun! Enjoy...

Horse Head Grasshopper

Griffin Mantis

Norfolk for Waders...

2011-09-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Visited Norfolk with Adam and his Dad this week, our local patches are beginning to dry up a bit as birds are moving around, it should pick up again as winter approaches but for now we wanted some close encounters with waders and Norfolk is close by, easy to navigate and can always guarantee birds! Most of these images were taken on the shingle at Snettisham RSPB with a few at Titchwell RSPB. We were lucky with a nice sunny morning and a high tide of 7.2, unfortunately the optimum time is to arrive an hour before high tide to see all the waders moving and swirling around but an hour before high tide was 6am and was still dark! Ah well! Enjoy the images!

Sanderling

Knot

Northern Wheatear

Ringed Plover (Juvenile)

Black Headed Gull

Dragons

2011-09-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

A few images of a Dragonfly using my macro lens, bit of debate whether it's a Southern or Migrant Hawker, answers on a postcard!

Proud!

2011-09-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

I am very proud to say that today i received the news that my image of a Grey Heron catching a Brown Trout at Verulamium Park, St Albans has been awarded the overall winner of the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust 2011 Photography Competition. It will displayed on the cover of their 2012 calender and feature inside on 1 of the months, it should be in their October magazine and may also feature in some local media.

The image was taken on a rather dull day when myself and Erin (my better half) decided to get out of the house and have a walk. I would love to say it took me hours of preparation and patience but in reality we just visited the park and i knew that the Heron's here are particulary tame and so stood a good chance of photographing something. What i didn't expect was the size of fish this adult would pull out as they are usually much smaller at this site, the action happened very fast...i sat down opposite the Heron as he stared into the river, he did this for ages and in the end i began to lower my camera out of boredom thinking he was never going to fish. Suddenly he plunged and i reacted as quick as i could! I must've fired off aroundd 10 shots of the actual moment of fishing and around 4 of them were decent, this one being my favourite.

It's a bit of weird of angle but i just reacted and hoped something came out that wasn't blurred, in the end it was exactly the shot i could've hoped for, hope you like it!

Norfolk Day

2011-08-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Had a day around Norfolk with Matt on Sunday. Glorious sunshine was predicted but we never saw the sun until 2pm! Typical! We began at Salthouse, haven't been there since February with the Snow Buntings so it was interesting to see the pools practically dried out and very little birdlife around, this Redshank in flight was the only image i managed....

We then had a mooch around Cley and Brancaster, we saw Marsh Harriers at both places...

...and this Black Headed Gull who looked a bit bedraggled and was walking with a limp but appreciated the fish!

We left North Norfolk and moved our way down the coastline to Winterton Dunes to see the Wryneck that was reported in the morning. Upon arrival we were told by 1 member of the grumpy group of birders that it hadn't been seen for over an hour, the rest of the group never even looked at us let alone said hello! We stayed for an hour, had a wander and a look for ourselves before moving on....

We finally reached Strumpshaw Fen and as we pulled up the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the afternoon! As we walked the reserve we came across a Pheasant family taking a dust bath and a nap, they were very tolerable as we sat down next to them and appreciated how beautiful they are whilst other simply stomped past without even a glance!

The sun brought out the Dragonflies and Butterflies including the famous Swallowtail, we saw 4 individuals which was amazing!

This male Pheasant was also just as confiding if not more as it followed us up the path!

Local Odds n' Sods

2011-08-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Just a few images taken over the past week or so around my local area,it has been quiet on the bird front as August usually is and tricky to get anything decent on camera but these pictures have pleased me...

Sedge Warbler - Oughtonhead Common, Hitchin

Northern Wheatear - Pegsdon Hills

Common Blue Butterfly - Pegsdon Hills

Northern Wheatear - Pegsdon Hills

House Sparrow - Literally in a hedge outside my house in Hitchin

Golden Hour

2011-08-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Have been waiting for a free night that coincides with a lovely golden sunny evening which has been harder that it sounds. Every evening around 6pm as i'm leaving work the clouds seem to roll in and my plans are thwarted or the evening is lovely but i have other commitments. On Friday however it seemed to all fall into place and i made it down to St Albans for around 6.15pm knowing that the sun is now dropping around 8ish.

Tame Gulls, Geese, Swans, Ducks and Herons are around the lake and although these are not mega rare birds they offer the chance for some creative photography making use of the lovely golden sunset, was chuffed with the results and glad it all came together...

River Level

2011-08-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Spend a lovely summers afternoon with Erin down by the river yesterday, it was typical of British summertime, we arrived and set up our lunch watching thunder and lightning as a Kingfisher wizzed past and Buzzards thermalled above, this was quickly followed by a heavy burst of rain that only lasted about 10 minutes, after that we received a couple of hours of glorious sunshine with temperatures hitting 28 degrees! Erin quickly decided to go paddling in the river and i soon followed, upon entering it it was clear we were right in the middle of a Banded Demoiselle territory with 1 female and 3 fighting males, they seemed less nervous of me in the water so i grabbed my macro lens!

Spent the next hour with them, the bright sunshine didn't help but made the best of it and i took the plunge and kneeled down in the river with just my shoulders, head and camera not getting wet! Getting on "river level" with them really made for some interesting photos and as with birds it felt like i was more in tune with nature and allowed for some intimate shots including 2 of them mating.....enjoy! (excuse the river monster at the end!)

Cant Comment!

2011-08-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all those people who are writing nice things under my blog entries and not getting anything back but for some reason i cannot comment, it just keeps making me sign back into googlemail and goes round and round in circles! Not sure whats wrong. So thank you to everyone who puts positive comments, keep them up!

Tim James, you asked a question regarding my last post, for the cricket photos i used a Nikon D700 with 105mm F2.8 macro lens. All were taken in natural evening light, no flash required. Settings were mostly IS0 250 or 400 and F7.1. Hope that helps!

Cheers!
Ben

Cricket Season

2011-07-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Met up with 2 good friends tonight who represent the Wildlife Trust and had been showing members of the public various speices of grasshopper and crickets in nearby Stevenage. The event had finished but the guys kindly hung around to show us what they had caught during the day, they pushed off but left myself and Adam to release the various inverts, upon release we decided to make the most of this opportunity and take a few photos!

The highlight was clearly the Great Green Bush Cricket, only found in 1 site in the home counties so we were lucky to be handed a handsome male specimen and Adam came through again by finding another, shame we couldn't find a female but i am sure we will be back to take another look! Enjoy...

Tiny Toadlets

2011-07-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

Down this end of the country the weather has been fairly miserable recently, not cold but not hot, sunny during the day but then clouding over just as i leave work...but Wednesday evening finally seemed to be shaping up to be a nice one! I wanted to find my Reed and Sedge Warbler families from a few days before but the light was quite in the right place and they seemed a bit less tame, maybe they weren't awake properly (photos and more from them soon!). Anyways, found some baby toads and in the warm evening light they made nice subjects and the sunset was to die for!

Rutland Ospreys

2011-07-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

3 Young have successfully fledged in Manton Bay, Rutland Water. After a wedding reception in Lincolnshire Erin and myself popped in on the way home to take a look. All 5 birds were stationary on various posts, pylons, trees and the nest site for alot of the time so photography wasn't going to be on the cards as they are a fair distance from the hide (esp with my lens)...

However a group of people appeared out of nowhere and began walking towards the edge of the water and towards the nest site, this is clearly very much frowned upon and probably illegal! It was a bit of a blessing as all birds took to the air and flew slightly towards the hide away from the people allowing for some slightly closer views and a few ok-ish images! It turns out the people were Polish and had no idea they weren't allowed down there, they were quickly removed from the site and the birds all settled back down apart from the adult male who used this time to catch a fish and then present it to the family.

It was stunning just to watch these birds and to see 5 in the air at once was amazing, the visitor centre is worth the trip alone just to see the nest cam and see the birds up close!

Little Birds, Big Task

2011-07-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

I have been trying my hardest to find and photograph Little Owls recently. This is considered one of the best times of year to see them as the young are fledging and calling their parents to feed them so the adults are very active and locating them is supposed to be easier! Photographing them has however proved tricky....

I have checked a couple of local spots that have been reliable in the past but they have proved fruitless, not sure what has happened but all evidence of owls at these sites have dissapeared! The next site was with Adam who has seen a pair across the river from where he lives on private land, we gained permission to access this land from the landowner who luckily i knew and an adult owl popped out of its home, landed on a post and then flew off...only allowing a couple of pics!

Not the greatest of photographic ventures but just seeing an Owl was at least a start and this was followed up with an evening trip to Pegsdon Hills, just 5 minutes from my house and another site i have seen owls in the past. As i approached the hills i heard the familiar screeching of a baby Little Owl calling its parent, views were had of both adult and parent including watching a baby being fed a worm by the adult in the top of the tree! Great views but not an amazing amount of photos....

Locally has been a challenge and i will continue to look for decent sites before the young move on, one last place to try and photograph owls was Regents Park in London, a strange place it may seem but in reality it is actually a brilliant place to see them! I arranged to meet park and wildlife expert and all round decent bloke Tony Duckett who has a blog about the parks wildlife - http://regentsparkbirds.blogspot.com/ check it out! We had a couple of hours in the morning to view the owls before they head further up the trees and away from the joggers and dogs that inhabit the park during the day.

This was a truly memorable experience, the owls are so used to the presence of Tony and his vehicle that he can approach quite close and they dont seem to mind, we saw 1 adult and 2 youngsters during the morning (which started for me at 4.10am with a train to london!), unfortunately the sun was always behind clouds so my photos are a bit dark and dingy but seeing the birds this close with them so relaxed was such a privelage, we even saw a baby being fed on the ground by the adult! Fantastic! Here are my best shots...

Help for Hedgehogs

2011-07-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Out birding with Adam on Wednesday when we received a call from his brother who was doing some work at a school. His brother mentioned that in the process of doing work they had found 3 baby hedgehogs wandering towards the road so they had moved them but they didn't know what to do next! We visited the site and had a good look around for more babies and any adults but none seemed to be around, the baby hogs were calling out frequently but nothing was calling back. We deemed it best to take the baby hogs away and Adam will be looking after them until they are big enough and weighty enough to fend for themselves, we fed them and then took a few photos....here they are!

In Death, Comes Life

2011-07-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

2 pairs of Spotted Flycatchers have successfully fledged young in one of my local Churchyards, getting decent images of the youngsters has been tricky and therefore i wont embarass myself by putting poor images of them on here but here is a selection of the adults. Although rather morbid hanging around graveyards it is a place full of life with plenty of birds using it as a place to nest and feed....

Gannets Galore

2011-07-03T03:44:00.000-07:00

Last year and i had 2 dissapointing experiences involving Gannet photography. My first was a trip to Bass Rock that i had planned months in advance of my Scotland holiday with Erin. As we drove up to Edinburgh the weather forecast looked dreadful and on the morning of the trip to land on the rock i received the dreaded phonecall informing me it was to be cancelled as the weather would not allow us to land. I was gutted. We took a trip around the rock and although stunning to see it just wasn't the same.

On the way home from our holiday i convinced Erin to make a "minor" detour via Bempton Cliffs RSPB in the hope of salvaging some Gannet photos from the trip as i had seen photos from this site showing close encounters with Gannets. The detour took forever and we didn't arrived at Bempton until 5.30pm, the sun was going down, the Gannets were flying low down and i couldn't work out where was best to stand and view from, as i dragged Erin up and down the clifftop i soon realised this wasnt very well planned, you couldn't just turn up at Bempton in the evening when everyone else was leaving and hope to nail unbelievable Gannet shots, again i felt gutted!

This year i knew that there would be no chance of seabird photography for me due to lack of holiday time etc, i wouldnt be visiting Scotland, Skomer or the Farnes. However, a few photos began filtering their way through of Gannets from Bempton looking close up and once again i began to wonder how people get these shots in a place that is clearly no good for close encounters with them (thats what i thought anyways!). I bit of digging revealed that although i had missed the best time to see them as they fly along the clifftops collecting grass there was maybe a chance that certain individuals have nested fairly high up and some are landing quite close to the path....maybe there was an opportunity afterall! So myself and Matt made the journey and i am so glad we did! The Gannets kept fairly low but occasionally 1 would fly quite high up allowing for some nice flight shots and some even did land on the clifftop right next to us to collect some grass, result! Here are my fav Gannet shots...

Big Day at Bempton....Tree Sparrows

2011-06-29T01:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday began at 3am with my alarm going off, i must've been mental! I have done any photography/birding away from my home counties of Herts and Beds for a few months and with the action around here getting a little quiet had hatched a plan to go find some sea birds. Picked Matt up at 3.30 and by 6.30 we were pulling into the car park at RSPB Bempton Cliffs with the main aim to photograph Gannets in flight and hopefully get a really close encounter with one and possible a full on head shot!

It was an absolute scorcher of a day with temperatures reaching around 28 degrees and the sun shone all day, we began around the then un-opened visitor centre with the regular Tree Sparrows, many people probably walk straight past them but we spent some decent time with them. They mainly kept to the visitor centre roof which meant you were looking up at them so being creative and patient was required to get any decent images but occasionaly they did perch in more natural surroundings which was pleasing, here's the Sparrows with more photos to come later....

Shifty Graveyard Shenanigans

2011-06-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

2 of my local churchyard's have once again held breeding pairs of Spotted Flycatchers, both pairs have successfully fledged young....it all happens so fast and i almost missed my chance to spend some time with them but didn't managed and evening and a morning resulting in these images....

Cruel Nature

2011-06-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

More time spent with the local Heron's, many of the young are still around where they were born and are still learning to feed themselves properly.

One particular youngster was observed gobbling up 2 ducklings within 5 minutes of each other much to the horror of the various pram pushers, dog walkers and general common folk strolling past.one lady even lambasted me for taking photos of the event and tried to chase the Heron off so he didn't eat anymore....strange behaviour as this bird is simply doing what comes naturally to him and ensuring he survives, that's nature, and sometimes nature can be cruel...

Micro World

2011-06-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Just a few of my favourite Macro images that i have taken this week, all taken with the Nikon 105mm F2.8 lens.

Heron 1 Brown Trout 0

2011-06-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

My local Herony has been successful again, with a visit last week i saw 2 adults and 4 juveniles all milling around some of the fishing within feet of pushchairs and cyclists in the stream. This is not an uncommon sight but i never realised the stream yieled larger fish like Brown Trout and this adult bird certainly made the most of this opportunity, it was a real commotion and took me by suprise and was great to watch!

Confiding Hare...

2011-06-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

This young Hare or Leveret as they are known ran straight out in front of me whilst at my local dung pile, that is usually the best you can hope for as they sit and look at the car for a while before running off but this chap rounded the car and sat right next to me having his breakfast, couldn't believe my luck! The light was tricky as it was coming in from the side casting shadows but i daren't start the engine or try and move in case i scared him off!

Farmland Fun!

2011-06-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

At the moment i am doing my best to grab whatever photographic opportunities i can, especially with such changeable weather....good amounts of sun seem quite sporadic at the moment!

The local farmland birds are still proving to be enjoyable to photograph and with time at a premium are only a quick journey from my house and are definitely always there which definitely helps! I do want to turn my attentions to other things such as insects (personally would love to live near a seabird colony at this time of the year....but i dont!) but for now these chaps are so enjoyable and i will continue to visit them!

Bright n' Breezy

2011-05-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Certainly has been windy and rather cool of late but Wednesday was warm and sunny (got burnt!) and these bright yellow chaps and chap-esses certainly entertained me!

Essential Mud Gathering

2011-05-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

The local Swallows have spent the last week or so busily gathering the mud they vitally need to build their nests with. As you may have read wet muddy areas are hard to come by with a very dry April and May but due to the good work of certain people a roadside pool is constantly made wet and therefore 3-4 Swallow pairs are able to collect what they need. This is the closest i've ever been to this species and i am really appreciating how lovely they are and also getting a good insight into how they go about the mud collecting process.....enjoy!

Pegsdon Hills

2011-05-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

An evening spent up nearby Pegsdon Hills, ran into a large party of Long Tailed Tits, mostly youngsters being fed by busy parents and up on the hills themselves plenty of Raptors making the most of the last few hours of sunlight and a Lapwing pair that kept mobbing them....lovely relaxing evening...

Nesting in the strangest places!

2011-05-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Recently i have been trying to stay as local as possible for my wildlife photography rather than making huge journeys week in week out. Making the most of local spots allows me to get out before and after work, saves me plenty of petrol and in a way helps my carbon footprint in some small way and if im honest my local area is just as interesting as anywhere else it just takes a bit of hard work finding the good spots, which is rewarding when they come good!

My most local pair of Grey Wagtails that usually nest around the Arlesey train station bridge dont seem to be around this year which is a real dissapointment but a pair in nearby Willington have decided to nest in the lock gates of the canal, such a strange place to nest as the gates are in constant use so their nest moves back and forth and there are prolonged periods of time when they cannot enter the nest until this process has been completed.

However i managed to get up there on a nice sunny morning just a matter of days before the successful fledging to see them going back and forth with food for the young, i think they had 2-3 chicks all of which seem to have fledged and are now being fed in and around the area, was a real privelege to spend some time watching them with beakfuls of grub.

Common Terns

2011-05-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

Exciting birds in my opinion as they hover above our lakes and rivers before plunge diving into the water in an attempt to grab a fish, often overlooked but a real pleasure to see and a decent challenge to photograph, hopefully more to come from these guys....

Roadside Janglers...

2011-05-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

More from my local Corn Buntings, am personally pleased with a gradual improvement in the photos i am taking of this species and finally a bit of variety ever since stumbling across this amazing site to see them so close, enjoy!

Dorset Day

2011-05-04T00:04:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday presented a rare opportunity for myself, Matt and Martin to spend the day together doing something fun! We all work together and never have the same day off but as the shop was shut we had a chance to get out. I've stuck locally for the last month and intend on staying around my area but this day was a chance to go somewhere far flung, with temperatures predicted at 25 degrees but headed for the south coast with the main aim of seeing some reptile species, a group of animals we are all facinated by!

After a bit of over-sleeping and a bacon sarnie stop we finally arrived at Arne RSPB around 8am and began our hunt for reptile species, the main aim was to see Sand Lizards and Smooth Snakes as they are 2 species we cant see locally. The first hour or so of looking proved fruitless, but my first ever Raft Spider spotted by Matt was good to see...

After more searching we ran into some RSPB guys who mentioned a good spot for Sand Lizards, we headed there and once again Matt came up trumps finally spotting our first male!

From that moment on spotting them was fairly easy, we must've seen around 6 or 7 males some of them in glorious green and some juveniles, the males were very active moving around alot, basking out in the open and we even witnessed some fighting! They are truly stunning animals and worth making the trip down south to see....

After a good 2 hours spent with the lizards we headed off back to the car park but not before an RSPB volunteer showed us a Smooth Snake! We couldn't believe it! All 3 of us had never seen one before and this really made the day, admittedly we would've liked to have found one ourselves but they are small, shy and well camouflaged so our chances were thin, photographs were tricky but just seeing one was amazing....

Myself and Martin also had a great encounter with a large female Sand Lizard, the only one we saw during the whole day, not only did she pose for us but she was also in the process of devouring a large dried up earthworm!

The reserve is a great place, lots to see, a good variety of habitats and the staff and visitor centre are top notch, one volunteer also showed us this rare fungus that grows in a specific habitat and in the spring, still trying to find out the name for it!

After a great morning we moved on to Durlston CP in Swanage, the beach was packed full of people and the weather was gorgeous! Ravens were very showy on the clifftops flying right over our heads and landing near us, you couldn't move without hearing a cronking Raven!

On our walk we also saw Wheatear, Rock Pipit, Greater Black Backed Gull, Fulmar, Guillemot, Razorbill, Shag and we even heard a Tawny Owl calling during the middle of the day which was odd! Jackdaws posed nicely for us too...

We then began to move back northwards to make the journey home more bearable, we hoped to make it to Boscombe Beach with enough time to spot the 2 introduced lizard species that live there but we made a stop off in Bournemouth to "twitch" the rare Night Heron that had spent t a few days there along the river, we saw it but views weren't easy due to foliage and the light...

Mayflies everywhere....even on Matt's lens!

We ended the day at Boscombe but it was already 6pm and the light and heat was rapidly fading, no lizards could be found but a busy pair of Stonechats feeding near Fisherman's Walk more than made up for it with excellent views....as well as this House Sparrow!

The drive home wasn't too bad and the KFC was great! Great day, good company and awesome wildlife!

Mammal Action!

2011-04-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Managed to photograph a few mammal species of late, the Water Vole images were all taken from the boardwalk at Rainham Marshes RSPB around 9.30am when they open, if you want to see these elusive creatures this is a top place to do so but get there as soon as it opens, i found as soon as the masses of people started to arrive the voles began alot less confiding! The Hare images are taken locally, not the world's best but was enjoyable to watch them in the afternoon sun as their behaviour is entralling! Enjoy...

More from the Grebes

2011-04-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Another evening session with my local Great Crested Grebe pair allowed for some lovely silouetted and evening sun images....but will they actually get round to nesting?!

Yella

2011-04-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Over a month ago in preparation for the arrival of our Yellow Wagtails i began driving the farm lanes and placing mealworms down on the usual dung heaps. I have placed these down on both fresh dung and old heaps from last year as a way of encouraging the birds to hang around and feed. Admittedly the heaps themselves hold a huge variety of insect life so the birds have plenty of food and would not go hungry but since their arrival i have observed them ignoring all other food and simply gorging on mealworms which makes me think it has been justified!

Here are the first batch of images that i have taken so far, they are by no means my best as i have struggled with light being in the right place when i have free time etc but i have put the time and effort in and am happy and look forward to improving on these...

Snakes n' Lizards

2011-04-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few simple shots of some of my local Adders and Common Lizards, great subjects to photograph and can still provide a challenge in terms of getting something different...enjoy!

More from Suffolk

2011-04-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics from a Suffolk trip in March, only just got round to procesing these images. The Bittern once again performed in front of the Island Mere Hide, the photo of him stretching upwards is a prequel to him booming which was an amazing sight to see! The day ended with a lovely Marsh Harrier hunting over the reedbed as the sun was setting...

Corn Buntings

2011-04-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

Some recent images of Corn Buntings, all taken around my local farmland which is an excellent area for these birds, they are very vocal at the moment using every available perch to sing from and allow me to pull my car right alongside them for photography!

Moorhens, Mandarins and Mute Swans!

2011-04-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

On the hottest day of the year so far Erin and myself had a trip to Hyde Park in London. Its both girlfriend-friendly and bird-heavy even if it's just the commoner species so made sense as myself and Erin both wanted to make the most of our day off together. Hyde Park currently has a Tawny Owl family comprising of 3 chicks and the 2 adults so that was another good reason to visit and we saw all of them (photos will be blogged soon!). The other common species in the park looked fantastic in the sun and allowed me some opportunity to have a go and compositions and images that are different to what i have achieved in the past. These Moorhens looked great in the sun.... As we entered the park a pair of Mandarin were using one of the ornamental fountains to have a bath, previously i have struggled with Mandarin photos. I often focus just on the drake bird and it's usually just a portrait shot as it swims past so this opportunity to capture the birds bathing was really good fun and with the great light every detail and water droplet could be picked up! Another species around in good numbers was the Mute Swan, i often walk past these birds as i find it very tricky to think of a new way of photographing them. It helps if they are doing something like preening or bathing and there was a few opportunities to take some different photos. In honesty they aren't ground breaking and nothing that new but i like the intimate feel of some of these and was pleased with the results neverthless... More from Hyde Park to follow soon!

Mornings & Evenings....

2011-04-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

With the days becoming longer and time both before and after work to visit local sites i have managed to spend some quality time with a pair of Great Crested Grebes and observe them as they pair bond and begin the process of nesting and starting a family. My time so far has been reduced to a few hours either as the sun is rising or setting, this has allowed me to take some intimate behaviour shots in interesting conditions such as misty sunrise and warm evening glow producing some of my favourite images i have ever taken. Hope you enjoy them as much as i've enjoyed taking them, should be more to come from these guys as the spring/summer continues!

Redpolls in the rain

2011-03-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

Spent a few hours today in the hide at The Lodge RSPB reserve which i live close to. A good number of Lesser Redpolls and the odd Mealy Redpoll were frequenting the various feeders dotted around the hide often coming in quite close and drinking from the pool. The day was a bit grey and most of the time i had to make do with a high ISO of anything between 800 all the way up to 1600! It was also raining so i was glad to be inside! Anyways, here are my better shots, would love to go back in the sun and see what results i get but who know when our next sunny day is and whether that will coincide with one of my days off! Enjoy...

The Shorelarks of Suffolk

2011-03-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here are my best efforts from 2 separate sessions photographing the Shorelarks at Dingle Marshes, Suffolk. I found this site quite tricky, it clearly gives amazing close views of birds that normally would be tricky to get close to and for that it is brilliant. However due to the landscape being pure shingle and the fact that the birds are using the area just to feed it is tricky to get a great deal of variety in the photos, nearly all of mine have ended up as pure portrait shots and during the whole time i was there i saw very little behaviour, interaction between birds and never had the chance for any flying/bathing/preening shots etc.

Purple Sandpipers

2011-03-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

Have tried twice in the past week to see the Ness Point (Suffolk) Purple Sandpipers before they depart, i really do love these birds! The first occasion was dreary and the birds were very inaccessible leading to some horrendous photos but on my return visit the sun was shining and 2 of them were nicely feeding out in the open allowing me some quality time up close with them, really really chuffed!

Morocco....best of the rest!

2011-03-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a collection of images to conclude my series of Morocco trip blogs, these images aren't necessarily my finest work but more a record of species that we saw that i have not included in other posts. Birds seen that i dont have images for (or have really really bad images!) include - Tristram's Warbler, Scrub Warbler, Pharoah Eagle Owl, Desert Lark, Moussiers Redstart, Levaillants Green Woodpecker and Barbary Falcon!

I have finally managed to get back out in the UK this week with trips to Norfolk and Suffolk so expect some updates soon!

Raven

Brown Necked Raven

Little Owl

Black Winged Kite

Long Legged Buzzard

Laughing Dove

White Stork

Crag Martin

Trumpeter Finch

White Stork

Chiffchaff

Stonechat

Rock Sparrow

Rock Bunting

House Bunting

House Sparrow

Common Bulbul

Choughed!

2011-03-21T13:14:00.001-07:00

In my penultimate blog entry from my recent Morocco trip i've focused on my photos of Red Billed Chough, a species in good numbers in the Atlas mountains and quite confiding. I was very happy with some of my flight shots of a bird that i've never had the privelage to see so close. Alpine Chough was also seen in smaller numbers but alas, i never managed anything decent photo-wise! Enjoy!

Not Birds!

2011-03-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Morocco was clearly full of birdlife and we did our best to see as many as possible, however we also wanted to see any other wildlife possible and often we went out of our way to find them by turning over rocks etc! Here are the best mammals, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians we saw during our trip!

Barbary Ground Squirrel - (Alantoxerus getulus)

Fat Sand Rat - (Psammonmys obesus)

Israeli Gold Scorpion - (Scorpio maurus)

Large Psammodromus - (Psammodromus algirus)

Bibron's Agama - (Agama impalearis)

Atlas Day Gecko - (Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus) - A Moroccon endemic!

Iberian Wall Lizard - (Podacris hispanica)

Bosc's Fringe Toed Lizard (Acanthodactylus boskianus)

North African Green Frog -(Rana saharica)

Desert Sparrow

2011-03-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Desert Sparrow was probably THE most wanted bird to see on our recent Morocco trip. It had an air of mystique about it to the point where we questioned whether we would actually see this species or not.

Desert Sparrows are a bird that appears to be on the decline as competition for nesting with House Sparrows and loss of suitable habitat are having a effect on their numbers. However, according to the IUCN they are of "least concern", this is down to the fact that their range is so wide and their habitat (i.e desert) makes it tricky to gauge numbers. One thing is certain, in the Merzouga area of Morocco it was a mere 10 years ago that numbers of these birds were around the 80-100 and they could be easily found, but in 2011 we were hearing about odd pairs or numbers under 10 so clearly in this particular area they were just holding on to territory.
We approached the Erg Chebbi dunes with some rather sketchy info about a pair nesting in the walls of Auberge Cafe Jasmina which has been a favoured place over the past few years but we also had read about another Auberge that takes people into the dunes themselves to see the birds. Arriving at the dunes we were approached by a guy called Brahim who ran Auberge Caravane, he GUARANTEED Desert Sparrows for a small fee....it seemed genuine and so within an hour we were crammed onto the back of a quad bike being taken into the dunes.....

Upon arrival in a small camp out in the dunes our guide instantly pointed to 2 small birds flying over our heads and instantly we knew we were in the right place, we'd seen our first Desert Sparrows! We then spent the next hour having the most wonderful views of such a rare bird, the camp housed camels and their dung provided feeding opportunities for the sparrows, the sparrows relaxed in our presence and photos opportunities became available...

Our time was up and the light would soon be fading so we had to leave the dunes and leave the sparrows, overall we probably saw somewhere between 10 and 15 individuals, most of them males. It was a truly great experience, it wasn't just seeing the birds but going into the desert itself, riding a quad bike and spending some time alone with the birds all made for a real memorable moment of the trip and one i'll never forget...

Larkin' About!

2011-03-14T12:07:00.001-07:00

Lark species were frequently encountered on the trip, unfortunately Thick Billed Lark was "the one that got away" and i never managed any decent Desert Lark snaps but still saw a great variety of Larks and each of them were interesting, we even saw a fair bit of behaviour from courtship to agression...

Shore Lark, sitting tight on the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. This guy blended in so well and was hoping none of the returning skiers would trample on him as they made their way back from the slopes

Hoopoe Lark - probably one of my favourite birds of the trip, was really interesting to observe its amazing display flight and hear its unmistakeable call

Temminck's Horned Lark - quite common by the roadside but very small and flighty so not always easy to approach however we did get to spend some time watching these guys interacting and also 2 rival males involved in a fight which took them both into the air!

Bar-tailed Lark, got to be one of the cutest birds of the trip, just has that face! Nice and confiding and numerous

Crested Lark, these chaps and Thekkla Larks were very common and liked to perch up on rocks calling

Roadside Insect Munchers

2011-03-13T03:09:00.000-07:00

These Cattle Egrets were feeding on a warm sunny afternoon in a field beside a road, although not the rarest of birds we saw during our trip they caught our attention and after driving past so many of them we decided to stop and take some pictures, glad we did as they make great photographic subjects with their bright yellow eyes and various types of behaviour, a strange "neck wobble" when hunting insects was something i've never seen before but enjoyed viewing! Here are my best shots from a short session....

Moroccan Sunsets

2011-03-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

Birding all the way until last light every day in Morocco allowed for some excellent photographic opportunities with birds being silouetted by the fading sun, here are some of my favourite images. I've cropped them and have added a bit more colour to a few of them just to make them stand out a bit more but that's about it! Enjoy!

Shrike it Lucky!!!

2011-03-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

This Southern Grey Shrike became affectionately known as "Ben's Shrike", it lived in and around a hotel wall on the small track down from our hotel in Boulamene de Dades and after being around human beings all day had become incredibly tame. It was known as my Shrike as i'd always make us stop and photograph it each morning and evening as we left the hotel for the Tagdilt Track, i think Dan and Ed would agree that eventually it was worth stopping for! What a bloody mean looking bird!

Morocco....Wheatear Heaven!

2011-03-06T01:22:00.000-08:00

On my recent 2 week trip to Morocco i travelled from Marakesh all the way down to the desert area of Merzouga. Along the way Wheatears were encountered and apart from maybe House Sparrows i would say we saw more Wheatear species than any other bird, it seemed you couldn't go far without one being spotted from the car window. In total we saw 5 species - Desert, Red Rumped, Black, Mourning and White Crowned which isn't a bad total for the time of year! Here is a small selection of my best Wheatear images...

Female Red Rumped followed by Male. The male was singing and tail flicking on top of the 'Wheatear Wall' on the Tagdilt Track. There was no sign of any breeding activity this year on the wall but the Red Rumped male was trying his best!

Desert Wheatear (male) - This chap constantly returned to a poo covered pile of boulders and used the elevated perch to hunt from, i sat a few feet away from the boulder and he always returned!

White Crowned Wheatear - i would say this was the most commonly seen species overall but not necessarily the most confiding, was happy to get these shots...