Ugly duckling

Young Coots really do have a face that only a mother could love !

Canon 7D

After 6 months i really still dont like it !!! Good features,but bloody hell the images are incredibly grainy !! These Dove shots,were taken with the 500mm lens-no TC,not a patch on the 40 and 50D's.

Scorchio !!

Bloody hell it was hot !! Wandered very slowly around Hoveringham,saw very little,3 Common Sands made themselves apparent,LRP,Oystercatcher,Dunlin,Common Terns.Oh yes life can be exciting on the patch !! All images 7D and 400mm F5.6

Coombes Valley RSPB

With such beautiful weather,and not much doing rarity wise,i decided to visit Coombes Valley on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border......its 19 years since i last visited.It is a very beautiful reserve,a steep sided valley,with mature oaks and a stream running through the middle.I have to say i was a little disappointed with the lack of birds.....i remember Wood Warblers,Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers were quite abundant.No Wood Warblers were breeding on the site this year,i saw one Redstart,a pair of Pied Flycatchers were occupying a nest box...also saw a Spotted Flycatcher very briefly.

Re-visited

Oriental Pratincole is not the sort of bird you see everyday,so a revisit was inevitable....especially with such nice weather forecast.Couldnt believe how many cars were there !! I thought last sunday was busy! The thing good with Frampton is,once you get on the reserve it doesnt feel like many people are there.Started off with some lovely views of singing Corn Bunting,not a bird easliy seen in Notts anymore,even in the their traditional stronghold....i suspect a sad picture repeated around the country.A Temmincks Stint was a nice suprise,and was showing very very well,but had flown just before i got there and was a bit distant for photos especially in the haze.After iniatially being very distant,the Pratincole showed to virtually point blank range around east hide....much to close for the big lens....should have taken the 400mm !! I got some better flight shots than last week,2-3 first summer Little Gulls were showing well there too.Great Reed Warbler in Derbyshire was the next quarry......quite near home too....i didnt think it would take that long to see,considering all the pager messages said 'showing well' Bloody hell.....it took 4 hours to get a record shot!! It can be very very elusive!! and feeds in the bushes all around the pond,singing only from the tiny patch of reeds its chosen.............amazing the places birds choose to set up home !!

Seven whistlers

An evening walk around the railway pit,looks like the Hobbies will be nesting in the same tree as last year,two birds have been sat in the tree for a few days now.....hopefully il get some good shots over the summer,just a record of them sat in the tree for now though.Suprise of the day went to the three Whimbrel-very wary indeed,the call is very disticntive i find,and i always think of the Shetland/Norse name 'seven whistler' if i recall it has quite a dark connotation,six birds calling for the seventh,if the find it the seventh brings death.................or something like that !!!! Alright im probably wrong !!