Rough Legged Buzzard.Reed. Hertfordshire. Nov' 2008.

Myself and sarah spent some time trying to connect with the Rough legged buzzard at Reed in Hertfordshire. The weather was bloody awful on occasions but good views were had in the end. On the afternoon of the 18th i went back in the hope of connecting again and was able to gain a few more record shots. There were numerous buzzards in the area but as soon as the rough legged showed you just knew that was the bird. The tail stood out immediately and then you took in the rest of the plumage, along with the hen harrier and red kite it was a very productive site, with thanks to the landowners for their time and patience and in stopping to take time to talk,thankyou.

Norfolk, November 2008.

Sarah and i stayed in norfolk for a few nights as a late honeymoon, on the way to blakeney we stopped off beside a field containing huge numbers of pink footed geese. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the clouds thickening so as more pink footed' flew in i grabbed some shots of them against the light so as to get some silhouette images. Amazing to watch and listen to them overhead, and how they just drop a wing and tumble down losing height, they almost turn themselves over.

I wanted to visit horsey in the hope of photographing the grey seal colony there. Sarah had not been before and was hoping to see some pups. On arrival there was significant workings going on with machinery, it looked like there wasn't any seals present. But a little further on we began to pick out the seals and eventually locating some pups on the beach. They weren't bothered by the workings at all, the pups sleeping as the lorries drove past within yards.

It was great working with the seals and some behaviour that i hadn't noted the year before was great to watch. The adult seals seemed to be paired up and playing and frolicking around in the water, with what looked like the female standing atop the male as he lay in the water. The weather was pretty good but the wind was very strong at times with sand blizzards sweeping across the beach and seals. It wasn't long before id rattled off over a 1000 shots and so we then left the colony. The next morning was our last but despite a good forecast the weather was in fact awful so we ended up walking the beaches at holme, but we did watch the yellow browed warbler there which was a great finishing bonus.

Below are some images from the grey seal colony.

***MEGA***MEGA***MEGA***

Steppe Grey Shrike

Grainthorpe Haven, Lincolnshire.

Firstly a big thankyou to Sarah for taking a day out from our honeymoon in norfolk to go and see the 'steppe'. The weather was very dull and rain forecast later in the day, so we travelled early from blakeney to connect with the shrike before the weather set in. The bird was still frequenting the same area and showed well on arrival, a new tick for both of us.


It was so confiding and totally unperturbed by people, coming within 2ft of me, giving excellent views of its plumage/parts, notably the pale bill and lores and somewhat 'bouffant' head shape and pale grey plumage. It was actively feeding on worms and perching on the mounds of mud or vegetation along the ditch. A cracking bird and well worth the journey up, unfortunately the weather set in and started to rain and became even darker making photography awkward with the wind, but id grabbed some images and left very happy indeed.