Holme Norfolk Sept 2008.

My dad and sarah joined me on a morning trip to the coast. I was only staying till midday but hoped for some variety in the photographs. The tide was still coming in on arrival and the terns were feeding close to the shore. Huge flocks of waders could be seen further up the coast but we were unable to get closer, so we moved towards thornham. Keeping close to the water i took advantage of birds flying past.

The terns were feeding well and it wasnt long before the skuas started to turn up with a few individuals showing. At times they would approach close by as they made a direct route to the sandwich tern it spied catching fish. From hundreds of metres away they locked onto their target and skimmed the sea till the ensuing dogfight.

It was a marvel to watch as they twisted and turned before triumphantly retrieving the dropped catch. This action continued throughtout our stay there with all arctics showing and a possible pom flying past.

There were a few groups of wader stiil around on the few sandbanks left above water. Mostly knot with some grey plover and a few sanderling,ringed plover,dunlin. A solitary wheatear made an inquisitive visit and even came closer as if to check us out. After just four hours it was time to make a move but it was a great morning especially for watching the skuas.

Stewartby Bedfordshire.Sept 2008

I spent a couple of hours looking around here with just common species to photograph, there were good numbers of goldfinches notable. There were a few chiffchaff around the sewage treatment area along with a female blackcap and a pair of lesser whitethroat feeding among some dead wood but too elusive to capture on camera.

Waxham,Norfolk. September 2008

After reports came through of a semi-collared flycatcher in norfolk came through i decided to set off early on the morning of sept 16th. There were good numbers of birds all about with plenty of wheatear, redstart, and flycatchers. There were a lot of features differing on a few birds, at the end of the day i was happy to get some of my first ficedula images.



There were a number of redstarts present along the dune edges perching up and shoing well at times and a few spotted flycatchers were present too.

Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire.September 2008.

Sunday the 7th started good with a pair of honey buzzards gliding over my house, and then news of a pair of juv spoonbill came through so i decided to spend a few hours up at grafham the next morning to see if they were still present.
On arrival at the lagoons they were still there albeit at the far end and asleep for the majority of the time. Eventually they began to get more active and showed well from the hide.
A little egret ventured close to and gave good views whilst feeding. But by now the spoonbills were feeding well and were more than happy to show infront of us. When they caught sight of someone though they were quite wary and flew off to the rear of the lagoon, but soon resumed the same feeding circuit.
It was nice to see the spoonbills closer up this time compared to the group at cley not so long ago.

Bedfordshire, September 8th 2008

My first time out since the end of July. I was only able to keep local so headed off to Willington first, with not much to report there i was about to head off when news of a wryneck at sharpenhoe clappers came through. So i was off, and not visiting there before i parked on the road below the summit. Bloody hell was it a steep climb, i was well and truly hanging out after lugging my gear up there. Only to be told there is parking nearer the top, ill remember next time. Mind you if i hadnt approached from that direction i wouldnt have connected with a whinchat which posed for a couple of shots. On getting to the spot where the wryneck was, it was immediately pointed out to me atop a post but it didnt stay there long as a couple of walkers flushed it into the dense bushes. I only caught another glimpse as it flew from one area to another, a real elusive bird indeed,well done Andy for getting a shot. Still i was back out and about again.....hoorah

Moths

Poplar Hawkmoth

Here's a selection of images taken during august, thank god for moths or i would not of had anything to photograph. These are taken with a new macro lens i got recently, enabling me to get in nice and close.
Red Underwing
Svenssons Copper Underwing
Straw Underwing
Canary-shouldered Thorn

Javea Spain.August 2008.

During august birding and photography had to take a back seat, the reason being relocating sarahs mother back to england from spain. The first half was sorting and furnishing a place over here and then going over to spain to sort out the move and financial/paperwork stuff. I was only able to take a small pair of bins and so every morning before we got started again i would bird from the garden. I had some good birds though with a light phase Booted eagle top of the list which circled over the villa and a backup cast of: a group of 20+ Bee-eaters, Pallid swift with 1+ Alpine swift in the group, Spotted flycatcher, Sardinian warbler. As of writing im still as yet to get out but hopefully that will change soon.