Welney WWT. Norfolk. February 2010.

Welney, well it was bloody cloudy as hell ( not fore casted - surprise surprise ), bloody cold and bloody windy, but what the heck that's just my luck as usual. And why do they open at 10am, most of the activity is done by then, madness!

Obviously I had gone to photograph the swans and I was shocked at how few there were around. Whether due to to a lot of high water and flooding they were more dispersed? there were not even the usual back and forth flights in front of the hides, very different from previous years.

With the hide to myself I set about trying for images on what was available as and when the light broke through. A solitary Lapwing posed well enough and a single Snipe put in an appearance, albeit a tad far off. But I was glad that the stunning colours of the Lapwing stood out so much in the shots.

And because I was in one of the hides off the main observatory the Wigeon there were more confiding. They are such a lovely duck, but another side of them was seen when a group of males were trying to 'propose' to a single female.

They would all congregate in a close knit group and try to gain her attention, it seemed one male was already the partner and would fend off any rival upon nearing her. But the mass of drakes around made it end up in a splashing frenzy of wings, with ducks being submerged chased off and bullied.

The female would then take flight ahead of the noisy chasing party only to land some distance away for the whole chaotic display to start again. Whilst this was happening the others were busily feeding on submerged grasses and weeds.

The Pochards are one of my favourites, the colour of the heads are so striking against the grey and black, and that piercing red eye too.

The Mallard and Tufted may be common but who can deny how glorious the head colours can be when the sunlight shines just right.

A few Whoopers ventured closer to one of the hides and I chanced at some close up head shots as something different.

The best part of the five hours spent here were the Black tailed godwits. They were on a scrape a way off at first but when spooked they would congregate into a tight knit group and venture closer as they flew round and round before settling down. I love to photograph waders and this was a great experience reminiscent to the hordes at Snettisham but on a very smaller scale. Unfortunately they landed on a further off scrape and seemed content to sleep it off.

Snettisham.Norfolk.1st February 2010.

The only decent weather wise day to be fore casted over my days off work and so I headed to Snettisham, mainly to try and photograph the 2 shore larks there, but also the waders which I love to work with.

The tide was in on arrival, half hour behind due to a 40mph lorry-cheers, and quite choppy. I hadn't seen it in this far for a while and the waders were swarming everywhere, albeit further up the wash and over towards Lincs'. But still a great sight no matter how far away. Also did I say it was a bit chilly,no, well it was bloody chilly. Having to have my shutter finger free using mitts wasn't great, even with thermal liners. At one stage my nose actually hurt from the cold, must remember the scarf, you fool...

A merganser was busily hunting fish on the first pool and showed reasonably well, when it was above the water that is.

I never tire of waders and they always become obliging once you've taken your time to approach and work with slowly. Knots are so good to work with and one particular bird could of been a pet on a leash, it shadowed me along the waters edge at times so close I could not focus, but a wonderful experience and everything else around you just fades away to the sidelines.

All the while there I had of course kept an eye out for the shore larks, I came across them just the once and they soon flitted back along towards the chalets out of sight. But after a few hours working the same stretch, a birder gave me the nod and declared 'shore lark', in fact they were closer to me than him, I just couldn't pick them out.

And then they move and you are able to follow them. There were a few birders present so not wanting to put them both up I fired off a couple of record shots and then waited some time until a few of the birders had moved on before slowly edging closer to a more visible area. With the light behind me I inched closer and still feeding one bird actually came closer to me. Obtaining a decent set of images I left them to it. Happy with my first set of shore lark images in the bag, I was feeling a tad warmer now.

Stotfold.Bedfordshire.January 2010.

The large group of Corn Buntings, over 700, were drawing in people so I thought I should add to the list. The birds were split into quite a few groups, and actively feeding whilst some groups were happy to rest up in the trees and bushes. The noise was very evident, and the yellowhammers too were in good numbers, I don't think Ive seen so many at one time. Also very evident was the Merlin that carried out frequent sorties of the feeding areas, I have never seen such prolonged views of Merlin before and it was amazing watching this agile little predator, the aerial dogfight displays were awesome but on no occasion did I see it connect with a meal. A truly great experience indeed.

Eversholt.Bedfordshire. January 2010.

Took a trip to Eversholt to connect with the group of Goosanders there. On arrival they were all together at the opposite end so I only got a couple of record shots, unfortunately before venturing closer they upped and departed,the police helicopter low and nearby was probably not to their liking, not to return. I then located a large flock of siskin mixed with other species. The group numbered a good couple of hundred, and the noise was very evident even on the opposite side of the lake.

Broom, Bedfordshire. Jan 2010.

I visited Broom in the hope that the weather would break, but no such luck. The Black necked grebe was still present but I was only able to grab a few record shots before it headed out to the middle of the water. I gave it some time to see if it would move closer again but to no avail and so with sodden feet (from flooded track) and freezing hands I called it a day as it got even duller.

Beeston Bird Ringing.January 2010.

Well, a new year and my dad and I were back out with the Beeston ringing group. The weather was good and hopes were high. A decent group of birds were feeding near one set of mist nets with the chance of trapping a first for Beeston. But more of that later.

The green woodpecker in the hand is more spectacular than ever, the different shades of green and that bright red feathering.... stunning.

This male greenfinch exhibited some really bright yellow feathering, giving a lovely contrast on the primary edges, and when the sun shone on it, well it would of looked more at home in a cage acting as a canary!.

Thinking back over the sessions I couldn't recall ever photographing a coal tit so that was a bonus, and I love to see song thrushes, I think they are an underrated bird when it comes to looks, this one was certainly happy to pose too.

While on the subject of underrated, the dunnock must certainly be there, what a lovely little bird they are though, so intricate in the markings. And that brings us nicely onto the 2, yes not 1 but 2 new species to be ringed at Beeston... drum roll and scroll down.

The 1st, an awesome female bullfinch, so elusive in the wild and what a jewel in the hand, everyone was buzzing with this bird. I don't think anyone was bothered it wasn't a male, this was a great addition. The subtle pink tones and distinctive bill... lovely jubbly.

And last but not least.... scroll down.

A lovely delicate looking male linnet, and the 2nd new species to be ringed. The red feathering could be seen on breast and the lovely brown back feathering, well you cant just say brown its more rich to be just brown, especially contrasting with that grey hood. There were a small number seen near one of the netting sites and fingers were crossed from the word "go", how great not to be disappointed. And so to the end of a great morning, Kingfisher on our last visit, 2 new additions today... whatever next?