Lake Vyrnwy

As i said before Im at Lake Vyrnwy, Wales next week so my blog'll go quiet...

Ill post images when i get back an as im now on "study" leave ill have loads of time to post them :-)

Im hoping to do some landscapes and spend some time in a hide at some of the Pied Flycatcher and Redstart nests! (and hopefully some of the Dippers with young)

Hope Cornwall doesn't stay true to form and all the decent birds turn up!

Red Footed Falcon (19th record) at Lands End airfield today!

Powerboats Part 2

Part 2.

My boats bigger than yours ;-)

Wheelie

Squacco Heron!

The powerboats will have to wait until the week as the Heron is a lot better. A really nice bird in a really nice location. Good to meet everyone today!

More images here...

Angie

Trevor

Mark

Steve (!!!)

Monty

About to fish, i missed it catch the fish and the images of it with a fish were out of focus

Damn branch

Damn branch again

Penzance Grand Prix of the Sea!

This weekend the Powerboat championship is at Penzance. Its well worth visiting!!

All my images were from the Main pier a Newlyn (where the light is good, the parking is good and there's less people). Thanks to Bob for letting me use the 600 for a bit!

Newlyn is probably the best place to view/photo from, unless you have a boat (or a *see last image*)...

I have sorted the 400 or so images down to 14 which ill post in 2 parts.

Sorry they are a bit "samey"!!

Winner

I missed the main lifeboat but the inshore Lifeboat was still around

TV Chopper- That's the best place to view from!!!

St. Michaels Mount- ND Grad Test

Ive just bought 2 Neutral Density filters for the 17-40mm. I have only taken about 20 images with them so far and im still learning but here's one from last night at St.Michaels Mount. The weather was crap, no sun just boring grey clouds so I was expecting to only get bad images. I stacked a ND4 and ND8 filter to get the dark sky. I like the weird purple in the sky. Im now waiting for a decent sunset. Also my exams have now started so I may not be able to post images for a while. Im at Lake Vyrnwy for a week in 2 weeks time so hopefully I have some decent images to post after that!

The image is a bit flat but.......

Sparrow

Still not that many blogable images for a while. Loads of decent migrants around at the mo' (yet i still cant get any pics), Lesser Yellowlegs at Walmsley, The dodgy finch at Lands End, A few Woody Shrikes and much more!

I went down to Sennen this evening for the Hawfinch, and dipped. we spoke to the owners of the house it spends most time around, it was there about 1 hours ago.

Just a lot of House Finches Sparrows around. Bit of a boring image but i need to keep the blog up to date!

I might post a record shot of the little Tern at Marazion on Sunday later this week...

HOUSE FINCH!!!

3 decent birds for Cornwall in 1 week. White throated Sparrow (1st Record), Golden Eagle (3rd Record) and House Finch (1st Record). In theory its been a great week BUT the later is more than likely an escape, Extreme :-(

House Finch would be the second north American bird this week for Cornwall!! House Finch's are very common cage birds in the UK and the Yellow Variant being what "most" captive cage birds are. They are also not very migratory birds, Females migrate further and a survey found only 4% of the ringed House Finch's in the survey moved as much as 200kms!!!. A pair of Mexican House Finch's were for sale in Cornwall in January and others are for sale for about £20. In addition to that the yellow variant in House Finch's make up c.5% of the birds surveyed in the "Colour variation in House Finches" survey. The majority of "Yellow" variations come from the diet of the birds. Captive birds also show a yellow variation which doesn't help the possibility of a wild Lands End bird. And just to make it even worse there is supposed to be an Avery next to the Post office in Sennen and although I haven't heard if they have lost a bird, or even keep House Finch's, it doesn't help the credentials of the bird.

Also a female House Finch (which would have been the first British record) was on Fair Isle in April 1966 for 3 days, it was assumed as an escaped cage bird and was accepted as a Cat. E bird on the UK400 list (and probably the BBRC as well).

Even more: As we were leaving Lands End RBA had "Dark-eyed Junco in private garden in Cheltenham present since Jan 8th!" although it was last seen on April 5th and it was in a private area and not twitchable.

Reference:http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw298

http://uk400clubrarebirdalert.blogspot.com/2010/05/house-finch-of-unknown-origin-in-west.html

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/HoufinColorVariants.htm

http://www.birdtrader.co.uk/birds/finches-for-sale/cornwall/mexican-house-finch-pairs-for-sale/BT104323

http://sennen-cove.com/birds

EDIT: Email from Terry George, "the bird was sighted early last week (not ID'ed) about 100yds from the house which apparently keeps caged birds"

Hope all that's correct and makes sense! If not, its not my fault im an idiot ;-)

Anyway, I did see it and thanks to the owners of the Swingates house for letting birders in today. Access was limited today and people were allowed to view the garden 6 at a time and no one was leaving without seeing it. Again thanks to the owners for letting people in BUT I don't think they will be letting people in tomorrow. Well worth the 6 hours (!!!!) spent standing up in the cold even if it is an escape! It wont be on my list until its proven otherwise, which I REALLY hope it is.

Better images here: http://www.swopticsphoto.com/2010/05/house-finch-at-lands-end-8th-may.html

My ISO 3200, c. 1/500s, Handheld, Shivering with cold, heavily cropped, No Noise Reduction extremely crap record shots.

White Throated Sparrow!!!!!

1st Record for Cornwall, well worth the trip!!

I didnt get that good images with my camera but i got reasonable shots phone scoping. I think you'll agree i should leave the digiscoping to John Rowe. I did manage a video which shows it quite well, shame about the wind. Thanks to everyone who has commented lately!

More images of Sparrow:

John Rowe

Colin Selway