Pied Flycatcher at Church Cove

I had a great day birding today with 2 life and 3 County ticks. We started off the day at Church Cove looking for the Green/Greenish Warbler, which after about 4 hours of watching and waiting I had reasonable view of it in the canopy, Lifer and County tick. While at Church Cove I also managed to photograph the Pied Fly that was in the area, 2nd County tick.. pics below. Our next stop for the day was St.Leven for the Radde's Warbler, Great views of that and my 2nd life/3rd County ticks. Not the best images but I needed something to post.

EXIF: Canon 1D MKII, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/640, Spot Metering.

Yellow-Browed Warbler at Nanquidno

YB Warbler at Nanquidno this afternoon. Another 2 LIfers this afternoon, YB Warbler and the Whooper Swan at Drift.

EXIF:Canon 1D MKII, Canon EF 400 f/5.6 L USM, AV, f/5.6, Spot Metering, first 2 ISO 640 last 1 ISO 320,

Snow Bunting at Nanqudno

Despite the rubbish weather I managed to get over to Nanquidno again to see if I could get some better Snow Bunting pic's. After that we headed over to Marazion to see if the Spoonbill was still present....... it wasn't. While checking Bird Guides when I got home I found the Spoonbill had been reported 10 minuets after we had left :-(

For some better images of the Nanquidno Snow Bunting see Sam's blog, HERE

Spoonbill at Marazion

Just a few images from today at Marazion and Nanquidno. First up is the immature Spoonbill that was present at Marazion Today.

Snow Bunting at Nanquidno, (by airfield)

Dunlin on Marazion Beach

Dunlin on Marazion Beach this afternoon. I took loads of images of birds on the beach with the majority being of this Dunlin in the mouth of the Red River.

EXIF: Canon 1D MKII and Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM, RAW, f/5.6 ISO 200-500, 1/640s-1/2000s, Spot Metering-Partial Metering

Dunlin on Marazion Beach

I spent about an hour on Marazion Beach this afternoon trying to photograph the resident waders. For some reason we could only find one lonely Dunlin at the mouth of the Red River Mouth, and in amongst the gulls was an Adult Med Gull. The light wasn't great but once again RAW has saved me.

EXIF: Canon 1D MKII, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM, ISO 800, f/5.6, Spot Metering.

Baird's Sandpiper at Marazion

Some images from Marazion Beach (Red river) taken on Sunday.

EXIF:Canon 1D MKII, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM, ISO 800, 2 and 3= Partial Metering 4 and 5= Spot Metering, f/5.6. Sorry about the weird orange tint that was the sun setting behind me.

EDIT: first image is the original of image #3. For Liam.

Waders at Davidstow

A few images from today at Davidstow. I originally thought I was photographing Dunlin and Ringed Plover but after looking at some of the Baird's images from Davidstow and Marazion I started to doubt the Dunlin ID, Can anyone confirm it.

I am still experimenting with RAW but so far I have found it a great advantage over Jpeg. All images Shot in RAW and converted in Photoshop, ISO 200, 400mm.

Woodchat Shrike At Nanquidno

A (Rubbish) Record shot of the Juv. Woodchat Shrike at Nanquidno today. Taken at about 6:30 in low light, handheld, Resulting in an extremely blurry image, sorry...

** the image of the shrike is so bad you may not want to open it to full screen.**

EXIF: Canon 1D MKII, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 3200

Marsh Tit from Main Hide, Stithians Reservoir.

EXIF:Canon 1D MKII, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 400

For better images of todays Shrike see Angie's Blog

Scotland

Sorry for the lack of posting (again) but I spent the last week of my holidays in Scotland.

We set off from Cornwall on the 26th and arrived back last Sunday (11 days). Instead of doing the easy thing and catching the train up to Aviemore we worked our way up over 3 days in the car, spending a night at my auntie's and a full day on the Isle of Mull.

After spending a extremely stormy night in Oban we caught the Calmac ferry over to Mull.

We had arranged a birding tour with Peter Hall of Mull Wildlife Tours (which is the best way to see Mull's wildlife in a day.) From a very good day of birding on an amazing island I had managed 5 Lifers, (Hooded Crow, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Eider and Golden Eagle)

But unfortunately no White Tailed Eagle :-(

Best image of Golden eagle I could manage ^^, as if flew over I panicked and got all the settings wrong so a silhouette is the best I could get.

Next day we packed up the tent and started the long drive up to Aviemore. Arriving in Aviemore in the afternoon we quickly set up the tent and headed off to Loch Morlich and Loch Garten (RSPB Ospreys). No Lifers from Loch Garten and Loch Morlich.

Meadow Pipit, Farr Road, Nr. Findhorn Valley

Osprey on nest, Kincraig ^^

yes, we got there...

We spent 4 days in the Cairngorms where I got 2 lifers, Osprey at Rothiemurchus Fish Farm and Crested Tit at Loch an Eilein car park.

A very noisy image of one of the fishing ospreys at Rothiemurchus Fish Farm.

Red Squirrel, Loch an Eilein Car park.

On the way back to my Aunties in Telford we spent a day at Leighton Moss. I got 3 lifers from Leighton Moss, Common Tern, Spotted Redshank and Greenshank. No positive sightings Marsh Harrier but we did have a possible fly over the road. Back in Telford we paid a visit to Sandwell Valley RSPB, a nice reserve considering its location. 2 lifers Ruddy Duck and Snipe.

I will post the rest of my best images over the next few days here

Also since I have been back from Scotland I have ticked Ruddy Shelduck, Knot, Sanderling, Whinchat, Baird's Sandpiper and Wryneck but I have dipped on Lapland bunting, Buff-Breasted Sandpiper, Little Stint, Citrine Wagtail and Spotted Crake. After all those Lifers I am now on 159.

##I have just noticed the size of images when you open them to full screen, sorry about that I must have resized them wrong##