Tuesday 31 May 2011

A few bird pics

Due to popular demand, I'm going to try and update this blog at least weekly from now on (cough). I'll have to resort to photographing some less interesting subjects if this is going to happen... Sparrows and Starlings it shall be then (and others)! Ah well, better than nothing :-)




This Buzzard can reliably be seen on this perch at 7pm ish daily

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Birds in Colyton (not Kingfishers this time!)

After the period of Kingfisher excitement, I've taken a few shots of some other birds at the River Coly.
Blackcaps: There are at least two families of these by the river. Can be seen frequently.
Grey Heron: Can be seen anywhere on the Coly. Chantry Bridge is best for viewing/photos if it's there.
Bullfinches: Seen a pair of these a couple of times now. Visiting the area briefly rather than going there regularly I think.
Treecreepers: These have done well by the Coly. Not hard to find, but determined not to be photographed.
Spotted Flycatchers: A pair of these appeared last week and can be seen near Heathayne. Another pair have nested next to a Colyton pub, The Gerrard Arms. Can be seen from the church path pretty much all daytime.
  





Monday 2 May 2011

Dragonfly!! And more...

With the weather being pretty rough recently I had little hope of seeing many butterflies today. However, better still I stumbled upon a dragonfly, nearly literally. I noticed it just before it was about to get trodden on. This was pleasing as it's the first dragonfly I've seen this year (in my book damselflies do NOT count). Fairly unsurprisingly it was far too cold for the female Libellula depressa (broad-bodied chaser) to fly. So I took advantage and took a few snaps of her:


















Onto the birds. Nothing too interesting here. Got some more shots of the (male) kingfisher, but they're not as good as previous ones so I won't bother posting them.
There was a Grey Heron over Chantry Bridge. I rarely complain about a subject being TOO close to photograph, but this one was. I had a fixed 300mm lens so had little choice but to take this...

That's not blown up post production, this is the size of the bird in the original pic!


















And later on there were these:

















And a hungry robin: