tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66118117227105682512024-03-05T08:39:26.109+00:00Colyton WildlifeTim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.comBlogger689125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-64738246872355587812023-10-30T01:39:00.005+00:002023-10-31T23:56:27.661+00:00Caspian Gull & Yellow-legged Gull type (or is it?)<p>Some rather enjoyable Sunday gulling!</p><p>Not something I necessarily foresaw myself writing when I first got into birds over 20 years ago, but this year I've easily spent more time scouring gulls than any other group of birds. With the dodgy weather I thought I'd chance a visit to Tower Hide between deliveries, and aimed for low tide. However, with all the floodwater the river was pretty full, hardly any mud, and essentially no gulls; they were on nearby fields instead. As the tide was coming in, the water level gradually dropped (floodwater clearing made a much bigger difference than the incoming tide!) and gulls did start to trickle in.</p><p><br /></p><p>A gorgeous 1st winter Caspian Gull was amongst the first 30 big gulls to drop in. Quite large, between Herring Gull and GBBG in size, and also ringed. This hung around for a while but was reluctant to flap, which became frustrating as more gulls were coming in which I wanted to check, but I also didn't want to miss getting the Casp in flight. Sure enough there was indeed another interesting gull as soon as the Casp had departed, then the cycle continued where I wanted to check more gulls but not take my eye off of this new bird!</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtFl4nKTp3tVhgLDnIJIZA-pbHHYxKscg0pwwYpMjvZlouKCWOPOm0_DZnb8UEPULDVnQwruKLG3u8JhXnKze4Rr1y7CMpD6FUW8SBnwbEehWLA1K2GyROWsLMDvSWjyswOxSAA4qEmuAuGoLk90Bu-DNyoNXXoWOt37-4UTAR3TtdtwCKi8crFtopVxCn/s2048/DSC01979-Enhanced-NR.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtFl4nKTp3tVhgLDnIJIZA-pbHHYxKscg0pwwYpMjvZlouKCWOPOm0_DZnb8UEPULDVnQwruKLG3u8JhXnKze4Rr1y7CMpD6FUW8SBnwbEehWLA1K2GyROWsLMDvSWjyswOxSAA4qEmuAuGoLk90Bu-DNyoNXXoWOt37-4UTAR3TtdtwCKi8crFtopVxCn/w640-h426/DSC01979-Enhanced-NR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ringed as a chick in Netherlands on 19th May 2023, ta to Steve for chasing up the ring info</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p>The 2nd bird then. The dark mantle and general heft instantly caught my attention, heavy bill too. My general feeling was 3rd winter Yellow-legged Gull, but I've not previously seen YLG ages other than adult (only 2), 1st winter (a few) and juv (somewhere between 20-30), so it would be a new age for me. About 45 mins in watching this bird Steve rang to say he was on an interesting gull, and it turned out to be exactly what I'd already been looking at. He mentioned that the leg colour was odd for 3w YLG (this bird was clearly pink) and we both noted the interesting head streaking, which at times looked quite restricted and other times more extensive. It took some waiting but it performed superbly right in front of Tower Hide so there's a heap of pics to come. I'll just add a couple here for the time being, I'm in the middle of work really (yes, at 01:30 am). The bird to me looks (I mean visually not genetically) sorta halfway between YLG and Azorean, and Steve suggests that it may be a YLG from the Atlantic coast, but not Azorean, but not currently sure. I've sent it to another couple of gullers and there's also a shout for argentatus Herring Gull. More digging needed, and certainly an interesting bird. I've got pics of just about every aspect of it. Eye-ball included.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58g3JWBkI2TnyuM_wg3nEk9scE9g7S8jS-xa3QwkCkewBsRVtg0OQ37GNEDWrLPFpz_XHjILT-W3AH1l13_eW4yD5hv-N6E0-1yyqNRDdyrgrzShK7RlPo34Bypl20sEkxOB8vYZh1vBn7_mBb9H8HbjGwYQ92U6a1UOtHyqrRzsw6VfGsl-ZMb9EdQTX/s2048/DSC04625.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58g3JWBkI2TnyuM_wg3nEk9scE9g7S8jS-xa3QwkCkewBsRVtg0OQ37GNEDWrLPFpz_XHjILT-W3AH1l13_eW4yD5hv-N6E0-1yyqNRDdyrgrzShK7RlPo34Bypl20sEkxOB8vYZh1vBn7_mBb9H8HbjGwYQ92U6a1UOtHyqrRzsw6VfGsl-ZMb9EdQTX/w640-h426/DSC04625.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWqz3u1be6aU8XkdAZcDQ6u5K6Qg82YGqEpZxXs-SmMSIo00G7COnt2l6cDDvJOspxrN6dA68N3wtexbrHBRhITRUhekmLfDA6WDhTFzarv16zVkwTZ9PrwahtgVuphz3RL3vXM6k_9zk0aq-plaUM5ZOZ4CPNs226SVTjTA6qNksosab73T5DomzFy1m/s2048/DSC04591-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWqz3u1be6aU8XkdAZcDQ6u5K6Qg82YGqEpZxXs-SmMSIo00G7COnt2l6cDDvJOspxrN6dA68N3wtexbrHBRhITRUhekmLfDA6WDhTFzarv16zVkwTZ9PrwahtgVuphz3RL3vXM6k_9zk0aq-plaUM5ZOZ4CPNs226SVTjTA6qNksosab73T5DomzFy1m/w640-h426/DSC04591-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-67005738754155518542023-09-29T22:00:00.002+01:002023-09-29T22:00:14.639+01:00Barred Warbler - what a week on patch!<p>Monday: HUGE display of Northern Lights visible UK-wide</p><p>Tuesday: 2 Glossy Ibis briefly visit BHM </p><p>Thursday: Caspian Gull on the estuary</p><p>Friday: Barred Warbler (found by Tim Clark).</p><p>I couldn't get to Colyford Common until 17:30 ish, and got frustrating views of its rear end disappearing into the bushes not long after I arrived. 18:05 and I got a superb view of it, quite fortunate though as my position a bit further away from the hedge was the only spot where it was possible to see amongst the branches, and if my bins weren't already pointing at that exact spot, I'd likely have missed it. I quickly said to the others to stand in front of me so they could see it but as is often the case with warblers, it was only in that spot for 5 secs or so, and it then melted away into the bush not to be seen again before I left at 19:00.</p><p>Not a bad week. Couple days left too, in which I hope to escape work for a couple of hours...</p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-1047340867022441992023-09-29T00:38:00.007+01:002023-09-29T00:40:18.404+01:00Caspian Gull<p>It finally happened. I've checked the gulls countless times recently trying to pick out something decent, and have done okay with a few YLGs, but this afternoon had a much nicer prize in store. A stunning Caspian Gull. I've not seen many, but instantly this bird jumped out at me as 'Casp' despite being mostly hidden in the gull flock. Closer inspection had me a little more conservative as the bill looked dinky at times, but otherwise it felt good to me. I popped a quick message to Steve Waite as he's our most experienced Casp-er here and he wasn't completely convinced it was pure either based on the BOC (back of camera) pics I sent. I couldn't send much as I didn't want to lose the bird, or miss the chance at some pics which might be needed to clinch it later. </p><p>Anyway, it was one, and the rest is history. Really nice looking bird too! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrFfBmtivsDj6yW_9OWHesRVtDKLwT8XSD4Qw0FIC3_xscAkyZ6x9KahTDT_xrUu3XklbhVfih1AK06QtK6Y8nyajVXPNl94qKHROvLi3HGoKsDRpJKY7MhEUocdDokkSIlc0m7bsDctf4O4-9U_tCow9gUX1gzU4GZXoRTqDztJkpfHmjbpgkOiJv2Kb/s2048/TL_-2-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrFfBmtivsDj6yW_9OWHesRVtDKLwT8XSD4Qw0FIC3_xscAkyZ6x9KahTDT_xrUu3XklbhVfih1AK06QtK6Y8nyajVXPNl94qKHROvLi3HGoKsDRpJKY7MhEUocdDokkSIlc0m7bsDctf4O4-9U_tCow9gUX1gzU4GZXoRTqDztJkpfHmjbpgkOiJv2Kb/w640-h426/TL_-2-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITIojklgeEp4uJMLHdWMZtJA5EBzdz9HUSpe8ImO4Oose93-MXVW-8x_gl1iUVLK0Ov3lUizTJ217NYxgIskr8EsmhdDPS7eHBG0pnVMVdUJniO0Q1QNCyfw-g5mxWi4mpOwJHwoLg_kfAMWzLAkrWzhL5zIL0GV5OnV8keHLoWbJbk87gwTMQTSZIJpd/s2048/TL_-1-5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITIojklgeEp4uJMLHdWMZtJA5EBzdz9HUSpe8ImO4Oose93-MXVW-8x_gl1iUVLK0Ov3lUizTJ217NYxgIskr8EsmhdDPS7eHBG0pnVMVdUJniO0Q1QNCyfw-g5mxWi4mpOwJHwoLg_kfAMWzLAkrWzhL5zIL0GV5OnV8keHLoWbJbk87gwTMQTSZIJpd/w640-h426/TL_-1-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOmVQpAv8XtcLORXM_UeGt8Jzkl7gvZaWTG8aW0KJxywEUC2Rnwdg-32A6IS1QvTRynluqwC1QvMB5UlCOTN4-VdQJkz1YPajOauzb2aRDJInI-Z4RZS69qDTKtoJw2dx-bqgaMqd5B4tvytJkkQjaaJ4Yu-9n0K8JmS6eWxy9Vxi1jeRfmRBbyMFuVoY/s2048/TL_-2-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOmVQpAv8XtcLORXM_UeGt8Jzkl7gvZaWTG8aW0KJxywEUC2Rnwdg-32A6IS1QvTRynluqwC1QvMB5UlCOTN4-VdQJkz1YPajOauzb2aRDJInI-Z4RZS69qDTKtoJw2dx-bqgaMqd5B4tvytJkkQjaaJ4Yu-9n0K8JmS6eWxy9Vxi1jeRfmRBbyMFuVoY/w640-h426/TL_-2-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQ0nOIcB5IELfOxvMsXLWkd8K5MPUb8-MMNWxCzA9vQvCkWfrW9JmI6vWKJjpnA6Rpg5LBVxufHEHLQzgXb8QEb_AMuwr8xMFKoiT01IW5GEZpjcwmZ9HP5NhxhOc9itolFRW4SrUrGCf_Pdp3UcvvsO1qvnQwdJf-KxJpoTIgwSyB-7MpDdxE3KAzbsu/s2048/TL_-1-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQ0nOIcB5IELfOxvMsXLWkd8K5MPUb8-MMNWxCzA9vQvCkWfrW9JmI6vWKJjpnA6Rpg5LBVxufHEHLQzgXb8QEb_AMuwr8xMFKoiT01IW5GEZpjcwmZ9HP5NhxhOc9itolFRW4SrUrGCf_Pdp3UcvvsO1qvnQwdJf-KxJpoTIgwSyB-7MpDdxE3KAzbsu/w640-h426/TL_-1-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-24563498340528784542023-09-28T00:40:00.000+01:002023-09-28T00:40:01.111+01:002 Glossy Ibises - Black Hole Marsh<p>My evening visits to BHM/Coly Marshes are getting a little more difficult now with the nights rapidly drawing in, but they are still proving fruitful. Tuesday evening yielded 2 Glossy Ibises not long before sunset (although it was already pretty dark as it was cloudy). I'm surprised these pics came out OK, the conditions and settings were pretty hideous with ISO up at 25,600 at times!</p><p>Their visit was rather brief; they soon flew off over the river and out of sight, but I was glad that Steve, Ian and Tim C managed to dash down in time to see them (but only just for the latter 2 gents)!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2X30ebGN8Fxt263S4RRamEfTqvWDZPcWzcm3a-4z1AMNB6vQrJ-wjD4GMIiLuUZvdid1w9DkfBobO4Rif8z81EQxDDBh3cr5bubTrv1tfFjbTFHuYmUDlJo9q3sEMQO8ICLHYtCxl2kzdU8BB0-CEqI6i7qGTRAEql44yhR9_A1zuWWykeIXvNJcjGSFR/s2154/TL_-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2154" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2X30ebGN8Fxt263S4RRamEfTqvWDZPcWzcm3a-4z1AMNB6vQrJ-wjD4GMIiLuUZvdid1w9DkfBobO4Rif8z81EQxDDBh3cr5bubTrv1tfFjbTFHuYmUDlJo9q3sEMQO8ICLHYtCxl2kzdU8BB0-CEqI6i7qGTRAEql44yhR9_A1zuWWykeIXvNJcjGSFR/w608-h640/TL_-1.jpg" width="608" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtd7vjFbqwjxVhq2VSlYAyNC0EdNer8fmVDXqkOyu4gcCUHOO2al9_enWPJK936Lj0ZGmBG0DJaEQDMgw03uPP6pwIVq_PPgH4UNiifsjTgpUhyphenhyphennDBtjd1CXedKHLmfp5tOjhll8Qh5_rtPbxrlyP5bAYv-cX3jE05zlNsLValFkQLx2NcknhYNZdqIWJK/s3000/TL_-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtd7vjFbqwjxVhq2VSlYAyNC0EdNer8fmVDXqkOyu4gcCUHOO2al9_enWPJK936Lj0ZGmBG0DJaEQDMgw03uPP6pwIVq_PPgH4UNiifsjTgpUhyphenhyphennDBtjd1CXedKHLmfp5tOjhll8Qh5_rtPbxrlyP5bAYv-cX3jE05zlNsLValFkQLx2NcknhYNZdqIWJK/w426-h640/TL_-2.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsPdRNZ2BnpRF749cNKskUOzQzfGxWYkhLHkx7sLABT6nI1peojKxS8JY9aDHoZa8iJf5Uo00diGXrIWEIUEJLVWPKpvP4uoxWqPSCF-GMFQq6bzyuMoJ4zhsD0M2zMqHMehMeUVimfs3Y86tRI05cI1J3otcQ-bLrTRsDIjDnh-wQWgmCCXfJ1bj0Er7/s2048/TL_-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2048" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsPdRNZ2BnpRF749cNKskUOzQzfGxWYkhLHkx7sLABT6nI1peojKxS8JY9aDHoZa8iJf5Uo00diGXrIWEIUEJLVWPKpvP4uoxWqPSCF-GMFQq6bzyuMoJ4zhsD0M2zMqHMehMeUVimfs3Y86tRI05cI1J3otcQ-bLrTRsDIjDnh-wQWgmCCXfJ1bj0Er7/w640-h376/TL_-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-26127137569434957392023-09-26T23:15:00.003+01:002023-09-26T23:15:40.728+01:00NORTHERN LIGHTS dancing over the River Axe<p>I have a heap of bird stuff to catch up with on here, and had a couple of Glossy Ibis put in a brief appearance at Black Hole Marsh tonight too! This post has to be about the Northern Lights though. The huge solar activity in 2023 continues; this is the 5th time I've seen aurora locally this year, and 3 of those displays were extreme.</p><p>It was raining when I headed out, and activity had died down significantly but I had to chance it. Bloody good job I did too because at 02:50am on Monday September 25th, this happened...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="366" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Med4MT-o000" width="481" youtube-src-id="Med4MT-o000"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-17610082005287808412023-09-24T22:44:00.003+01:002023-09-24T22:52:20.949+01:00Great Shearwater<p>This was stressful. It was stressful at the time because I finished work late on a day when the sea was extremely busy with locally rare birds in parts of Devon. It was stressful again today when a memory card problem has meant that I've lost ALL of the semi-decent pics of this bird, as well as of a stonking adult YLG at point blank from Saturday evening, landed, preening, in flight, the lot. Non-retrievable unless I cough up hundreds of £££, and even then it's only a chance (Sony is very destructive with files, in a way unlike any other camera manufacturer). <b>Absolutely gutted</b>.</p><p>2 pics, as fortunately I ran out of space on the first card, and those few images were safe. I had much, much better though, including action shots of it getting harassed by gulls, and of it sat on the sea. I need something rarer ASAP to make me feel better...</p><p>Thanks and congrats to Steve for finding the Great Shearwater!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLpExtrtohvkh22gYvXzm5mPBv2Lapo5YBpyIsLKqK-FYDXtpO66WOi7eX-mnnRDNSIypZnTd7iZ9JYMH_RggAJ_-gv5SurwjpaoZuXdYQ67iPSrZY5VLzpeSb3paJiuA_dSU-tg4z92kA4uKhbF2BVEJUATw4xUh5X8_NM-5lH-106MMCbHiLPM0P-AC/s1496/DSC01903-Enhanced-NR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="1496" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLpExtrtohvkh22gYvXzm5mPBv2Lapo5YBpyIsLKqK-FYDXtpO66WOi7eX-mnnRDNSIypZnTd7iZ9JYMH_RggAJ_-gv5SurwjpaoZuXdYQ67iPSrZY5VLzpeSb3paJiuA_dSU-tg4z92kA4uKhbF2BVEJUATw4xUh5X8_NM-5lH-106MMCbHiLPM0P-AC/w640-h426/DSC01903-Enhanced-NR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLfBxa6ZjSDls53vDRSTz28UXqBo0ujxaJP7IqRJg6YoOaXCQE6v-KSTUnArUlnK406TnxNPEzTkyv8OdUMaY-4IDkq077CeOyAW1YBcXgTqGFlcCB2bqNt0sPJqFoYX65YO0xH2fQqD5bIOLZjABPvF1Qpi--e_YjBqkPTzlJaXH7gGjj8wWiGrHI82B/s1521/DSC01978-Enhanced-NR-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="1521" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLfBxa6ZjSDls53vDRSTz28UXqBo0ujxaJP7IqRJg6YoOaXCQE6v-KSTUnArUlnK406TnxNPEzTkyv8OdUMaY-4IDkq077CeOyAW1YBcXgTqGFlcCB2bqNt0sPJqFoYX65YO0xH2fQqD5bIOLZjABPvF1Qpi--e_YjBqkPTzlJaXH7gGjj8wWiGrHI82B/w640-h426/DSC01978-Enhanced-NR-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Other recent finds from me which I'll cover in a post when poss:</p><p>Sept 10th - Pectoral Sandpiper on BHM</p><p>Sept 17th - YLG from Tower Hide, 11+ Ruff on BHM a big increase for that evening</p><p>Sept 23rd - YLG (adult, only my 2nd) from Tower Hide</p><p>Sept 24th - YLG from Tower Hide</p><p>General - we've had 1 to 2 Little Stints and a Curlew Sand around for a while now.</p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-6114407293441125352023-06-28T01:43:00.001+01:002023-06-28T01:43:33.596+01:00Avocets breed at Black Hole MarshWell the news is out! We had a pair of Avocets prospecting an island on BHM in May, and mating regularly. Come the start of June, they were taking it in turns to sit on the nest, one more than the other, so I figured all being well we'd get chicks somewhere between 24th and 27th. Sure enough, the first 2 hatched on 26th, and a 3rd on 27th! An adult did go and sit on the nest again after the 3rd hatched, so perhaps there's another yet to come, time will tell.<div><br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3OpagNehJlc5ZRbSSjB4sQdOm0vEKIJaSLRw7A5JUB4Ai91rhbGAdI2TQYREB_DDN6lV2gzRSjiOXKSkQYFbeYbMkovaK6Bu4qTnaC-8UbpyX3VglAxRSQv4fqsqJ-hGbqSvMTQPC2g5E6BwCBdeouOyKIGsaMA6daPBmM9yGcA2KvoiV4QEuquHK1J6/s2048/DSC08734-Enhanced-NR-Editi-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3OpagNehJlc5ZRbSSjB4sQdOm0vEKIJaSLRw7A5JUB4Ai91rhbGAdI2TQYREB_DDN6lV2gzRSjiOXKSkQYFbeYbMkovaK6Bu4qTnaC-8UbpyX3VglAxRSQv4fqsqJ-hGbqSvMTQPC2g5E6BwCBdeouOyKIGsaMA6daPBmM9yGcA2KvoiV4QEuquHK1J6/w640-h426/DSC08734-Enhanced-NR-Editi-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEesPhWRJj3HRdnUwbosewGgju_PQRjejnEUWNAIl9mcA8Q18Dhltd3WIgbmSqW0LcaQ4N8HAj8d63bGB65a8TpsJndUGdNvB3NBCdmd4jyUnhn7RWF53n6FMWNCzUwHZxtCKHE_xrp8zD96DZCXT702neCg3QufWSXXT-gQZsUHiekXLi-PvJhTksw0iu/s2048/DSC08452_DxO-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEesPhWRJj3HRdnUwbosewGgju_PQRjejnEUWNAIl9mcA8Q18Dhltd3WIgbmSqW0LcaQ4N8HAj8d63bGB65a8TpsJndUGdNvB3NBCdmd4jyUnhn7RWF53n6FMWNCzUwHZxtCKHE_xrp8zD96DZCXT702neCg3QufWSXXT-gQZsUHiekXLi-PvJhTksw0iu/w640-h426/DSC08452_DxO-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-34677139340194186822023-05-04T21:33:00.003+01:002023-05-04T21:33:35.391+01:002 Pochards<p>The year that keeps on giving. I popped to BHM between deliveries on Wednesday evening and had a quick look (mainly listen, they were very vocal) for the 4 Wood Sands that had been found by Sue S earlier. As I was leaving to head back out for deliveries, I spotted 2 ducks flying in from the south, and a quick look through the bins had me thinking possibly Pochard. Pochard are decent here, and the initial views were far from ideal but they came a bit closer and pics soon confirmed. </p><p>We've had a few more over the years, but these were only the 2nd and 3rd Pochards I've seen on patch here. I nipped back for another look on my way home (sunset time, dull night, hardly any light) and they were settled on BHM so I grabbed a few more snaps.</p><p>It wasn't worth getting up at 5am this morning, especially as I was up til nearly 3am as always... BHM was naff. Water is too high which doesn't help. The only highlight came at Seaton Marshes with a single Yellow Wagtail. Colyton gave another highlight later with another Red Kite over at 13:00.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVg-4BNeVEHit3rRS8OF_Oz6orIjxBG8-0R7ZipnfF70ERVBFwhE_tPHplepdvK-dPCAOKfsN4Y4Me12JXgk7Payp0FZyl-OphAOXjHpNaUAY6n8trM5e8Ed9T2c34-dnDbhHBbBDEqrZiJ_sqEkep3jB9z5E68aRTxwlwMZWXVLj587E_JQfqi9i1fQ/s2048/DSC08115-DN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVg-4BNeVEHit3rRS8OF_Oz6orIjxBG8-0R7ZipnfF70ERVBFwhE_tPHplepdvK-dPCAOKfsN4Y4Me12JXgk7Payp0FZyl-OphAOXjHpNaUAY6n8trM5e8Ed9T2c34-dnDbhHBbBDEqrZiJ_sqEkep3jB9z5E68aRTxwlwMZWXVLj587E_JQfqi9i1fQ/w640-h426/DSC08115-DN.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69gbpUkwynYJrgqTfzwF4RnC3OR6UF-r5q0sglpjqW31-hVKBoZfVgZFzxpFLPaA4UL5NwRmIugraaNg0XSOlDXbq2N356mPtgoCWdzijJjfoenjXMBbypOTJwcoed03p-LWIO7f7H1yeagv5aTEQ_SZy1MSbHtcEOJprBbyb5JiwfyInKDZpP-ZSiA/s2048/DSC07697-Enhanced-NR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69gbpUkwynYJrgqTfzwF4RnC3OR6UF-r5q0sglpjqW31-hVKBoZfVgZFzxpFLPaA4UL5NwRmIugraaNg0XSOlDXbq2N356mPtgoCWdzijJjfoenjXMBbypOTJwcoed03p-LWIO7f7H1yeagv5aTEQ_SZy1MSbHtcEOJprBbyb5JiwfyInKDZpP-ZSiA/w480-h640/DSC07697-Enhanced-NR.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUledA4XVIUrgHGFU3mVJGU6XLnS1pth2_8aCLR1yCfnuIQwD4mm-Z9R7i5mx2_lN6HvADEbJqDw82LQ7tX1j4OsCOA0SzmgCLx-GTHfXaTTk2mZ8Kno8pXBbnYfHUCycNoEIsER6Fl8SQwvKYQT8fc-yhiTXK_g79J03Q-FvxLTT_ERp9ApSbvTGWWw/s2048/DSC08427-Enhanced-NR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="2048" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUledA4XVIUrgHGFU3mVJGU6XLnS1pth2_8aCLR1yCfnuIQwD4mm-Z9R7i5mx2_lN6HvADEbJqDw82LQ7tX1j4OsCOA0SzmgCLx-GTHfXaTTk2mZ8Kno8pXBbnYfHUCycNoEIsER6Fl8SQwvKYQT8fc-yhiTXK_g79J03Q-FvxLTT_ERp9ApSbvTGWWw/w640-h272/DSC08427-Enhanced-NR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-10200256870093845752023-04-28T00:39:00.005+01:002023-04-28T01:41:09.661+01:00Night Heron<p>A bird that most of the local patchers have been in search of for a while now given the recent influx, but it was Steve Waite who came up with the goods and found a Night Heron. It was nice to watch it on Borrow Pit island before it flew south and into the mist, calling. Obscured for pics but it doesn't matter, I was just pleased to see one; my first that isn't captive. Cheers Steve!</p><p>What a year we're having for local rarities.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj743NcpDwvOcasQxVzz479wxkyUDiH36bWHrGkgWLYPbstS1VX-53t64LtMKOMd7RhUhRdX7K7QTbSM467g6wMOlLmJDQYJlsr9DsOVu53zOElOvyLrSA09SwFhItBrizQEvdza0NOUFFiJ5bDCwW0B7A8d_tkytF8kssSBA7DJtFs-gV39JtfZ5dF-Q/s2048/DSC07210-Enhanced-NR-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj743NcpDwvOcasQxVzz479wxkyUDiH36bWHrGkgWLYPbstS1VX-53t64LtMKOMd7RhUhRdX7K7QTbSM467g6wMOlLmJDQYJlsr9DsOVu53zOElOvyLrSA09SwFhItBrizQEvdza0NOUFFiJ5bDCwW0B7A8d_tkytF8kssSBA7DJtFs-gV39JtfZ5dF-Q/w640-h426/DSC07210-Enhanced-NR-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5fD6KH9GGEg_17p1DLq5J2tPrPZv_FbVK1_aHHFQZjfY-xTOuN0Tt6E3nn8CwxDLdK8NmVYQ4GCp0CeeiHE-TnVRRWUGExUh4BFphkTDpR5IbevyGXPfRivbp1tDS29Fe4BGkyuKdjC2YVV3B93bpxyCvo_WT9lxOsBz6RHjRsaBRdlXkQEAWJwIEw/s2048/DSC07210-Enhanced-NR-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5fD6KH9GGEg_17p1DLq5J2tPrPZv_FbVK1_aHHFQZjfY-xTOuN0Tt6E3nn8CwxDLdK8NmVYQ4GCp0CeeiHE-TnVRRWUGExUh4BFphkTDpR5IbevyGXPfRivbp1tDS29Fe4BGkyuKdjC2YVV3B93bpxyCvo_WT9lxOsBz6RHjRsaBRdlXkQEAWJwIEw/w640-h426/DSC07210-Enhanced-NR-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-77204822485554450332023-04-19T00:04:00.000+01:002023-04-19T00:04:08.205+01:00More arrivals<p>Another quick, showery dash to BHM after work proved fruitful with an LRP and Ringed Plover there, later joined by another LRP picked up initially on call (same as yesterday, nice that they announce themselves). I wonder if these are the same 2 I had yesterday morning, or another 2 plus the Ringo... The Black-winged Stilt was still showing, albeit about as far away as possible whilst still actually being on BHM itself.</p><p>A march up to Coly Common yielded 2 Swan Geese (what's the origin?) and 9 Whimbrel, my 1st of the Spring. </p><p>And to bring some life to this quick post, here's another image of the Black-winged Stilt from Monday morning. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikYpL6SFyXwGiYGIQWJ81-LSltUeHJaRyrvemkDv3QS6na3FDVKkAZBQnbpJKIZ65VVv0kO8JlQ531gFWAgXMQN3ADcwTUaLoSzDiAV-xPS9EVbWII-sdbTXS0qVlXYCJMClG6fiw_ukiyRmsK9E81vcQ_jYC-MJgDOjViyPKsNdsxN0UQEsXtdsiaiw/s2048/DSC05550_DxO-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2048" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikYpL6SFyXwGiYGIQWJ81-LSltUeHJaRyrvemkDv3QS6na3FDVKkAZBQnbpJKIZ65VVv0kO8JlQ531gFWAgXMQN3ADcwTUaLoSzDiAV-xPS9EVbWII-sdbTXS0qVlXYCJMClG6fiw_ukiyRmsK9E81vcQ_jYC-MJgDOjViyPKsNdsxN0UQEsXtdsiaiw/w640-h468/DSC05550_DxO-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-92092042616852897272023-04-17T22:23:00.009+01:002023-04-18T01:07:46.396+01:00Black-winged Stilt<p> WHAT A STUNNER!</p><p>A BirdGuides alert went out at 12:53 on Sunday 16th saying Black-winged Stilt at Seaton Marshes, so mild panic ensued, especially as I had Olivia (my daughter) to myself and she was approaching nap time. I didn't see the report for a few mins, but alerted the locals ASAP knowing that some would likely be able to get there before me. Steve was first on scene and sure enough, a stonker of a Black-winged Stilt was on Black Hole Marsh.</p><p>It's a bird we've been long overdue here. There've been several fairly close either side of our patch, and with this influx this year, chances were relatively high, and sure enough it finally happened. </p><p>At 2 y/o Liv saw her first Black-winged Stilt (although she was far more interested in my camera), and thankfully she behaved impeccably despite the crowd. Carrying her as well as a heavy backpack whist rushing between hides after 5 days of very little sleep wasn't easy mind...</p><p>I popped back in the evening to check if the bird was seemingly staying or not, and picked up Susie enroute to make sure she got a chance to see it. 5am alarm the next day and onsite well before sunrise proved worthwhile, and a disgusting number of shots later...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpGQmNSAi3v1piARZ3VMGo2D-nVvcI7b4QeEzYldMNCLZ5TzKTO8juRJwfhK6E8kwrc09KRn83IXbEOCvBUJ3y33R4tz8TEaxqngIN4qST_EYmZC-xrrqc__8ZJy_mg95N75udxcBuzQE8MY915XFyZJLiZM_HSdLhfRaOd2liFTbpIqKJICIy_XPxA/s2048/DSC01211_DxO-16.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="2048" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpGQmNSAi3v1piARZ3VMGo2D-nVvcI7b4QeEzYldMNCLZ5TzKTO8juRJwfhK6E8kwrc09KRn83IXbEOCvBUJ3y33R4tz8TEaxqngIN4qST_EYmZC-xrrqc__8ZJy_mg95N75udxcBuzQE8MY915XFyZJLiZM_HSdLhfRaOd2liFTbpIqKJICIy_XPxA/w640-h324/DSC01211_DxO-16.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydXkx0FLNY5JEvA4wTqWwJu3QmOY5TbNBORi7vwg1QRPoPLm8V7hq2qG3-aCYCOEj3SJdW9EjypDBgtWB-0ENW4TDKCNFql1hRfPZjznDx__bnFVugkJLJk61164IZVbvnmmGlvhb3oYASXE3R_KMQ5TVmoejcPv0kw89_dwVmAoJ7QRAsVyBWFeEGg/s2048/DSC01214_DxO-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2048" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydXkx0FLNY5JEvA4wTqWwJu3QmOY5TbNBORi7vwg1QRPoPLm8V7hq2qG3-aCYCOEj3SJdW9EjypDBgtWB-0ENW4TDKCNFql1hRfPZjznDx__bnFVugkJLJk61164IZVbvnmmGlvhb3oYASXE3R_KMQ5TVmoejcPv0kw89_dwVmAoJ7QRAsVyBWFeEGg/w640-h358/DSC01214_DxO-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Only other thing of note from me were 2 Little Ringed Plovers on the morning of Monday 17th. I picked them up on call and heard them for a good 10 seconds before eventually seeing them flying north of BHM.</p><p>Many more photos and some videos to come...</p><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-2216719934441733552023-04-11T01:13:00.008+01:002023-04-11T01:25:21.203+01:00Lesser Yellowlegs at LORP<p>Amazingly, the first Lesser Yellowlegs I've seen! I'm really not into twitching off patch, but at under 30 mins away I couldn't resist paying this one a visit (twice in fact). In truth, I also wanted to familiarise myself with the Lower Otter Restoration Project site as it's done fairly well recently, so it was one to get 'on my radar'.</p><p>I wasn't too bothered about the photos, and it was certainly rather challenging. The bird was generally pretty distant (the images are cropped massively, showing approx 2-5% of the original pixels), my first visit was at sunset, and my second visit had very poor conditions (severe atmospheric distortion, and hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of people). Still, very smart bird and a joy to watch.</p><p>Now, if we can get one at Black Hole Marsh please, I'll enjoy it at least 50x as much as this one... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfGxC9fjEuRv36TmU3bEkurgiaVbCxFvkJd3GQHE2FHWwnxtEEnwdLJvBi1TQFxKgTUUPyj-eP-DLRaTQezi24hed2s9wvLUElumhzP1XPBnU8Zgk_ShEDTAnKv7HJZ1mDghtwHyrjd4tyJsSKIcWhVD7z070QTpb01qvwny7GBmPutjZxtuvyt7UDpA/s2048/DSC00577_DxO-5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="2048" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfGxC9fjEuRv36TmU3bEkurgiaVbCxFvkJd3GQHE2FHWwnxtEEnwdLJvBi1TQFxKgTUUPyj-eP-DLRaTQezi24hed2s9wvLUElumhzP1XPBnU8Zgk_ShEDTAnKv7HJZ1mDghtwHyrjd4tyJsSKIcWhVD7z070QTpb01qvwny7GBmPutjZxtuvyt7UDpA/w640-h406/DSC00577_DxO-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsuOMxzqZxGP2n2phb_4NGkwOsrz7ju0r69BbCuRLzedPPkBXlN8e1H0izEXBXcBZ7wKNpq_ELr6JcBN2DLZbj-W_MG4ygUUj6QKTT8q1NvKQyOA4xlkhp5FSmKkw5U29S8M_S0gEJYi9TuB4iytzmiwdnORxyZdF1dBl6uDDEaWfiACoCph4fBpzMmA/s2048/DSC01340_DxO-7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1241" data-original-width="2048" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsuOMxzqZxGP2n2phb_4NGkwOsrz7ju0r69BbCuRLzedPPkBXlN8e1H0izEXBXcBZ7wKNpq_ELr6JcBN2DLZbj-W_MG4ygUUj6QKTT8q1NvKQyOA4xlkhp5FSmKkw5U29S8M_S0gEJYi9TuB4iytzmiwdnORxyZdF1dBl6uDDEaWfiACoCph4fBpzMmA/w640-h388/DSC01340_DxO-7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAZFqLuipysPYHGiO2YsFDPFsUyQZgIEZkVHVPmjBtd-4a1OaSrFZYqpbCKa-_Fl7I_cbdo9AszoT7T04yifLKzLrKRK-F5NJiRvINzUnskS9Jj-9_q3JMsp1Ek__2wSfJFk8a8-U1GjQzrrTl0I-t7pr4a92qsbYmaR1DNQgadxbuL-aXpb2z4x1HQ/s2048/DSC03626_DxO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaAZFqLuipysPYHGiO2YsFDPFsUyQZgIEZkVHVPmjBtd-4a1OaSrFZYqpbCKa-_Fl7I_cbdo9AszoT7T04yifLKzLrKRK-F5NJiRvINzUnskS9Jj-9_q3JMsp1Ek__2wSfJFk8a8-U1GjQzrrTl0I-t7pr4a92qsbYmaR1DNQgadxbuL-aXpb2z4x1HQ/w640-h426/DSC03626_DxO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7DaABZSx79IYaJziI96EQnAnNKcMz4TqtknKqjrsfXi3TDiKDxweDG_7GC0B-8P6f90YxYYBmyoZlYe04dVtsq_0W4Q7yWX5JuhzklRwSUfrd4XcfBN0KZLNISQguh6hjDMaB3u2MmNSrhP272v8-3JeQOqJCPVjuZ4hcUtt7fMGchi4ctvYKZ3fpCA/s2048/DSC04403_DxO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7DaABZSx79IYaJziI96EQnAnNKcMz4TqtknKqjrsfXi3TDiKDxweDG_7GC0B-8P6f90YxYYBmyoZlYe04dVtsq_0W4Q7yWX5JuhzklRwSUfrd4XcfBN0KZLNISQguh6hjDMaB3u2MmNSrhP272v8-3JeQOqJCPVjuZ4hcUtt7fMGchi4ctvYKZ3fpCA/w640-h426/DSC04403_DxO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprjBeVu7i3rU05EN8wQZ2JXFCgPWukYyunMwFsXJpvFjbWx5gNvR9w7mYoFuhAOgJBzwgD_1yeFhUr8pwypdclvRsFnjRWkc6GkUXGmJ9IXG2xioHTGaSRpm7soNx5M3oi_zUGcqdqLZ5vZej2TDcIxlj7Z2sums8ROzI39xcq2hqy663nE3IPzUGvw/s2048/DSC07013_DxO-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprjBeVu7i3rU05EN8wQZ2JXFCgPWukYyunMwFsXJpvFjbWx5gNvR9w7mYoFuhAOgJBzwgD_1yeFhUr8pwypdclvRsFnjRWkc6GkUXGmJ9IXG2xioHTGaSRpm7soNx5M3oi_zUGcqdqLZ5vZej2TDcIxlj7Z2sums8ROzI39xcq2hqy663nE3IPzUGvw/w640-h426/DSC07013_DxO-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTm5K3z-W9k9rWG6y2rTV8OhJCpk-TZd-t1RQUxBctV_SyUWtW1ERcmyGT1dJdx_fT6jo9iOrjiVxv0tbdmC3dccqzS42v02As2lHa7fmv3g4-_0mZftwFMcB7CGvPwDtl3HhI0NegghwQ9GGEEaGrVTwTuo3QxTnvmiqQlEztA9CTHwu42d3Xe9clg/s2048/DSC08547_DxO-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="2048" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTm5K3z-W9k9rWG6y2rTV8OhJCpk-TZd-t1RQUxBctV_SyUWtW1ERcmyGT1dJdx_fT6jo9iOrjiVxv0tbdmC3dccqzS42v02As2lHa7fmv3g4-_0mZftwFMcB7CGvPwDtl3HhI0NegghwQ9GGEEaGrVTwTuo3QxTnvmiqQlEztA9CTHwu42d3Xe9clg/w640-h350/DSC08547_DxO-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-14436770566814541212023-03-27T01:23:00.000+01:002023-03-27T01:23:12.690+01:00NORTHERN LIGHTS from southern UKWhilst primarily a birding blog, I just have to post this. Aurora Borealis is rarely seen, to any extent, from my latitude near the south coast in East Devon. There was a truly exceptional level of activity on the night of Thursday 23rd into Friday 24th March, caused by a CME (coronal mass ejection) a few days prior.<div><br /></div><div>Long story short, I stayed up the entire night (then went to work, ~ 41 hours awake straight), and took images that I never thought would be possible near home, the like of which have almost certainly never been taken here before. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have a lot of images to go through but they'll have to sit on the hard drives for a bit, but hopefully you enjoy these as a taster:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dqA9xNSnAtqqGhpcsPR8CQJqRPDZqDvejHUA9RZTCYbNC3M3iNZw-ePnuQUHXEYZIc3DvxuA9VsK8wUBOK5Raxie7r-wl3zMO8cpajIrbX7ulFJjiqA9DUxuSH-zPvChrO4OBhv6_T1_PmGTqDJYn7sUVVAqLocczx3Zu-M7BK8y8bOcvRpEmJ_T-Q/s3996/Combined%20St%20Andrews-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="3996" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dqA9xNSnAtqqGhpcsPR8CQJqRPDZqDvejHUA9RZTCYbNC3M3iNZw-ePnuQUHXEYZIc3DvxuA9VsK8wUBOK5Raxie7r-wl3zMO8cpajIrbX7ulFJjiqA9DUxuSH-zPvChrO4OBhv6_T1_PmGTqDJYn7sUVVAqLocczx3Zu-M7BK8y8bOcvRpEmJ_T-Q/w640-h328/Combined%20St%20Andrews-24.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjWdMIrDB8NkIKtffYvsKjNtMVzT3jArj387Ro_e77YqkwwXPPtXfI6WXkNUZmOFO4x6GuJqba7xP102b6BnN61Kx1D2sTp5tFj_2rZyMDDcgeaTVp1yIVOkYXqwzZEf2qJwSD4LR-bBxj2hLGL6lh5JHdYcQX-5XlUeJs2f9boqBd-E2B361XNDR3w/s2048/Just%20sky%20ed%20ED_DSC03212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1477" data-original-width="2048" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjWdMIrDB8NkIKtffYvsKjNtMVzT3jArj387Ro_e77YqkwwXPPtXfI6WXkNUZmOFO4x6GuJqba7xP102b6BnN61Kx1D2sTp5tFj_2rZyMDDcgeaTVp1yIVOkYXqwzZEf2qJwSD4LR-bBxj2hLGL6lh5JHdYcQX-5XlUeJs2f9boqBd-E2B361XNDR3w/w640-h462/Just%20sky%20ed%20ED_DSC03212.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-78658635101770350212023-01-06T00:51:00.003+00:002023-01-06T00:58:36.167+00:00I've never been so pleased to see a wagtail!<p>I admit to being moderately frustrated on Christmas Day; an apparent Eastern Yellow Wagtail had been found by John Gale on Colyford Common, about an hour after me leaving that same site. I'd been hoping ever since that I'd get a chance to see it, and a chance I got! With afternoon seeming the best bet from the few reports, I scheduled the day (Thurs 5th) around me spending some time at Coly Common. It was my daughter's 2nd birthday, and I had quite a bit of 'my own' work to do, so I told 'my other' work that I wasn't going to be in. Good move!</p><p>At 14:40 ish I heard, distantly, a Yellow Wagtail ish call. I've not got any first hand experience of EY Wagtail calls, but anything sounding vaguely like Yellow Wagtail at this time of year is interesting, and this had to be the bird. It flew over Coly Common from the west, and continued east beyond the tramline and towards the river. At this point I was concerned that that was going to be it. I did manage a couple of VERY ropey pics of it as it flew over, but fortunately it did the right thing and flew to the wires at Coly Common a couple of minutes later. It was distant at first, near the reedbed loop (I was on the main boardwalk), but even so this was very clearly the apparent Eastern Yellow Wagtail that had been seen on 3 previous occasions. </p><p>A few more people arrived and then, much to our gratitude, the bird flew over and dropped down relatively close, maybe 40-50ft from where I was standing. It was pretty obscured by grass, but I didn't care, it was a relief to see it well. An 'I can't believe it' moment came when it found the Issy Wheatear, and they were in the same frame through the camera... At least at that point the Issy wasn't being totally ignored anymore! Is that two 2nds for Devon, on the same patch of grass, at the same time? Incredible.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYbLWz0W5WJDwfqlEhX7xduI-JrILwtgO3DpoThLWNzU88tDULdw6UqPhz-YO-_m0srCGZVO2Uveg1sg3ZDt8NnhEYpD4PbbTTkIeSD4LXuzXveDChQ2vxgfplMlO9CXi7SpBa0eONPEQ1cDAueXS7RSNAzxa1Y7LIyU2z7fwRUPSjCbfcgo6qGMO4g/s2048/EasternYellowWagColyCommon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYbLWz0W5WJDwfqlEhX7xduI-JrILwtgO3DpoThLWNzU88tDULdw6UqPhz-YO-_m0srCGZVO2Uveg1sg3ZDt8NnhEYpD4PbbTTkIeSD4LXuzXveDChQ2vxgfplMlO9CXi7SpBa0eONPEQ1cDAueXS7RSNAzxa1Y7LIyU2z7fwRUPSjCbfcgo6qGMO4g/w640-h400/EasternYellowWagColyCommon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggtikACw605_PBtpNq9b2AUYK8VDpIuWeLxFLLmGA8cdo1ejoUq8PWZ9nHS5At-BhMmKqepVHHqkxao9qyNV4fnu3TLKO6-C5vynV94a_J5o5njrXur2X4rkoaXTgqjz2Iev_LBsaVXC94w1f727fd4WguL2h1dBfErEgfBkvxhkGLmWs6eRRL2dHu8A/s3936/DSC09699_DxO-4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2624" data-original-width="3936" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggtikACw605_PBtpNq9b2AUYK8VDpIuWeLxFLLmGA8cdo1ejoUq8PWZ9nHS5At-BhMmKqepVHHqkxao9qyNV4fnu3TLKO6-C5vynV94a_J5o5njrXur2X4rkoaXTgqjz2Iev_LBsaVXC94w1f727fd4WguL2h1dBfErEgfBkvxhkGLmWs6eRRL2dHu8A/w640-h426/DSC09699_DxO-4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-90379704487611150312023-01-02T21:30:00.005+00:002023-01-03T00:27:03.957+00:00Isabelline Wheatear reappears!<div>Well hello again. This was a pleasant surprise, after its apparent absence since Boxing Day! Susie spotted the Isabelline Wheatear back on Coly Common this morning, much to the delight of quite a few birders, especially those listing. Just a brief visit from me as it was a Daddy daughter day whilst the misses got triple pay for Bank Holiday. Missing the presumed Eastern Yellow Wagtail later in the afternoon hurt though, and my Dad missed it by minutes. It's here somewhere, but none of us have had any luck finding it's 'usual spot' yet...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/Y61zc_kQrMw" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And a headshot from Boxing Day:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjhsPHRobq80DxxVwSZTjWwog_k1pcVr2Zs4eX-LsibMlO3u1aOLsAozDGpohb10R8PW6YN9YSI88jIEVXYbIgLbCAhXt2fuiTMMXW-GAMwKvle2NoJApFOhQCv-nxA01uuipJLeueWqhTIjMCZL6lj_rxClnTfxR-4GFQm6ZJwm3KaSqkQjOhukSew/s4503/DSC06472_DxO-1-Enhanced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2533" data-original-width="4503" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjhsPHRobq80DxxVwSZTjWwog_k1pcVr2Zs4eX-LsibMlO3u1aOLsAozDGpohb10R8PW6YN9YSI88jIEVXYbIgLbCAhXt2fuiTMMXW-GAMwKvle2NoJApFOhQCv-nxA01uuipJLeueWqhTIjMCZL6lj_rxClnTfxR-4GFQm6ZJwm3KaSqkQjOhukSew/w640-h360/DSC06472_DxO-1-Enhanced.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-39990227015358975872023-01-01T21:35:00.006+00:002023-01-01T21:37:12.960+00:00January 1st Patch Birding<p>1st of January, a day that wherever possible goes in the diary as a patch birding day!</p><p><br /></p><p>Steve Waite had a Great White Egret land on BHM early morning, which fortunately was still about later & I managed to catch up with in the afternoon. It was perched, rather unusually, on a house... I'm not sure if this is the bird I had on December 26th or not, as someone else said they'd seen it on a rooftop late December. I haven't seen any pics good enough to be able to compare; mine from today were absolutely terrible as I was at Seaton Marshes, and the bird was on a house west of Black Hole Marsh! Similar distance to the Marsh Harrier which was a nice surprise today.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'd been hoping to get the Dartford Warbler which has been about, but elusive, for a few weeks now; a bird I've not managed to see on patch yet, and it'll stay that way for the time being.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, how bad a standard of pics do we want to see on this blog? A photo-less post just looks a bit lame in my opinion, but the photos from today are lame too. I'd say my priority balance has swung to more like 95% birder 5% photographer these days. I like photos for records, I like photos to help with ID, and occasionally I like to try and get nice photos of a nice bird.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, lame photos are a go-go. To make this extra lame, the pics probably aren't worth getting off the camera, so I'll post a BOC (back of camera) pic taken on my phone instead...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8IbdZLIBfwbrYvQKp9hwOrMvDGc7Gc4jC6u8jb_3E-KgMnMcqC5CgoVy2tG-ZZkD7oe8TVVXBPd1Fj84ai5e3f2pOy67hk03ya0VhSGtYDn1_0JIpakOiHqDSDWi8EH_hqn4j3eVAzpWi4MfMPL_Kww9qXVTyntAO37m22Is-hofuTRkVSiRIYuc0EQ/s3072/PXL_20230101_174033463~2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2537" data-original-width="3072" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8IbdZLIBfwbrYvQKp9hwOrMvDGc7Gc4jC6u8jb_3E-KgMnMcqC5CgoVy2tG-ZZkD7oe8TVVXBPd1Fj84ai5e3f2pOy67hk03ya0VhSGtYDn1_0JIpakOiHqDSDWi8EH_hqn4j3eVAzpWi4MfMPL_Kww9qXVTyntAO37m22Is-hofuTRkVSiRIYuc0EQ/w640-h528/PXL_20230101_174033463~2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRuwZbnVeWxaUJ9yvYaPSHZGCqindDgloEAC0TOkafr58zQGcLvBKwyA7L6rDd5jCeLCiAi5u1WBNlxrW3eISzm7ftAhGlxFJALmtEif2ilgYOGJHb3UgtJgwVX9UF98AkdxUFbKTnozaZw3t0zHI_d1o_QZWBx2tG8vTbKnFs7vnoU34R0lJY2NScg/s3019/PXL_20230101_174057978~2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2282" data-original-width="3019" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRuwZbnVeWxaUJ9yvYaPSHZGCqindDgloEAC0TOkafr58zQGcLvBKwyA7L6rDd5jCeLCiAi5u1WBNlxrW3eISzm7ftAhGlxFJALmtEif2ilgYOGJHb3UgtJgwVX9UF98AkdxUFbKTnozaZw3t0zHI_d1o_QZWBx2tG8vTbKnFs7vnoU34R0lJY2NScg/w640-h484/PXL_20230101_174057978~2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-69820810156823233042022-12-31T23:42:00.000+00:002022-12-31T23:42:03.568+00:00Bring on 2023<p>Another year gone. 2022 has been a good year on patch for locally scarce birds!</p><p>I never did quite revive this blog, but it was less neglected than recent years so I'm taking that as progress. Quite a few nice finds this year considering the disappointing amount of time I've been able to put into it, with the Glaucous Gull over my garden being perhaps the most unexpected. The 2nd of the 2 Honey Buzzards (Dorset) was impressive though, flying pretty much straight over me! </p><p>I should probably do a bird montage image but to be honest, I can't be bothered to make it tonight (sorry), so here's one of some of my 2022 astro images!</p><p>Good luck to all heading out for January 1st birding, and all the best for 2023.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPvigOFcaOJIESky1Wey06Sessn9sd35YEpS3i8-9ar_eJsim1SGyf-w-Ou6mWAvmshWDEuX7hj46QIzaIhgsa8b1MN8cAzS133t_flZzSxTmL7oqp4ui8FN-R90VHLl2E6KoYxTRb2UuzmNHO3DtBpSJ9ZgMyQCEbKqJNmBx0GAE5R-_EHpQ5dw8BSQ/s4096/2022%20Montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2803" data-original-width="4096" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPvigOFcaOJIESky1Wey06Sessn9sd35YEpS3i8-9ar_eJsim1SGyf-w-Ou6mWAvmshWDEuX7hj46QIzaIhgsa8b1MN8cAzS133t_flZzSxTmL7oqp4ui8FN-R90VHLl2E6KoYxTRb2UuzmNHO3DtBpSJ9ZgMyQCEbKqJNmBx0GAE5R-_EHpQ5dw8BSQ/w640-h438/2022%20Montage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-6418508974852923292022-12-29T01:29:00.001+00:002022-12-29T01:33:33.999+00:00Isabelline Wheatear & White-tailed Eagle<p>What a gorgeous wee bird!</p><p><br /></p><p>Boxing Day was such a superb birding day on patch here with the Isabelline Wheatear continuing to show well, a visit from a White-tailed Eagle, as well as a flyover Great White Egret. There have been triple figures of people visiting us here for the Wheatear, with a plethora of pics appearing all over social media. You can't blame the photographers (or birders or twitchers) for coming for this one, it was both rare and very, very obliging. I crouched down on the boardwalk and waited, and the Wheatear duly hopped towards me, within perhaps 20-25ft at times. It gave a similar feeling to the incredulous views of the 1st Least Sand we had on Black Hole Marsh back in 2016.</p><p><br /></p><p>With there being so many pics of this bird already doing the rounds online, I made a conscious effort to try and get something different, if possible. A flight shot was an outside hope because as much as we like to get them, they're just so difficult. Something a little more likely was a shot with streaks of rain, something I have a soft spot for in wildlife images (but preferably not my astro stuff...).</p><p><br /></p><p>These 2 are by far & away my favourite images from the day:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpvg66e0Ld9GxWm3mYUI7iGdGGK-eTD0MfM08ODOxmIB1p3bDTxMrR5gNMoQgJ9d6-68w_1_S64gN1_gPg3oZNSwnLa7AwZexGf1XH_AvoD6bf5EQ10OYvUAYPlm3sCLVYULt8r-JRhooYWO_uEqnY1tOBFESO0Yyv1mdMBe60WkKkUOF6s4IR92qesQ/s2048/DSC06546_DxO-5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpvg66e0Ld9GxWm3mYUI7iGdGGK-eTD0MfM08ODOxmIB1p3bDTxMrR5gNMoQgJ9d6-68w_1_S64gN1_gPg3oZNSwnLa7AwZexGf1XH_AvoD6bf5EQ10OYvUAYPlm3sCLVYULt8r-JRhooYWO_uEqnY1tOBFESO0Yyv1mdMBe60WkKkUOF6s4IR92qesQ/w640-h426/DSC06546_DxO-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkgaEuC9fax023O43IzQIgsOHDE6Z2LVN6a3ifmVMuYCBNdhbuZ_cBmK2kUxMN4CbqXw2LgiOXs7wusjq73BV_A-dYyfPufiZ1gyhuVlarK48ddzYzpXTh0bc-FWUnnE-w26Lt_bWdxDLemFibylglSDcHyMhWx8tmSep4rY0XPEP-dY9-18oSZm0_2g/s2048/ED_IsabellineWheatear-8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkgaEuC9fax023O43IzQIgsOHDE6Z2LVN6a3ifmVMuYCBNdhbuZ_cBmK2kUxMN4CbqXw2LgiOXs7wusjq73BV_A-dYyfPufiZ1gyhuVlarK48ddzYzpXTh0bc-FWUnnE-w26Lt_bWdxDLemFibylglSDcHyMhWx8tmSep4rY0XPEP-dY9-18oSZm0_2g/w480-h640/ED_IsabellineWheatear-8.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>And a very, very distant shot of the White-tailed Eagle. Bun (Kevin Hale) first saw what he thought might be a WT Eagle in flight over the other side of the river but views were distant and brief. He described where he thought it had gone in and I set my scope up on the area. This did show a blob of a bird, but it was just too distant for my 50x eyepiece and no amount of squinting or good eyesight was going to help any of us. Fortunately the camera was a bit more useful, and the very few pixels that were actually on the bird did seem to show it was likely an Eagle; I stuck my neck out and said to the crowd that I was 95% sure it was one. Half an hour or so later it flew and at that point there was no doubt at all. We've had a few passes of WT Eagle over the patch now, but this was the 1st time I've managed to see one, so cheers for initially spotting it Kev!</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ihchX9Tv9b--LmNEAHlw00RvJNQyQ0Cd_uU2GT4c0gd9vb9rx5jx2mA5xuH7F8v3b3cq8VLW7OAiaIZEw1jnXSnGoEp7P8Ro8ZW7Jxd-6wnhBPD3om9PG8Gflnl0Wha1KQC2nC-y5B1eXP59ChyxsIUqLq0-eYnQUZTOKG89o_sZJqahxufb8iukeA/s2048/DSC07164_DxO-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="2048" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ihchX9Tv9b--LmNEAHlw00RvJNQyQ0Cd_uU2GT4c0gd9vb9rx5jx2mA5xuH7F8v3b3cq8VLW7OAiaIZEw1jnXSnGoEp7P8Ro8ZW7Jxd-6wnhBPD3om9PG8Gflnl0Wha1KQC2nC-y5B1eXP59ChyxsIUqLq0-eYnQUZTOKG89o_sZJqahxufb8iukeA/w640-h252/DSC07164_DxO-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-47895830693565351762022-09-10T00:13:00.004+01:002022-09-10T02:19:44.197+01:002 Garganey, Hobby, Pec Sand & Osprey<p>I hate how sparse my blogging has been over recent years but if I ever only worked 100 hours per week, I'd genuinely consider it part time 😂</p><p><br /></p><p>On September 1st, in terrible light, and very distant, I had 3 small ducks fly in and park up on the Axe estuary. My immediate hunch was 2 Garganey and a Teal, so I alerted the others in the hide. Some umm-ing and ahh-ing later and the scope & bin views just weren't good enough, but fortunately the camera revealed more, especially when they came a bit closer, 400 ft or so (but DARK). Bang on, 2 Garganey and a teal! I've found quite a few Garganey here over the years, but these were the first that were properly hard work. Hobby was nice to see that same evening, my 1st of the year I think; pretty poor, but birding time has been poor so...</p><p><br /></p><p>Roll on the 9th, my birthday! An alert went out about a Pectoral Sandpiper at Colyford Common so I quickly popped over for a look before going to work (late...). Got it, in the drizzle, but got it. No sensible pics but I was just glad to see another one here. Keen to have another try after work, I headed back there in the evening, but before I could check the waders, an Osprey approached and flushed everything...</p><p><br /></p><p>Pec and Osprey, happy birthday!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-agfffgC48Cq6wVAkJITmdtM3xiwrfqn7Bc8MZ7RCJ44SUTBl_ruEFcEoR8pRPvoYIYLtWADByJoNZMB1j3C9a-gS1ygYJLZJcTF7Hc1vx5Fm68lXl5YCO5H_qQt6oHvpgRxgzgkpkmVsYXhF9xYj1ogDkmHoe6YjN_cK7yS-s817HprA23_5Oh6XA/s2048/DSC06227_DxO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-agfffgC48Cq6wVAkJITmdtM3xiwrfqn7Bc8MZ7RCJ44SUTBl_ruEFcEoR8pRPvoYIYLtWADByJoNZMB1j3C9a-gS1ygYJLZJcTF7Hc1vx5Fm68lXl5YCO5H_qQt6oHvpgRxgzgkpkmVsYXhF9xYj1ogDkmHoe6YjN_cK7yS-s817HprA23_5Oh6XA/w640-h426/DSC06227_DxO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRI_8gNCsw9CebA8-DvPDCyW0Zus_EhNz1LFdb1XWGyeTFlIp2PMjboXedK5Ghs09dWSH8gVsmQB9HbxeikfC7UOtePvRZQvVKZks1jnspP9r5Gw3rXIWwqmuB9ziNnbiMPMBYeVwjbhjec5tqjYT_HlliWOOns0P-p3Vq9K-pQ5VWntdUh9yps1sRQ/s2048/DSC06646_DxO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRI_8gNCsw9CebA8-DvPDCyW0Zus_EhNz1LFdb1XWGyeTFlIp2PMjboXedK5Ghs09dWSH8gVsmQB9HbxeikfC7UOtePvRZQvVKZks1jnspP9r5Gw3rXIWwqmuB9ziNnbiMPMBYeVwjbhjec5tqjYT_HlliWOOns0P-p3Vq9K-pQ5VWntdUh9yps1sRQ/w640-h640/DSC06646_DxO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-50766363518404040752022-05-03T23:58:00.005+01:002022-05-04T01:45:57.592+01:00Spoonbill at Black Hole Marsh<p>The decent year for (locally) scarce birds on patch continues! Spoonbills are more or less annual on patch, some years none, some years more than one (like this year), and always a joy to see. I had Black Hole Marsh entirely to myself when I saw this beauty drop in.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLaad1g9NSI6M89TwHkVGDrvPyrqM3fKLouxIJs9fWopSlTABz3_XM6nQ6cGR19ycUEBixNaf-Vq1ACmuWEwFyqS1yGdK-PYLIOmHPS_cTr8edALAdOpj95W7Gm7GQBZhoc_uAI0JmOxpB-SWbE_g2tD1Lxpvk9AxfJRbQB3QGaIAzxSPnQ9mm1R9FzA/s2048/DSC06029_DxO-1-7-low_res-height-2048px-gigapixeliii.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1684" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLaad1g9NSI6M89TwHkVGDrvPyrqM3fKLouxIJs9fWopSlTABz3_XM6nQ6cGR19ycUEBixNaf-Vq1ACmuWEwFyqS1yGdK-PYLIOmHPS_cTr8edALAdOpj95W7Gm7GQBZhoc_uAI0JmOxpB-SWbE_g2tD1Lxpvk9AxfJRbQB3QGaIAzxSPnQ9mm1R9FzA/w526-h640/DSC06029_DxO-1-7-low_res-height-2048px-gigapixeliii.jpg" width="526" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>At dusk a lot more birds came in to BHM, including 14+ Whimbrel and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits.</p><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-63024620544953203942022-04-30T21:30:00.002+01:002022-04-30T21:30:11.392+01:00Green-winged Teal finally shows nicely<p> ...but only for a few seconds. It was on the pool by the Discovery Hut, which is the area I thought it went down in when it flew from Black Hole Marsh on the 18th. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjClZIvSZwiEtV0oVOpazrgXQByy9NE6uZ9RiOLm9cOuHwZ54DK6xTly1GsHCJBylZtO0efz0bzJLl7uLI2WnwPZBzGQRSHedneHSAor8Cz7wjYP_2Y7D5ZrqNGiDd3Pu_T6zwl0lw3oMkNiBCRBAU8r7VDs1smXJD_nqsm_4tqYqfNMkQkxth3bGRNsg/s1973/DSC01332_DxO-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1315" data-original-width="1973" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjClZIvSZwiEtV0oVOpazrgXQByy9NE6uZ9RiOLm9cOuHwZ54DK6xTly1GsHCJBylZtO0efz0bzJLl7uLI2WnwPZBzGQRSHedneHSAor8Cz7wjYP_2Y7D5ZrqNGiDd3Pu_T6zwl0lw3oMkNiBCRBAU8r7VDs1smXJD_nqsm_4tqYqfNMkQkxth3bGRNsg/w640-h426/DSC01332_DxO-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>25th - I had a gorgeous sum plum Barwit on Black Hole Marsh which was joined by a 2nd on 27th</p><p>26th - a Cattle Egret flew SW over Seaton, 3 Whimbrel on the estuary</p><p>28th - a decidedly less attractive Barwit joined 1 of the 2 sum plum birds</p><p>29th - 2 Barwits (1 sum plum), 5 Whimbrel and 3 Ringos</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSO7-N-VOuVs_9tqYixETNQc3ZIxhTuBVfTUac9Dsu9PVfbC_hyHc_tST8febUMKQRaI1_iLrRlAXqp8nCRTRFryVeMxE5IPd7EjnYo0_771qLBJkKSfhQwBK-VX72JWHYqrDFkezJbF7Ik_NFzlGyPnuTz6JTeZfaydvLAnOGYrywUBVqizPd8gcnJQ/s3072/TimWhitePhotography_DSC01816_DxO-1iii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2003" data-original-width="3072" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSO7-N-VOuVs_9tqYixETNQc3ZIxhTuBVfTUac9Dsu9PVfbC_hyHc_tST8febUMKQRaI1_iLrRlAXqp8nCRTRFryVeMxE5IPd7EjnYo0_771qLBJkKSfhQwBK-VX72JWHYqrDFkezJbF7Ik_NFzlGyPnuTz6JTeZfaydvLAnOGYrywUBVqizPd8gcnJQ/w640-h418/TimWhitePhotography_DSC01816_DxO-1iii.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken after the Sun went down when most people would have long packed up the camera gear!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-77555452329509096622022-04-18T22:55:00.004+01:002022-04-19T00:51:38.138+01:00Green-winged Teal at Black Hole Marsh<p>I thought I'd missed my chance with the GW Teal on Bridge Marsh on 8th April (I was working), but rather unexpectedly it flew in through the rain and landed on BHM early evening today! I'm not aware of any other sightings between the 8th and now but it's likely the same bird and has presumably been staying somewhere local-ish. It flew in from north of BHM with 3 Teal and landed quite a way off... It didn't linger long and after it flew, a further 90 mins of searching didn't turn it up again either. It was nice to get a few other people onto it as well at least.</p><p>Poor pics due to distance, but great to see nonetheless.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSA3GhInsHCeprPA094Ps8BsivDs1GQXBT69FSXyKcWeYIPtkKpqDxsUe0saoS8_J7B0RXZRBfqXlJ3QSTQd1R6lwQbSzXt786UMJSU0aBREGJ0fcr0Bpm8RHO7GyDWXf0AteFwBWwlJ5BMxc1GljzDd8CYgd838prupZLI2jdJ6EHSoUYyCSLqhM68A/s2048/DSC00788_DxO-1-gigapixel-standard-width-2048px.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSA3GhInsHCeprPA094Ps8BsivDs1GQXBT69FSXyKcWeYIPtkKpqDxsUe0saoS8_J7B0RXZRBfqXlJ3QSTQd1R6lwQbSzXt786UMJSU0aBREGJ0fcr0Bpm8RHO7GyDWXf0AteFwBWwlJ5BMxc1GljzDd8CYgd838prupZLI2jdJ6EHSoUYyCSLqhM68A/w640-h426/DSC00788_DxO-1-gigapixel-standard-width-2048px.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnxtnsyXeA3lanx3Gw9AfZSRVZBnzU45f3FHdL86ymN87MQBhuaBEyWzmTpgyCSrcCs028YsbEJ8TKdEYh_J1OFszDZbbAQUtZvMomcmt2t40lY5mYozXoPO1NQxr3v7YylV4nlm6Y9b8sTtsZh7lk2Dr7aLgpE1Xit6Blt7zL6Adjv_gcef_2hlA5g/s2048/DSC00937_DxO-1-gigapixel-standard-width-2048px.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnxtnsyXeA3lanx3Gw9AfZSRVZBnzU45f3FHdL86ymN87MQBhuaBEyWzmTpgyCSrcCs028YsbEJ8TKdEYh_J1OFszDZbbAQUtZvMomcmt2t40lY5mYozXoPO1NQxr3v7YylV4nlm6Y9b8sTtsZh7lk2Dr7aLgpE1Xit6Blt7zL6Adjv_gcef_2hlA5g/w640-h426/DSC00937_DxO-1-gigapixel-standard-width-2048px.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-69512575008703636572022-03-23T22:39:00.004+00:002022-03-23T22:57:55.205+00:00White-winged surprise over my garden!<p>Glaucous Gull is definitely not something I was expecting to see over the garden today! I had my binoculars and (small) camera handy whilst I was working on my astro equipment outside, and it was just as well that I did. A scarce bird locally, and only the second I've seen on patch. It really did put a smile on my face, it just wasn't something I was expecting to see from home. I've had a few Meds over before, and a probable Iceland Gull over town (we had one on the Axe the following morning so the 'probable' became extremely likely), but still, a very nice surprise indeed!</p><p>Poor pics, but I care not.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzxPv7TsV2f-m7NO0hEMOzfzvzDhacfcSVOLVAdp_FNqCXj53FtBslJcEnothJp4wHU6t7xOBhk58appqujAfcz-Nli48PNmure5i6Y0lAEEsPKwKNBZeXp1p4Ry2wy5LOhUluK9ts7Y5lUODw619hBpJLpD64Z1uqcejABlelaFLEMHLapNwFi3e0Q/s1415/DSC08980_DxO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="1415" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzxPv7TsV2f-m7NO0hEMOzfzvzDhacfcSVOLVAdp_FNqCXj53FtBslJcEnothJp4wHU6t7xOBhk58appqujAfcz-Nli48PNmure5i6Y0lAEEsPKwKNBZeXp1p4Ry2wy5LOhUluK9ts7Y5lUODw619hBpJLpD64Z1uqcejABlelaFLEMHLapNwFi3e0Q/w640-h426/DSC08980_DxO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BUHyqkL8vhQCeqGNYtFlg5GyfNna-4Wl-YTEbYnR0l3xv3F7xJgrdn2DjbJJ0KqvHAxXZKAgmOtOynO6xzBFuOxH3CFno9o5ZVG2UvbzOxw7RyosTe5NK42GOvp9_x23-0u-eK-2an5pIGLA--ZF2pnnMZj4eHJ2BBCAuKJiIDchK4lK5TqAR7JXsA/s2048/DSC08990_DxO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BUHyqkL8vhQCeqGNYtFlg5GyfNna-4Wl-YTEbYnR0l3xv3F7xJgrdn2DjbJJ0KqvHAxXZKAgmOtOynO6xzBFuOxH3CFno9o5ZVG2UvbzOxw7RyosTe5NK42GOvp9_x23-0u-eK-2an5pIGLA--ZF2pnnMZj4eHJ2BBCAuKJiIDchK4lK5TqAR7JXsA/w640-h426/DSC08990_DxO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>There were reports of a WT Eagle over Beer at 16:25 on Tuesday, but before I was aware of this, I had a large bird flying high, away from me over Colyton at 16:48-16:50. I had my arms full of daughter, no bins, no underside view of the bird to show any diagnostic shape, but it was big, and the gulls were not impressed. I hope the GPS data gets released and shows that the bird I had heading NNE was not the eagle... Still not seen one, and want to see one properly when it does eventually happen.</p><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-22529750893610888602022-03-13T12:28:00.001+00:002022-03-13T12:28:13.326+00:00Cattle Egrets in Colyton<p>We've had a few Cattle Egrets frequenting Colyton for quite a while now, numbering up to 5 on occasion. They've been relatively obliging at times, primarily using the same 4 fields. I expect the novelty will somewhat wear off with these in the next few years, but I do rather like them (especially the 2 full breeding plumage birds I had last year)!</p><p>Birding time has been a bit sparse lately, as has time to eat or sleep. Having both Delta & Omicron in the house within 4 weeks of each other wasn't ideal either, especially with a 1 year old. </p><p>Roll on Spring.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoAKyycT5VCJBNjoCa8pdof76xbHOjABO5P1EK22Xpl8nUvXp7sDasXkRIpL53FmRP1dm75iApCPlw3kBefWZmlYG8TY-RxIvUumkE3nq4MQ5Un9KRk7XxVm77Xlim_6VZU_bpB143ZyB7ddNVSpswV2fORzSoJWJUZ-NQ8eF3JeAGtvj2nTQVdyG7Kw=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoAKyycT5VCJBNjoCa8pdof76xbHOjABO5P1EK22Xpl8nUvXp7sDasXkRIpL53FmRP1dm75iApCPlw3kBefWZmlYG8TY-RxIvUumkE3nq4MQ5Un9KRk7XxVm77Xlim_6VZU_bpB143ZyB7ddNVSpswV2fORzSoJWJUZ-NQ8eF3JeAGtvj2nTQVdyG7Kw=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg762l_fsj9jp397m8KVC68KHjQBnXhK_YQnP5wN8RBqyfSWY3s7AR5vRP0oGhAkoIik0fEOsYt_OUYf7QaRNuSdu6CuWZL3X5D0hw21oqkgwn-L13u-EK7avd9kPz-hWag_AmQUWg1snmC5tOdcPBLuRN3W8rpat1WfBpaDSDz-QTdMDS3_hCNxlMafw=s1861" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1241" data-original-width="1861" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg762l_fsj9jp397m8KVC68KHjQBnXhK_YQnP5wN8RBqyfSWY3s7AR5vRP0oGhAkoIik0fEOsYt_OUYf7QaRNuSdu6CuWZL3X5D0hw21oqkgwn-L13u-EK7avd9kPz-hWag_AmQUWg1snmC5tOdcPBLuRN3W8rpat1WfBpaDSDz-QTdMDS3_hCNxlMafw=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnOmd6Jpdss7M-XPkcxsNsR0sOUC2nXNggV08x8tvz4EODbUWuIfumlON0tXczB7UnOuTSu4VjfpGMBFZBADou0QulRJnQt1L8T3VHrtmhMSgGrzwWxf3ZKe3CoqZp5vRxXpLYT6FfXMJHKjFBqu2BCFuIkTH-RNlDqtx5Ac6o9bhF60QZv0GhU0p57Q=s1532" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1532" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnOmd6Jpdss7M-XPkcxsNsR0sOUC2nXNggV08x8tvz4EODbUWuIfumlON0tXczB7UnOuTSu4VjfpGMBFZBADou0QulRJnQt1L8T3VHrtmhMSgGrzwWxf3ZKe3CoqZp5vRxXpLYT6FfXMJHKjFBqu2BCFuIkTH-RNlDqtx5Ac6o9bhF60QZv0GhU0p57Q=w640-h392" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0-SKYzUcri7whbgHT7o-cWoYlc9f417yT_U73E0a_0a4ArF2qcrWCdMDS3nqfg7X6z4pxQBBg0Bkfjp0EEeCg6XfSfoPNbIiMkghQJfPzV4I0jfjaZzpI_wbV3AirBrlGuKHNk91tVFxAyzqz5L2w9urYHdAoybL1VgA-ZjN719s39Nn5hzRBTGyXEA=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0-SKYzUcri7whbgHT7o-cWoYlc9f417yT_U73E0a_0a4ArF2qcrWCdMDS3nqfg7X6z4pxQBBg0Bkfjp0EEeCg6XfSfoPNbIiMkghQJfPzV4I0jfjaZzpI_wbV3AirBrlGuKHNk91tVFxAyzqz5L2w9urYHdAoybL1VgA-ZjN719s39Nn5hzRBTGyXEA=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgM0G5dLcUXPNWS3gYNvgNvcvGqtd6kRpPnbY_0Pz7n6-F0YCe7YCduhEJfaAr4I2YdDJ3_BDYcgJvkGEEOZYZYMfOosbS9TfvEt0HU-GRXSrAuykdpECF662_P08q1xxo607_-Mep-A39oSfmGh1ZNOrJroCGFC0qgggJGU2jYXhksVkAzW8Dycu-ubg=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgM0G5dLcUXPNWS3gYNvgNvcvGqtd6kRpPnbY_0Pz7n6-F0YCe7YCduhEJfaAr4I2YdDJ3_BDYcgJvkGEEOZYZYMfOosbS9TfvEt0HU-GRXSrAuykdpECF662_P08q1xxo607_-Mep-A39oSfmGh1ZNOrJroCGFC0qgggJGU2jYXhksVkAzW8Dycu-ubg=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611811722710568251.post-5790106135400842482022-01-29T13:20:00.002+00:002022-01-29T13:20:12.280+00:00ISS transit of the Moon! And flat-earthers...<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A lunar transit of the International Space Station is something I've wanted to capture for a long, long time. It's difficult in the UK as clear skies are hard to come by, </span></span><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">especially, it seems,</span></span><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> when you want them most. Using an online ISS tracker</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I knew that there was an opportunity to capture such an event quite close to home, so lots of planning later and I was all ready to go on the 19th of January.</span></span></p><p>The ISS passed in front of the Moon at approx 22:54, with the transit lasting close to 1 second. Yes, 1 second. You can imagine why this type of thing takes a lot of planning, as well as very careful execution.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">I videoed the transit on 2 cameras (1 main, 1 backup), and made the image stacks from the footage, as well as from some stills taken just after the pass. It was a 96% moon on the night, but I decided to blend it with an image of the 100% full moon from 2 nights prior, to give it a nice 3D type feel. Not something I've tried previously, but it does make this final image feel more complete.</span></p><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not very often a shoot ends with this sort of feeling, but all the prep and effort paid off.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8iwkp6hk8-HQabQxiTI1C4TnLlXoE-zmb1vQzhOVGp73B3t3HAM7EJ8CvK7p4FBMQiplLIooRuAVoLv50ewl9GXcfJj8g2Dp6g2LE-bSSFocQv1z3ELiP99a1ZIrpvRLzfjh2gaLws5ci6cHOaJOw0djjWBGF7Bd0J74NNNhdNxiOt6rbdxszG_cjkg=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8iwkp6hk8-HQabQxiTI1C4TnLlXoE-zmb1vQzhOVGp73B3t3HAM7EJ8CvK7p4FBMQiplLIooRuAVoLv50ewl9GXcfJj8g2Dp6g2LE-bSSFocQv1z3ELiP99a1ZIrpvRLzfjh2gaLws5ci6cHOaJOw0djjWBGF7Bd0J74NNNhdNxiOt6rbdxszG_cjkg=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaSmTIbdBXGlj16ermRjPvfSAC1Mrye4PW4Txt5qJwn88a-c8U8wy8U6noHSSjjkHodFeIhi-DUGOKGmXZEwjE2zJMsgYvvSk8N2WVBRjbBerJspv9ekM9ZcK8XNztTXuxye9gEh5nR-Sxn1jBSm3PBWz4-N_RdPQd7rkAoZldH5N2dMuv8nTJoxpqlg=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaSmTIbdBXGlj16ermRjPvfSAC1Mrye4PW4Txt5qJwn88a-c8U8wy8U6noHSSjjkHodFeIhi-DUGOKGmXZEwjE2zJMsgYvvSk8N2WVBRjbBerJspv9ekM9ZcK8XNztTXuxye9gEh5nR-Sxn1jBSm3PBWz4-N_RdPQd7rkAoZldH5N2dMuv8nTJoxpqlg=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Colour data was enhanced in post-processing for aesthetic purposes, but the colours here are naturally occurring. ISS positions are accurate and to scale, made from the 25 frames in the video that the ISS appeared in. To ensure each image of the ISS was sharp, I opted for a shutter speed of 1/2000s for the video. This was an educated guess as I've not attempted this before, but physics, maths & photography are kind of my thing(s), so I knew that this would do the job fairly well.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the video footage, played at real-time speed, half speed and quarter speed:</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="504" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rmVWFaVvLUE" width="606" youtube-src-id="rmVWFaVvLUE"></iframe></div><br /><span style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something I didn't consider at the time was just how triggered FLAT-EARTHERS would be by my night's work. I had one 'interesting' comment on my Facebook post, then another, and another in quick succession, so I soon realised that my post must have been shared somewhere a bit, shall we say, 'out there'. A bit of detective work from my good lady and we found the offending Facebook group, a 'flat-earth' group. It seems the ISS is a real problem for their 'movement' as it's one of the few things they can't provide any remotely conceivable explanation for.</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">I didn't find the comments annoying. In fact, the extent of delusion was so extraordinary that the comments were highly entertaining!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">You're a NASA shill!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">You work for NASA!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">You're pushing lies for the government!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">ISS is fake!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Earth is flat!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">ISS is only the size of a football field, you can't see it at 250 miles!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's the wrong size compared to a plane in front of the moon!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a modified plane!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">The moon is really close to us inside the dome!</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etc.</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etc.</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Etc.</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm grateful for the laughs, so thanks to them for that! In fairness, the number of flat-earthers that I attracted was low as the images will have been seen by millions across the various platforms. But still, concerning nonetheless... 😂</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div></div>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07687100594019085679noreply@blogger.com0