Colyton Wildlife

A good day on patch (River Coly)

2012-02-26T20:00:00.000Z

BLIMEY! Some free time AND it's not raining; now that's a true rarity. I went for a very brief walk along part of the Coly on Friday (24th) to see if I could track down the Dipper that has been seen there recently. I didn't see it, but definitely heard it (COMPLETELY unmistakable call). It flew right passed me but my face was planted on my camera as I was photographing a GS Woodpecker at the time, hence why I didn't see the Dipper! I also saw a male Kingfisher multiple times.
So with some free time today I headed back down the Coly to try and get a glimpse of the Dipper. Once again it was heard a long time before it was seen, but I did eventually see it land. I got a few shots of it inbetween its 'dips' but it was pretty dark so the photos are not of a high standard. Also saw 2 Kingfishers (I'm hoping that it was one of each sex as the other Kingfisher nest site looks to only have had a male resident, with no female seen nearby AT ALL since last summer). There were at least 4 buzzards flying around, got some distant shots of a pair mating on a low branch of a tree... but I won't post them. Also a Grey Heron (as usual), and a dancing Grey Wagtail:

Now I'm eagerly awaiting the clocks to change so I can get out in the evenings with at least some light remaining!

Recent River Coly bird news

2012-01-22T23:01:00.000Z

No time to sort out pics so just a brief summary of sightings over the last couple of weeks.
Male Kingfisher present last weekend (14th) upstream from Chantry bridge in Colyton. Also a Dipper was seen (by Steve White). Hasn't been seen on 3 outings since but it was a definite ID. Also a Green Sandpiper on the river towards Freakhayne. Flies off when spooked by dog walkers, flies around rather erratically then lands by the river again. Green Sandpiper also not seen since weekend of the 14th, but there has often been one or two present in past years so hopefully we'll see more of it.
Today: walk on the Coly upstream from Chantry Bridge. Sightings include: male Kingfisher, flock of 11 Meadow Pipits, Grey Heron, Ketrel, 3+ Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, 2+ GS Woodpeckers, 2 Roe Deer, SALMON (yes, on the Coly) I do have pictures of it, but let's just say it's seen better days...

Quick walk along the Coly

2011-11-20T22:22:00.001Z

Yes, it's been nearly 2 months since my last blog post. The shortening days have left me with literally no opportunity to go out birding. Ahh the joys of leaving for work in the dark, and getting back in the dark 6 days a week, and other commitments filling time on the remaining day... So with a free hour of daylight today (yes, really, this was my first free hour in the daytime since September!!!) I went for a walk along the River Coly. Well, I say daylight, but it was already pretty gloomy by 15:00. There wasn't much to see with the most interesting birds being a probable Peregrine (80% sure as it was distant), a Grey Heron, a couple of Fieldfare and a Kingfisher. All pics were pretty shoddy but I'll put up a couple of the heron as it's been so long since I blogged.
To give you an idea of the lack of light (it was in a fairly sheltered area which didn't help my cause), I had to drop the camera to ISO 800 despite using a flash (high power at Guide No. 42 & +3 on exp. comp.) and the shutter speeds were still wallowing around the 1/100sec mark. Any fellow camera buff will appreciate how far from ideal this is considering that the camera/lens arrangement gives 672mm of umph (inc. 1.6x sensor crop factor of the 7D). Anyway, enough of the excuses:

I laid down on the ground to try and get an uncluttered background
with this shot but couldn't quite get low enough

Here are a few pics from September which I didn't have time to post at the time. Wheatear, Redshank and a Little Grebe; all in front of the Tower Hide:

Yum yum

A photogenic bird for a change!

Yum yum

I will try and keep posting but it will be infrequent. I may have to resort to posting some pics from this summers holiday to Austria which I didn't find time to do in July...

River Axe Osprey pics

2011-09-29T19:47:00.000+01:00

Really tired so I'll make this snappy. Got up at 6am to try and see the two Great White Egrets. I was by the Axe at 6.50am but the mist was VERY extensive and dense. Annoyingly I left before they were visible. I left at arounmd 8.30 and they were reported to have been seen at around 9am. GRR!!
The Semi-p could be seen from Coronation Corner for much of the day. Not very close though.
At 15:51, an OSPREY showed up. Hopefully it'll decide to stay for a bit... Here's a few shots to prove the claim. Lighting was ATROCIOUS, with the sun being behind the bird for nearly every shot. Frustrating.

Shows how close to the Tower Hide this was!

If only the Osprey would pose in nice light like this Buzzard did.

OSPREY, River Axe!!

2011-09-29T17:34:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to spread the news. Pics will follow later. An Osprey flew in at 15:51 this afternoon, headed straight out to sea, but then came back and dived into the river STRAIGHT in front of the Tower Hide. Unfortunately I wasn't in the hide at the time (I was at Coronation Corner, Axmouth).

More of the (probable) Semi-palmated Sandpiper

2011-09-25T20:12:00.000+01:00

Here are a few of todays pics of what is thought to be a Semi-palmated Sandpiper, at Black Hole Marsh. Yes, the colours do look strangely different from yesterdays pics... I'm putting that down to the lighting though as today was far brighter!

If only it would come closer for a better view!

Semi-palmated Sandpiper, Black Hole Marsh

2011-09-24T20:00:00.000+01:00

Given the nice weather, I ventured to Black Hole Marsh after work. There were a lot of people there and a lot of buzzing about a possible Semi-palmated Sandpiper. There was confusion about whether it was a Semi-p Sandpiper or a Little Stint due to their very similar appearance. Although I think it's now more or less been confirmed as being a semi-p. Here are a couple of pics. The bird was VERY distant (a hundred metres plus most of the time) so I've cropped them in a bit. Please excuse the inevitable picture quality degradation!

Good day for birds of prey!

2011-09-15T22:42:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's a thursday and I never post on thursdays; I took the day off work (holiday to burn). I spent a couple of hours in the morning over at Black Hole Marsh. The area around the island hide is still REALLY quiet after the recent works there. All that could be seen was a Greenshank and 4 Little Egrets... far from exciting. I did spot a Peregrine fly over distantly. And managed a very lame pic. Looked like an adult bird this time:

There was also the usual Kestrel near the car park. He looked very smart in the early morning sun!

I'd edit the lines out of this if I had time, they kinda ruin the shot!

The was some Kingfisher activity in front of the Tower Hide, with two young birds playing and being very vocal! I managed a photo of one of them but the light was awful as I was shooting into the direction of the sun:

One of these also parked briefly on the line in front of the Tower Hide:

Come the afternoon, I went for a brief walk by the River Coly for a change. I felt as though I should, after all, my blog is called 'Colyton Wildlife' but greater diversity of life at BHM has recently taken priority! It was worth the trip though; I saw a Hobby flying over very quickly. That's my third in Colyton this year, whereas my previous annual record was nil. I took a quick (rubbish) photo of it, it is just about recognisable as being a Hobby:

There was also a Buzzard on the usual post. And one flew over fairly close for a change:

There were also THOUSANDS of these on pretty much all parts of the river; I've never seen them like it before!

Strange wee-beasties

OSPREY!

2011-09-10T23:12:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately not on patch. But an Osprey none-the-less. There's been one (now two) in the Exmouth/Topsham area for a couple of weeks now. I rarely twitch but I miss these birds, only usually seeing them for a few days each year! The trip there today was attempt number two, prompted by me dipping when I took the afternoon of work to go a couple weeks ago. Here are a few pics. The quality is pretty poor as the bird wasn't anywhere near close enough to take decent shots. But who cares, it's still an Osprey!

Hopefully there'll be an on-patch Osprey soon!

Curlew Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Little Stint, action shots and ruthless murder... (BHM)

2011-09-04T21:36:00.001+01:00

I'll keep this brief due to a lack of time.
I spent some of yesterday afternoon and most of today at BHM to see if the Curlew Sand was around (I learned that one had been seen, courtesy of Steve Waite's blog. Thanks Steve). It was showing distantly and light was atrocious as the sun was behind the bird. Needless to say the pics were backlit so I compensated with the exposure. I figure having some faded-looking colour detail (not really representative of the actual colour) is better than having a bird which appears black! So please excuse some of the pics looking odd. There are a couple of pics of the bird in sun (taken today) but they were even more distant... I can't win! I had an equally tough time taking pics of the Little Stint which was there too.
Now for a little explanation of the blog post title... The Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint parts will be apparent in the pics to follow this waffle. Action shots refers to some Greenshanks which put on some flying displays (being bullied by gulls and other Greenshanks!!). The pics of these came out okay as they were feeling relatively brave regarding coming near to the island hide! Now for the ruthless murder... well in my last post, or the one before, I can't remember but can't be bothered to check; I wrote about Peregrines leaving a bird (presumed to be a small gull) dead on the BHM reserve. Well yesterday there was a similar event as all the gulls on the estuary and BHM flew up, and then I spotted a Peregrine flying close in front of the island hide. After the fuss had ended and the peregrine had departed, there was a dead mallard on a scrape near to the island hide which I'm SURE wasn't there before the Peregrine attacked. I asked the people in the hide and they agreed that the dead bird hadn't been there beforehand. Not trying to give these lovely birds of prey bad press, but they could at least eat their kills rather than leaving them to rot on the reserve!
So here are some recent pics. Quality is mediocre due to the shooting distances involved, perhaps with the exception of some of the Greenshank pics. Enjoy :-)

Peregrine Falcon

Sparrowhawk

Little Stint

Dunlin, Little Stint.

Ruff

Green Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint

Greenshank

Black-headed Gull, Greenshank

Greenshank x 2

Greenshank

Black-headed Gull, Greenshank. Quite like this one.

The last couple of days at BHM

2011-08-29T22:03:00.000+01:00

As there's been some half decent weather over the bank holiday weekend, I thought I'd spend any 'free' time down at Black Hole Marsh to try and get some more wildlife shots. It's been much the same as usual; Dunlin, Greenshank, Little Egrets etc. The most interesting birds have been the two Ruff and two Little Stints.
Whilst I was there yesterday, I saw hundreds of gulls go up on the estuary, and I soon found out why! I heard the distinct calls of Pergrines: there were 3 of them! Two juvs were displaying some surprising behaviour, diving and hitting Little Egrets and gulls in the Black Hole Marsh reserve. A dead bird is now visible from the hide... not sure if this is related to the attack I saw though. Unfortunately I was on the path rather than in the island hide at the time so I couldn't get photos of the majority of the action. Really gutted! I did manage to get some lame shots as one of them was flying away...

Other bird of prey pics (from today) include:
Kestrel:

Sparrowhawk:
These are backlit but I did the best I could with these as I was shooting straight at the sun! The exposure compensation just about showed up enough pattern detail.

Others from BHM:

5 of the many Dunlin

Greenshank

Ruff, Ruff and Greenshank

Ruff

Little Stint

2 Little Stints

Snipe (only a brief appearance on sunday 28th)

Oystercatcher

And these Wheatear pics were taken by the path leading up to the hide at Seaton:

Now I'm looking forward to an Osprey (or two) staying... Fingers crossed we get one for a while again this year!

LOTS from BHM

2011-08-22T22:40:00.001+01:00

I spent pretty much all of the daytime yesterday at Black Hole Marsh. I'll apologise in advance for the onslaught of pics which will soon be in evidence...
Non-bird pics first:

Migrant Hawker

Water Vole

Now to the birds:
Wood Sandpipers:

+ Dunlin

Little Egret:

Fishing

Success!

Greenshank:

Pretty pleased with this one.

And then this happened..... hmm nice!

Here it comes...

Flying out...

And plop into the water!

Knot:

Unfortunately this bird had an injured left leg. This did make it easier to get a wings-up shot though as the bird had to flap to keep it's balance when it was walking.

Sparrowhawk:
Rubbish shots but these birds are good at eluding me and my cameras so I'll post them anyway.

Kestrel:

Oystercatchers:

Pied Wagtail (juvenile):

I also spotted two (I'm assuming juvenile) Peregrines Falcons tumbling around in the sky, quite high up. They flew over BHM from Axe Cliffs direction.
Also a big thanks to Alick Simmons who let me stick my camera on the end of his 500mm lens + 1.4x extender combo. The fourth pic down in the Wood Sandpiper section was taken with his lens (wasn't sunny at the time). I already wanted that lens, definitely want one now. My 300mm is too short for wildlife really, although the size is convenient (only big instead of huge). Better get yet another job to fund it then (as well as not instead of)... or win the lottery ;-).

Cracking views from BHM (and more)

2011-08-20T22:10:00.001+01:00

I briefly went to BHM yesterday evening after work. I took a few (dozen) shots of a Kestrel hunting in the area behind the Field Studies Base. Also there was a Green Sandpiper and a Black-Tailed Godwit on the scrape. Here's some of yesterdays pics:

Shame about the damned lines!!

Dinner!

Today:
After work I motorbiked off to visit Black Hole Marsh to see what was about. Nothing unusual (except the car park was VERY full; little did I know that there was an event on today!) but I got some shots of birds in some SUN for a change. Which has become a rarity of late. When I arrived, there were two Wood Sandpipes in view from the peep holes on the left hand side of the path towards the main BHM hide. After a few minutes a third turned up, and the sun came out. Late afternoon sun always seems to be best for making the photos look good; nice and contrasty, as well as adequately saturated. Here's a shot of all three together (this took a while to achieve as they tend to spread themselves out a bit):

Lovely birds!

From the far end of the Black Hole Marsh reserve there was a Greenshank visible (at a fair distance) from the viewing platform:

Moving to the hide, there was a rather tame Little Egret that was determined to be photographed. This is a very rare complaint from me, but the bird was too close to fit in the frame of the camera at times... Unfortunately the Egret was on the West side of the hide so it was silhouetted when it eventually caught a fish that was big enough to be worth photographing (ahem). I'll post the pic anyway, along with a few others:

I'm quite pleased with this shot.

Another bird which showed well for people in the hide was a Grey Heron. Thankfully this one was fully in the sun. Ahh being able to use ISO 100 or even 200 on my camera is a novelty! Here's some pics of the Heron:

Not a bad afternoon of wildlife watching & photography :-).

More from BHM (and Colyton)

2011-08-16T22:38:00.002+01:00

I spent some time at BHM yesterday, and again this evening after work. The Little Stint was there on both occasions, but distant as usual. Three Wood Sandpipers were in view yesterday, and two this evening. As I was there I thought I might as well pop over to see the hawk moth caterpillars. At least these aren't as camera shy as birds! Although I needed my macro lens really, but only had my 300mm + 1.4x extender with me.
As I was leaving the house this evening to go to BHM, I spotted a Sparrowhawk thermalling above me, and after watching it for about a minute a Hobby joined it briefly. That's 3 on patch Hobby sightings in the last month or so! I have a very lame shot which I'm not putting up (unless anyone wants proof it's a Hobby. You can just about make out the dark streaks and the 'red trousers'). Here's a shot of the Sparrowhawk. Distant but recognisable:

This is cropped a lot. The bird was probably 400-500 metres or so away.

Here's some other shots that I've taken over the last two days. Still need to get some closer ones of the Wood Sands and the Little Stint, but they keep staying away from the hide and the peep holes!

Three Oystercatchers

Little Egret

Eyed Hawk moth

Poplar Hawk moth

Little Stint

Three Wood Sandpipers

Wood Sandpiper

Robin. Sharp photo, worth clicking on to see intricate feather detail

Wood Sandpipers, Little Stint, Sandwich Tern, Dunlin. BHM.

2011-08-13T23:50:00.003+01:00

After work today I went to Black Hole Marsh for a couple of hours and saw quite a lot! There were 2 Wood Sands present for most of the time I was there, although they were pretty distant (appear in pics later). These were the first I've ever seen so the visit was worthwhile just for this. However, there was also a Little Stint there (even further away, a good couple hundred yards), another first sighting for me. There were plenty of Dunlin and Little Ringed Plovers as per the current norm.

In the week (maybe thursday??) I was out on a bike ride around Seaton in the evening and saw a Hobby fly very low overhead, and abnormally slowly. This was on the stretch of road by the cemetry/wetlands car park. Only the second Hobby I've seen in Devon.

Here are a few pics from today's effort; not particularly good as the sun hid for most of the time, and the birds were too distant for my camera gear!

Little Stint

Dunlin

Sandwich Tern

Wood Sandpiper landing

2 Wood Sandpipers

Wood Sandpiper preening

Wood Sandpiper stretching after a preen

2 Wood Sandpipers

2 Wood Sandpipers. Both in focus ;-)

Bird pics from BHM

2011-07-31T23:21:00.000+01:00

I went to BHM quickly after first going to the Seaton hide & Burrow Pit area and seeing NOTHING. Well, I did see a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel, but not within photographing range so I'm not counting that. Seriously though, where have all the dragonflies gone this year?!? Looking back at last years photos I'd see 15-30 dragonflies at the Seaton reserve area at every visit, without exception. Yet I've seen literally zero this year (I haven't had many visits though so my dipping isn't because my sighting skills are worsening or anything)! There are significantly fewer damselflies this year too. It's the same story by the River Coly as well; I've only seen a couple of female Libellula's (Broad-bodied Chasers) so far this year whereas I'd have normally seen Emporers, Golden Ringed, Southern Hawkers, Migrant Hawkers, Common Darters and Scarce Chasers by now. HMM.
Moving on, here are a few shots taken from Black Hole Marsh late this afternoon/early evening:

Shame I wasn't the other side for this shot!

Little Ringed Plover, first one I've ever seen actually!

Common Sandpiper, quite a smart one I thought

Marsh Harriers and Hobbies...

2011-07-24T21:16:00.000+01:00

...At Radipole in Weymouth. Here are the pics from Tuesday as promised. They are naff! The weather was dull and the subjects were pretty darned distant. Just about recognisable in the photos. There were some slightly tamer birds as well though...

Pics from Colyford Marshes

2011-07-19T20:49:00.002+01:00

I spent some of sunday having a good look around Colyford marshes and the hides etc. Here is a small selection of my shots from that day:

Taken at Black Hole Marsh. Take note of the prey...

This one was bounding around either side of the Colyford hide

Taken at Black Hole Marsh

Taken near the Field Studies Base

Dunlin. There was a flock of 5. Taken at Black Hole Marsh

A fairly tame Kestrel over Colyford common

And again...

I also saw a Kingfisher and a Sparrowhawk (with a catch) but the photos were too distant to be worth posting here.
Another post will follow this one soon. I took today off work (using up some holiday hours) so that I actually had time to go out just for the purpose of birding. I went to the Radipole lake in Weymouth with Dad today and saw the Marsh Harriers and a Hobby, amongst other species. Unfortunately the weather was dull and pretty tough for photography, and the subjects were a LONG way away (most of them). None-the-less a post with some pics will be sorted shortly, even if the pics are mediocre at best!

On patch Little Owls, Kestrels, Water Voles, Spotted Flycatcher, and my FIRST Hobby

2011-07-16T23:33:00.001+01:00

I still need to put up some shots taken from my holiday in Austria, but I'll prioritise with some local stuff. Here's a selection of recent shots:

This next one came as a pleasant surprise... I was innocently photographing a young buzzard attempting to ride a thermal when another BOP flew by. I took as many shots as I could but it was flying at a fair rate! I assumed it was a Peregrine at the time, but looking back at the photos, it was actually a Hobby. The first one I've ever seen. And in Colyton!! (by the River Coly). Shame the shot wasn't better, but the 2 second window I had to shoot in before the bird was gone was pretty restrictive.

Locations:
Spotted Flycatcher: Colyton near the church.
Little Owls: Colyton, secret location.
Kestrels: Black Hole Marsh.
Water Voles: Black Hole Marsh
Hobby: Fly by at the River Coly.

Blog update imminent!!

2011-07-05T23:31:00.000+01:00

Sooooo, it's been over a month since my last blog post. And this isn't a proper post either. I went away to Austria (Zell Am Zee) with some family from 18th June to 2nd July, hence why I haven't been blogging! I'm still in the process of sorting through the holiday photos (there are a few thousand of them) so I'll just mention what I'm going to put up in blogs which I'll write in the near future.

Contents of blogs to come will include (all of them in the wild):
Red-backed Shrike
Golden Eagle
Griffon Vulture
Redstart
Black Redstart
Goldeneye
Great Crested Grebe
Hummingbird Hawk Moth
Various dragonflies and butterflies, including Swallowtails
Ibex

And maybe a few others.

Some local things now; I've had a brief look on the Coly for the Kingfisher pair I've been monitoring, hoping that the second brood didn't fledge whist I was away. I only saw one adult bird whilst I was there so it's hard to establish what's going on. Although this part of the day was unsuccessful, I headed downstream on the Coly and heard the call of more than one Kingfisher (more than 2 miles downstream of the Kingfisher nesting site that I already discovered). It didn't take long to see the two birds, both of which were juveniles. These birds then led me to what I'm 80% sure is the nest of a second Kingfisher family on the Coly. There's a hole in the bank, with lots of sticks below it, covered in poo! Very characteristic of a Kingfisher nest area. Especially as I saw the two birds sitting on the poo-covered branch, just beneath the hole in the bank... So, I'm assuming it's another nest. Either way, I walked widely around the area so as not to disturb them (although the probable nest site isn't hidden particularly well from public view so pretty much every dog walker and general walker will be disturbing the birds all through the day, whether it's intentional or not).

Another point of interest is some nesting Little Owls, also in Colyton. I've taken some poor quality photos of a juvenile and adult bird. They were taken at 21:30 on 4th July, so you can imagine the camera will have struggled with the low light! Some of the shots of these will probably go on my next blog post.

A few bird pics

2011-05-31T22:41:00.000+01:00

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

Birds in Colyton (not Kingfishers this time!)

2011-05-24T22:39:00.000+01:00

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.

Kingfisher fledglings! Pics with quantity even if the quality is slightly lacking!!

2011-05-16T22:53:00.004+01:00

After a month of closely monitoring the Kingfisher pair on the Coly, seeing the first fledglings made all the effort and time invested seem worthwhile. They fledged last Thursday, 12th May (fairly sure of the date, but could have been on Wednesday 11th as that's the only day I didn't go down to investigate). However, I do not regret missing potential opportunities from the 11th, as I spent the afternoon buying some camera gear, primarily to photograph the Kingfishers with. (For those who are interested, the items in question were a Canon EOS 7D, and a 1.4x mark III extender ~ well over £1500. Disgustingly expensive, but it's worth it for the wildlife!!!). This new gear was later to be put into use... lucky timing I think!
The young Kingfishers took up position in a sheltered area a long way downstream of the nest, and they could be seen here fairly predictably for the first couple of days after fledging. I was thankful of the new 1.4x extender attached to my 300mm lens, as I didn't want to disturb the birds by getting in too close. The pics were all artificially enlarged on the pc as well, I was probably a good 100 yards away!! Reduces image quality but prevents the birds from being disturbed unnecessarily.
Luckily for me, this area where they were all hiding turned out to be their main feeding area, and an adult bird (the male, as pretty much always!!) delivered fish twice whilst I was there. The instant eruption of birds when the adult approached was rather surprising! I was watching 3 young ones on a single branch and when the adult male came, there were suddenly 6 Kingfishers. Yes, SIX!! My shot of all 6 is VERY unclear (so much so that I'm not including it in this post), so I'm not sure if this was 2 adults and 4 young, or 1 adult and 5 young. The most young ones I saw at any other time was 4, but I'm fairly sure there weren't 2 adults there at the same time. Who knows!
Time for some excuses regarding the quality of my photographs. As the area the birds were in was so sheltered (for obvious reasons), the conditions were VERY dark. This meant having to use ISO 1600 on my Canon 7D which is far from ideal (fellow photographers will no doubt have experience of this also). Sorry if the pics are a tad grainy because of this. The choice was either grainy pics, or very blurry pics! The new camera has fairly good noise control at high ISO though, so the photography situation would have been considerably worse with my older camera gear. Can't complain really.
Soooooo, time for some pics. I hope they put a smile on your face, lovely birds!

Adult bird is second from the left.

I've been following Kingfishers for many, many years now, but seeing this was a real heart-pounding moment!

Worth clicking on to enlarge.

This is probably the most detailed pic. Still dark conditions, but not AS dark.

The young Kingfishers seem to have been evicted from the territory by the parent birds now, so they may appear further downstream on the Coly ie Umborne direction heading towards Colyford, or go down to the Axe. They have been sticking to the rule book! They're meant to stay for about 4 days after fledging and this seems to have been the case. Shame it wasn't for a little longer though.

Dragonfly!! And more...

2011-05-02T22:45:00.000+01:00

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:

Kingfishers, best day yet!!

2011-04-25T21:58:00.004+01:00

Today was my first COMPLETELY free day to do whatever I like since October 2010, so I thought there was no better way to spend it than down by the River Coly. I headed out early in the morning and got a few shots of the female Kingfisher. After this success with the female bird, I headed home for some lunch. This Buzzard is the only other semi-acceptable photo I took in the morning:

Nice bird! They're doing well in the Coly area.

So after some lunch, I headed back down to the Kingfishers, this time with the sun shining nicely on their main perching branch, downstream of the nest site. This extra light helped immensely with the photography side of things. Here is some photo technical details for those of you who are interested.

Male bird (pic shown below) taken at:
300mm
1/640 sec
f/5.6
ISO 100

So here's a shot of the male.

This is cropped.

Love these birds, (you can probably tell by now...) simply stunning.

Kingfishers

2011-04-19T21:07:00.003+01:00

Same as yesterday, I headed out briefly after work and was again rewarded.

Definitely worth clicking on this one to enlarge it.

Something that no-one ever likes to see...

2011-03-12T22:03:00.000Z

Firstly I'll apologise for not posting since January. This isn't through lack of desire, it's through lack of time!
I managed to take a few pics in a couple of free hours last weekend. Nothing interesting but better than nothing!
On a sad note, the pictures of the Sparrowhawk which are to follow are of an injured bird. I didn't get too close with the camera as I didn't want to terrorise the bird. Although a dog owner was letting her mutt do a good job of this as it was barking visciously at it... Thankfully not for too long!! The bird was caught and taken to the vets in Axminster (thanks to Allison Stenning) but it sounds as though it was going to be put down. It's left wing was broken. No other obvious damage though.

Sorry about the feeder shots, I was desparate!

(Black Redstart- Seaton Hole)

Colyton birding (nothing special)

2011-01-30T22:27:00.000Z

Seeing as though I had some free time and it was actually sunny today, I headed out with a camera to see what I could find in the way of wildlife. Unfortunately this was a fairly boring and fruitless exercise... Here are a few of todays pics, mostly boring subjects I'm afraid (the exception being a Goldcrest which proved even more timid than usual, apart from when it landed about 50cm away which was too close for the lens to focus..... GRR!!!!!!!).

You know a desparate photographer when you see one photographing common birds like these...

Follow on...

2011-01-23T18:53:00.000Z

After some mild success yesterday I headed out again after the patch Goldcrest. As with yesterday, conditions were dark and overcast (this was at 16:30!!) but a powerful flashgun managed to compensate enough to get some pics that aren't too offensively bad. There was also an uncharacteristically obliging Song Thrush there. Here are a few of todays shots:

The sky wasn't actually blue!! The flash just made it look like this.

Colyton birding (brief!!)

2011-01-22T22:16:00.001Z

I had an unexpected hour to spare this afternoon so I headed out around Colyton with my camera gear. As per usual the weather was unfavourable. Cloudy, cold, dark and generally awful conditions for photography! I walked towards an area near the playing fields after receiving a tip off that a goldcrest was frequently present there (thanks Helga). Despite not being particularly rare I'd still only ever seen two of these birds before this one in my lifetime!!! So regardless of the weather I was pleased that a goldcrest turned up after about 20 minutes of waiting. Here are a few snaps that I managed to take. I apologise for poor image quality, conditions were bad and the bird never stayed still for more than half a second or so!! And it insisted on hiding behind vegetation. There are a couple of pics of other species too, all photographed in the same area:

Black Redstart

2011-01-16T22:34:00.000Z

Having seen Karen's post about there being a Black Redstart at Seaton Hole, I thought I'd go and have a look. It only took about 5 minutes or so for the bird to show but it only landed on the rocks for a second or two before dropping down between them and out of sight! Highly frustrating as this rarely even gave me time to focus my camera on the thing! I did eventually manage to get a few shots. Please excuse the appauling image quality, it was raining as well as being dark.

Colyton wildlife during the festive period

2011-01-07T22:50:00.000Z

I apologise once again for not posting more often! Finding time is tough, especially when you get asked to work over the Christmas period instead of taking it as holiday... I did however find some time on Christmas day and Boxing Day to go for a walk with some camera gear (plus a new battery grip, thanks Dad!). There's nothing particularly interesting to report, here are a couple of recent pics:

As with the majority of my photographs of herons, this one was taken from Chantry Bridge, Colyton.

As I only started blogging recently (from September 2010) I haven't put many of my pics up on here. If you're interested in seeing more of my shots then there is a wider selection on my website at:

www.wix.com/timwhite111/wildlife

I plan on updating the content of that website soon.
Feel free to have a browse!

Quiet zone!

2010-11-22T21:58:00.000Z

I haven't given up on my blog, but I have another job now (as well as the old one) so I have no time to go out wildlife spotting with my cameras. And lack of time is not being aided by the shortening days :-(. On the upside, when I can get out and about, I have a nice new lens to use! A Canon 300mm F4 L IS USM. Christmas Day is my nearest day off so I'll try and get some shots up around that time. Happy birding :-).

More Coly Birding

2010-10-21T22:07:00.000+01:00

Here a few of todays shots. Managed to get a (fairly bad) pic of a Jay for a change. They are highly accomplished at avoiding me and my cameras... The Hornets on the other hand, I had many, MANY hundreds to choose from!!!

Jay

Buzzard

Coal Tit

Hornet

Grey Wagtail

SURPRISE when garden 'birding' in Colyton

2010-10-20T22:28:00.001+01:00

Spent the chilly morning out on Coly Hill today, and waited in my Nan's garden for a few hours. Here are some photos of various wildlife that was seen. A fairly diverse range for a small garden!!

Blue Tit

Song Thrush

Goldfinch

Nuthatch

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Willow Tit

Stoat

Solitary Sandpiper!!!

2010-10-11T20:04:00.000+01:00

I checked Steve Waite's blog whilst I was eating lunch and saw his post about the Solitary Sand. 10 minutes later I was down at Black Hole Marsh trying to see it for myself. (Thanks Steve!!). The Barn Owl was out in broad daylight too. Here are a selection of my shots:

Osprey day #20 STILL here!

2010-10-06T21:14:00.000+01:00

Here are a selection of shots taken of the Osprey today. The bird was mainly to be seen between 13:45 and 16:30 as this is when it was trying to catch fish. Didn't see much else worthy of interest.

That is one GREEDY Osprey!!!

2010-10-05T21:40:00.001+01:00

An interesting day of birding! I started in Seaton hide in the morning, seeing a Kestrel, Sparrowhawks, Osprey, Wheatear, and others. A juvenile Sparrowhawk managed to grab a Green Woodpecker, but after a struggle and a lot of noise the two birds separated.

I went to Coronation Corner in Axmouth at around 2pm to see if the Osprey was around. It was. I moved down to near the bridge nearer the mouth of the Axe, as I could see the Osprey hunting there. The bird dived fairly close to me, and tried to emerge from the water with a LARGE fish, and failed. Eventually the Osprey managed to fly out, but had to land on the nearest bank as the fish was too heavy to carry. If only there was someone looking over the fence by the Tramway workshop!!! After a few minutes the Osprey flew further upstream, only to land on the ground again due to the size of the fish.

Another surprise was the two Grey Plover which turned up. My first sightings of these!
Here is a selection of the photos that I took today:

(MORE) Sightings from Seaton Hide

2010-10-03T20:22:00.001+01:00

Arrived at Seaton Hide at around 2pm, and the Osprey was flying there within about 20 minutes. It hovered for a short while, directly in front of the hide, and close too. This was the only sghting I had of the Osprey, I waited until after 5pm in case it returned (which it didn't). HOWEVER a Barn Owl and a Wryneck kept me and my camera occupied in the meantime...

Sightings from Seaton Hide

2010-10-02T21:13:00.000+01:00

I got to the hide at around 3pm, and the Osprey was already there flying up close! This was a welcome surprise as I had assumed it had continued on its migration and left the Axe. Other birds that were seen from the hide include kingfisher, sparrowhawk, heron, redshank, common sandpipers, cormorant. And many other of the usual suspects. Here are some of the pics that I took this afternoon.

Emptying skies!

2010-09-30T21:32:00.000+01:00

September 30th 2010

The Barn Owl was over Black Hole Marsh between 8am and 9am this morning, swooping down twice and making a catch on both attempts. The Osprey seems to have gone, at least it wasn't seen flying around this morning. I gave up at around 12:30. Here are a few of the shots I took of the Barn Owl.

My first Wryneck sighting!!

2010-09-27T14:15:00.000+01:00

September 27th 2010

The Barn Owl was hunting for a short while around 8am this morning, but poor light led to limited success with the photographs. After the owl flew off and out of sight, I headed up to Seaton Hide in the hope of seeing the Wryneck. Surprisingly, it was already there posing. However, again, bad lighting meant that no decent photographs were taken. There was also a Kestrel on the wires approaching the hide.

Good day for birding!

2010-09-26T21:18:00.000+01:00

September 26th 2010

I spent pretty much the entire day at the River Axe. Interesting sightings include Barn Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Osprey.......... And I FINALLY managed to get some Osprey shots in some decent lighting!!!

Osprey attempt #6

2010-09-24T12:48:00.001+01:00

September 24th 2010

Got up early to see the Osprey in some lovely morning sun. The bird however, had other ideas. The Osprey turned up at around 10 o'clock, when everything was overcast and gloomy. Which was a shame for taking photographs.
Annoyingly, as it started to drizzle and my camera was away in its bag, a Marsh Harrier did a quick fly-by over near Seaton hide.
Here are a few of the Osprey pics I took this morning:

Osprey attempt #5

2010-09-23T14:11:00.000+01:00

September 23rd 2010

Here are a couple of pics from this morning.

Osprey attempt #4

2010-09-22T21:37:00.001+01:00

September 22nd 2010

After having some success photographing the Osprey from Coronation Corner, I stationed myself opposite to the Tram Workshop, in the hope of getting some shots of the Osprey fishing. However, the pictures taken of the dives were blurry, to say the least, but here is a selection of the shots I managed to get.

Surprise when looking through todays pics from the River Axe!!!

2010-09-21T23:41:00.000+01:00

September 21st 2010

After looking through my photos carefully, I noticed that one of the birds of prey was neither an Osprey nor a Buzzard. It was a Marsh Harrier passing through, at a fair altitude! I was distracted by all the gulls flying off and therefore assumed the Osprey was nearby so I didn't pursue this unexpected BOP (bird of prey) any further. MISTAKE! The shot was from a distance, so the bird looks a bit like a fluffy blob, but is still recognisable.

Osprey attempt #3

2010-09-21T12:01:00.000+01:00

September 21st 2010

Having seen the Osprey for the last two days, I was keen to get out early this morning and give it another shot. I waited at Coronation Corner in Axmouth. The bird showed up at around 10:30, and caught a fish on it's first attempt. Here are some of the photos I managed to take this morning.

(More) Osprey, River Axe

2010-09-20T20:30:00.000+01:00

September 20th, 2010

After limited success photographing the Osprey yesterday, I set out straight after work to see if I could see the bird again. After a long wait, the Osprey made a brief appearance at around 3pm, but was chased off (see photographs below). However, the bird did return to fish at raound 15:30, and flew around for about 20-25 minutes before making a catch and leaving.

Not a bad days shooting overall!

Osprey, River Axe

2010-09-19T21:54:00.000+01:00

September 19th 2010.

Set out at 10:30 am and watched over the Estuary from Colyford Hide until about 13:00. Saw the seagulls all fly up a couple of times, but no sign of the Osprey. However, after retiring for some lunch, I went to Coronation Corner late afternoon, around 4pm. Osprey was soon present and was fishing for around 15 minutes.