Quiet zone!

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

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

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

Stoat

Stoat

Solitary Sandpiper!!!

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!

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!!!

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

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

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!

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.