Spoonbill, Avocet & others on the Axe

After receiving a message from Steve last night informing me of the presence of a Spoonbill on the Axe, I set the alarm clock early (05:30) and headed to Seaton Marshes whilst it was still nice and dark. I had a look around the estuary with Gav and Steve but didn't have any luck. After we parted ways I decided to head back over to Seaton marshes for one last look before having to move off for work. It's a good job I did! The Spoonbill was feeding near to the Seaton hide. I inadvertently flushed it (although Steve didn't complain because he then saw it from the other side of the river as it was flying upstream) and took a few naff pics. This was at 06:55 so you can imagine what the light levels were like for photography!!!
I had to leave at 07:20 as I had to get to work. It wasn't easy to drag myself away from the Spoonbill (and Avocet). Whilst at work I saw Steve's tweet with Gav's pic of the Spoonbill at Black Hole Marsh (absolutely stunning image). TYPICAL, nicely posing for all of the other photographers whilst I'm stuck at work. I booked the afternoon off to try and get some shots in less dark conditions but the Spoonbill remained distant at all times during the afternoon (50 metres at it's absolute closest, from the hide at Seaton Marshes). I did catch up with the Avocet though so the holiday hours were well spent. Avocet and Spoonbill were both firsts for me. Not bad to get them both on the same day! I hope the latter hangs around for a few days and poses for me like it did for all the others!! We'll see. Here's a few of the pics:

More River Coly action! Kingfisher & Dipper update.

I went for a brief walk by the River Coly after work both yesterday and today. Pretty dull conditions so taking the camera was nearly a waste of time. I'm determined to learn what the Kingfishers and Dippers are doing in terms of pairing up. I'm glad to report that I did see a Kingfisher near to one of the nest sites which collapsed last year. Hopefully there are two birds and they'll rebuild! Time will tell.
As for the Dippers, I've also only seen the one. Here's a couple pics from the walks. (Poor quality, taken after 16:30 on both days).

Not a sharp pic, but I kinda like the blinking-yawn pose!

I'm sure I left my tail somewhere around here...

SOME BIRDING AT LAST (Decent River Coly walk)

I somehow found myself with a couple of free hours this afternoon, and it WASN'T raining. It sure was bloody cold though... With this rare window of opportunity, I picked up the camera and went for a walk by the River Coly. First photograph-able species was Pied Wagtail; there was a pair of them near to Umborne Bridge:

There were approximately 30 Redwing in the next couple of fields. I took this chance snap of one as it left a tree:

Back to the Wagtail theme, there was a rather timid Grey Wagtail which I was determined to capture (in the photographic sense):

And the final bird of interest is what I actually went down in the hope of seeing. I saw many signs of the presence of one (probably two) of these little beauties before finally locating one...:

Dipper- brilliant little characters!

Hurry up Spring & Summer!!

This is the predictable post about me not having time to post about wildlife (again/still). I STILL have no free daylight hours, and won't until at least the end of this month... My time is being monopolised by work, appointments and more work (e.g. dark when I leave the house and dark when I return). I may have to start posting about cycling at this rate; at least it's a hobby I can continue with after nightfall!

Golden Plover in the Axe Valley

I headed out on the bicycle in the sleet/snow/rain after work as a text from Steve alerted me to the presence of 300+ Golden Plover near to the A3052. The view from Cownhayne lane was okay, although the distance wasn't ideal (the birds were usually about 200 metres or so away). The light was appalling for photography; it was pretty dark at 16:00 and the rain didn't help the clarity of the images. They're the first ones I've ever seen believe it or not, and here are some (terrible) pics of them:

I'll give it another go tomorrow if there's any light left by the time I finish work.

Finally, a post with birdlife!!

To those of you who check this blog regularly, I can only apologise for how absent of entries it has been of late. I feel guilty seeing my daily pageviews without me posting any new content! There's a few reasons for my lack of blogging; the main one being some *ahem* health problems (to put it mildly). Some of you saw various cables attached to me a while ago, it was a bit of a job to hide them... my dicky heart was under observation. However, that's been a problem for a while now and more recent issues are significantly more problematic (let's not go there!!!). I'll just say that I'm pretty restricted in travelling at the moment as I'm not meant to drive whilst on my medication(s). Well, more than one of my medications stipulate this, and they also interfere with each other thereby enhancing the problems associated with the meds and driving. The other reason is what my workload has been like of late meaning I haven't been able to get out in daylight since November (worked a stupid number hours in December. Combined with my various 'problems' this proved to be a mistake as I ended up having an involuntary period of unconsciousness in church on Christmas morning...).

On a more pleasant note, I had a couple of daylight hours free yesterday afternoon so I went for a walk along the River Coly. I was hoping for Dipper and to at least hear a Kingfisher; but neither came to fruition. I did sneak up on a Grey Wagtail (it was surprisingly flighty) and took a few snaps, and also saw a few Treecreepers. Shots are very unspectacular but they're the first I've been able to take for a couple of months so here they are anyway:

Happy new year!

Okay so we're 4 hours into 2013... hopefully it'll be a good year of birding on the patch! I am still alive (just); this blog has been quiet due to a few consecutive 80+ hour working weeks recently. I'll probably do a review of 2012 or a small compilation of best pics soon, should time permit it.