Pics from a Somerset Levels trip

With nearly (but not quite) a whole day free from work yesterday, myself and Becca visited RSPB Ham Wall for a pleasant walk around the footpaths. We were certainly lucky in that the weather was lovely pretty much all day; I was hoping to see Bittern, Great White Egret & Marsh Harrier but only the latter put in an appearance, and it was a very brief one at that. The disadvantage of the weather being so bright and sunny was that the pics came out with horrible highlights and shadows which there was no way around, hence why my favoured conditions for photography is lightly overcast with fluffy white clouds! Can't grumble, it didn't rain until we were home!

Here's a few pics; the Stonechat was a particularly striking chap, such a shame about the lighting!!

Great Crested Grebe

Patch lifer Egyptian Goose !!!

Well I was extremely fortunate this afternoon; I was out for about an hour (only daylight time available to me) and saw 3 goose shaped birds fly over and land on the Axe Estuary. I put the camera to my eye and quickly got the attention of other Tim (Wright). 3 EGYPTIAN GEESE!! Patch lifer for me and less than annual here I think and almost exclusively just singles previously. They stayed for perhaps 5 minutes before taking off and flying over in Seaton direction.

Distant pics but lovely birds:

REDBUBBLE

After years of people pestering me to do so, I've finally decided to give wildlife photography a go in a more serious way than just a hobby; one of my first steps is that I have just set up an account on RedBubble to try and attract a wider audience...

Very little on here at the moment, but watch this space...

One of my favourites...

Pic of a Little Egret taken in 2013:

Also I've set up a couple of info/sale pages lately...
www.facebook.com/timwhitephotographycolyton
https://www.etsy.com/uk/people/tjwhite225?ref=si_pr

Brunnich's Guillemot & Glossy Ibis

Due to recent success I decided to brave the elements and try and twitch the Brunnich's at Portland Harbour this morning. There was no sign of it after an hour or two of looking from 9am so I nipped off to see if the Glossy Ibis was still hanging around the playing fields near to Radipole Lakes. The Ibis was indeed there so I took a few distant pics through the storm (heavy rain and hard-to-stand-up-in winds).

So attempt two with the Brunnich's and it still hadn't been seen (or at the time of writing this post now that I'm home) so it seems that the only day I had available to go and see it was the first day that it hasn't been seen since the day of discovery. Terrific! A bad dip to start off 2014 was not the plan... hopefully the birding year will improve, and significantly.

Glossy Ibis

WHITE BILLED DIVER & Cirl Bunting

I twitched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And for the first time (I'm ignoring the Trews Weir Lesser Yellowlegs dip). It was great to see both of the rarities that I went to Brixham to see; both the White Billed Diver and the Cirl Bunting flock. Unfortunately the WB Diver never came particularly close and the water was rough so the pics all have a 'busy' background which is a shame. On the other hand the Cirl Bunting flock was comparatively obliging.

Avocet pics

I had about 3 hours to myself throughout last week so I thought I'd give the Exe Estuary a brief visit. I'd never actually been to see the wintering Avocets before so it was quite spectacular for me. I couldn't get especially close, and it was quite dark but I took some pics none-the-less:

A posing Lapwing