BEARDED TITS at RSPB Radipole

Lifer.
Only got a couple of minutes viewing these, but a precious couple of minutes they were...

RAPTORS at Radipole

I took Dad to RSPB Radipole in hope of seeing the Bearded Tits; neither of us had seen one before. The day started by driving out of a sunny Devon and into a slightly dull Dorset! Upon our arrival we were reliably informed that we'd missed out on a close up sighting of a male Bearded Tit by about 20 minutes. Rather than waiting for their return, we had a look around the reserve and was rewarded with some nice views of raptors. Here's a few of the pics:

Marsh Harrier

Sparrowhawk

Marsh Harrier and corvid pursuer

Buzzard

Pics of the Bearded Tits will be here shortly...

Snow Bunting - Poser!

Another rather nice bird to distract from other things going on at the moment. More pics to come!

Whooper Swans a Devon tick

With lots of commitments to attend to today, I took a brief opportunity to go out with the camera. I went to Exminster Marshes and was pleased to see two Whooper Swans in a field near the main car park. I checked BirdGuides and they had already been reported but as Bewicks, so I got them to correct it. Great to see and rather unexpected for a trip which was intended just as a distraction from the rest of my day.

Better Penduline Tit pic

I'm still midway through sorting out my Penduline Tit pics from Sunday so there may be better shots to put up soon...

Some lovely Tits!! (Penduline, obviously)

With some good pics of the RSPB Darts Farm Penduline Tits emerging on the internet over the last couple of days, I thought I'd better make an effort to go and see them myself. My plan was to go to Darts Farm, see the Tits, take some recognisable photos then head back and get the Great Grey Shrike at Aylesbeare Common on the way home. There were no reports of the GGShrike at all today, but the first half of my plan was rather more successful. Three Penduline Tits were showing well upon my arrival. Showing well, but far from easy to photograph due to the vegetation and cluttered background etc. Here's a few pics:

The Black Brant was also showing well. Bit of a bully as is often the case with this species:

GOOSANDER on the River Coly

So it went something like this... My Canon 24 - 70 mm f/4 L IS USM finally arrived today (after Parcelforce temporarily misplaced it) so I headed out for a few shots after work. It was already fairly dark but fast shutter speeds aren't necessarily particularly important when shooting with wide angle lenses. Whilst taking some photos of a bridge in Colyton the usual mallard group swam by but there was an unexpected guest! My first thoughts were along the lines of *!%&!*!%!!*. I know I shouldn't get excited over a duck, but this was only my second ever patch Goosander, it was just typical that I had a WIDE ANGLE lens on for testing. Brilliant. I tried my best at a few pics but with 70mm this is not an easy task... So I hastily jogged home, grabbed the 600mm and drove back down. It was still there although the light by now was very poor for photography. Here's a few of the least bad pics; they're cropped and all taken at ISO 2500 so graining is evident: