Category Archives: Birds

Snapshots

October 22, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Nothing but gloom today, but an early morning and late afternoon pause at Seven Sisters produced a few good sightings. The photos don’t do them justice and are little more than snapshot records of the day, the first being two shots of a peregrine falcon.

Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcon

Just as I was heading off to work, the klaxon-calls of Canada geese drew the camera.

Canada geese

Now to the end of the day and two little birds. The little grebe…

Little grebe

And the little egret (for once looking quite small).

Little Egret

The forecast for tomorrow looks quite promising for lunchtime… if the early morning rain clears.

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Also posted in Bird of Prey, water birds, Wildlife Tagged , , , |

A Jay on a Rock

October 18, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

We are back to misty mornings, but the struggle to see through the gloom was was rewarded by a brief (and this year, a rare) sighting of a jay. These multicoloured birds are close relatives of the crow and the magpie, but are generally shy and more difficult to spot. This one stayed around just for a few seconds. Long enough though.

Jay

Jay

It had brightened up a touch by the middle of the day. Nothing too exciting to see, so these are just a few shots that I quite liked. The first is one of the local white ducks.

Small white duck

Next up is a very standard shot of a gull (black-headed variety in its winter plumage) in flight. The reason I’ve included it is that I was quite taken with the exceptionally miserable look on the bird’s face!

Black-headed gull

I was pleased with this final shot. The little pied wagtails are a common sight locally, and the relatively mild weather means that they are still leaping about over the rooftops catching insects on the wing.

Pied wagtail

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Also posted in water birds, Wildlife Tagged , , , |

Rain, Sun, Cormorant, Rat, Fox

October 17, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Very typical weather today. I left home in high hope of some decent light, but by the time I’d arrived at Falmer the gloom had already set in. It was a dark and somewhat dismal scene, but it held one welcome surprise in the form of a cormorant. It’s been a quiet year for them here, but this lone bird was quietly gliding around the pond as the heavens opened and the rain came down.

Cormorant

Cormorant

Almost as quickly as it had started (though not so quickly that I didn’t get soaked) the rain relented, and the cormorant took the opportunity to dry off.

Cormorant

The weather was still struggling to make up its mind at lunchtime. The sun emerged long enough to entice this common darter out…

Common darter dragonfly

The rats prefer a touch of sunshine even though they mainly lurk in the shade. These are my favourites of the numerous shots I took of them today.

rat

rat

The end of the day was beautiful. The skies cleared and we were blessed with warm red light as the sun descended to the horizon. And all that needs to set it off perfectly is a pretty red fox.

fox

fox

fox

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Also posted in Foxes, Insects, water birds, Wildlife Tagged , , , |