Back to reality

January 17, 2016

Back to reality for me and that means, more rain and more grumpy looking birds. The hairdo on this Long-tailed Tit today was pretty entertaining though.

Tenerife Extended (Bug Feature)

January 16, 2016

For every bird was a thousand insects, and that says something considering the amount of birds I saw! Crickets were everywhere and with it, their predators. I noticed 2 abundant species of spider around the hotel; Cyrtophora citricola and Argiope bruennichi.

Something I didn't expect to see however was Dragonflies and there were a fair few flying around during the day. Most of them appeared to be Common Emperor Dragonflies but I'm no expert on Spanish Dragonflies so I'll have to look it up.

Spain Conclusion

January 16, 2016

This week has been a week of many firsts; First time flying, first time abroad, ect ect. The holiday was a celebration for my Girlfriends 21st Birthday and we certainly did just that. What I didn't intend however was for the wildlife to be so presentable! Everything was so much easier in Spain! To get a picture of a Kestrel like this I would have to put weeks of effort sat in a cold hide in the Uk but in Spain they would perch up like pigeons! The photographs I got on the trip weren't hard come by what so ever.. Most were on casual walks along the coastal path and 2 minutes from the hotel on the nearest patch. I should stress that it was not a wildlife holiday at all and I had no intension (despite bringing the camera) to spend much time photographing wildlife. It was just so easy... Because the wildlife was so approachable, it meant that we could do pretty much everything we had planned on this trip, including having a relax.
Below is a scene from one of our many coastal walks and as you can see, the scenery is fantastic and me being me, spotted a fair few birds along this section of the overhang. You can just about see the kestrel in the phone picture and that gives you an idea of how close these birds actually are. Something I can't show you however is the sound as I didn't have my recording gear but that is something I will miss for a long time, or at-least till spring arrives here in the Uk. Birds were singing constantly throughout the day due to the climate and when they weren't singing at night, they were replaced with the sounds of crickets. It was beautiful and the island really was painted with the sound of canaries.

I made everything sound so easy so far and while that remains true for the most part, there was 1 single bird that I had real trouble with and it was only this species that I had to rely on some bush skills in order to produce any kind of photograph. This was the Sardinian Warbler.. Much like our Common/Lesser Whitethroats, the Sardinian Warbler is a scrubland bird that spends most of the time in the thick shrub tucked away from site while foraging for insects. Below is about the only decent image I managed to get but the Sun had gone down by that point.

I didn't get to see many large birds really, other than Gulls, Little Egret and a single Juvi Peregrine Falcon.

Most birds I did see were quite common really, including this Canary Island Chiffchaff which compared to our own Common Chiffchaff, shares the exact same look but sounds completely different. It should have been called a 'Chiffchiff' because there isn't much difference between the 2 notes they sing.

Despite there being plenty of them, I didn't really get my intended photograph of the Canaries but here is a sharpish one below.

If you're interested in what hotel we stayed at, it's called Riu Garoe and I would highly recommend this hotel. Food was top quality, location was superb for everything. 15-30 minutes walk from pretty much everything of interest, 5 minute walk from the coastline and bus/taxi rank on tap so you can really explore the island. If you're interested in doing something like this yourself, please contact - Dean Legge: he is an absolutely amazing travel agent and I highly recommend him.

I have plenty more to share about the Spain trip but I'll spread it out in a couple of blog posts. I'll leave it there for now, hope you've enjoyed some of the photographs from this trip. It was certainly a shock to the system coming back to 2c having come from 27c!.

Coastal Walk

January 12, 2016

So far the trip has been full of Kestrels, Plain Swifts, Canary Island Chiffchaffs, African Blue Tits, Blackbirds, Sardinian Warblers, Blackcaps and of course, Canaries (in the millions) and that is just outside the hotel.. I did however take a walk along the coastal path today to find a little more variety, including this iconic Juvi Peregrine Flacon checking out all the pigeons 150ft below on a cactus cliff. It's a shot that I've been hoping I would get and it doesn't quite feel real.

As if that wasn't enough, it was later being mobbed by a Kestrel and I just about managed to get the both of them in the same shot!

Kestrel

January 12, 2016

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Here are some pictures of my recent trip to Spain. It has been amazing to see how successful Kestrels are over here. I've included a picture below which shows just why these Kestrels have been so successful in the towns and cities. Plenty of Mice here but whats more abundant is the Lizards!

Peacock & Goldfinch...

January 7, 2016

In other news, here is a Peacock and Goldfinch... Nearly ran the Peacock over trying to find my location and the Goldfinch was part of a large flock on the coast :)

Early arrival of Painted Lady Butterflies!

January 7, 2016

Rumour has it that Painted Ladies are already turning up in the UK. Painted Ladies are usually spring/summer migrants much like our Swallows so it came as a shock to me to find out that they were already turning up! infact, I didn't believe it! That was until I was treated to a flyby today around midday at Peterstone Coastal Path! Myself and Philip Yendle were pretty taken back at this sighting, so much so that it distracted us for a while from the Short Eared Owls. I didn't however manage to get a photograph as the Butterfly had the wind behind it and landed somewhere in amongst the reeds. Typical. My intended trip was meant for the Short Eared Owls as this spot is notorious for holding good numbers of SEO throughout the winter months. We only spotted one distant bird so nothing great to show you but I intend of visiting again in a couple weeks time now knowing where the best spots are.

B&W for a change?

January 4, 2016

I don't often post Black & White photographs but I should really considering I'm colourblind and generally see my photographs for their Texture / Detail more than their colour properties.
I'll post a few more this month in Black and White, please let me know what you think of them?

Long-tailed Tit

January 3, 2016

Well.. they named that one right didn't they? That tail is causing me a lot of problems lol. I've been trying to get a shot with the entire bird in focus but given the crap light we're currently facing, I've had to shoot wide open on my camera to get anything usable. This is about as good as I've got so far but with the sun on the wrong side. I'll keep trying.

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