With the forecast for heavy rain and the light appalling I tried a few shots at Jeremy's bird feeders in his garden.
I started off at 1600 ISO and gradually got this down to 400 as the light lifted a little.
Target species was a nuthatch which had been visiting regularly but it was difficult to get clear shots of it and it didn't settle to feed at all.
 |
| Nuthatch |
 |
| Nuthatch |
 |
| Greenfinch |
 |
| Greenfinch |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Robin |
 |
| Siskin |
I thought I'd take advantage of this morning's sunlight to have another go at the Glossy Ibis which is still at Chapel Amble in the flooded meadows.
There was a lot of shooting nearby as pheasants rained from the air but although a bit skittish at first the Ibis took virtually no notice of the shotguns going off within 50 metres or of William and myself as we photographed it in the middle of a part flooded field.
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis coming into land |
 |
| Glossy Ibis coming in to land |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
I have to admit I'm hooked on photographing the frogs in my garden pond.... lets face it it's easy and the teapot is only seconds from the pond!
The pond is fast filling up with frog spawn now and I counted 17 mature frogs there this evening........croak city!
 |
| Common frogs |
 |
| Common frogs |
 |
| Common frogs |
 |
| Common frog emerging through the spawn. |
 |
| Common frog...the pondmaster. |
 |
| Common frog. |
The nomadic Glossy Ibis was still showing well today out at Chapel Amble, about 2 miles from my home.
All that was needed was some sunlight but alas the dreary grey days seem to have returned.
Anyway here are a few shots of it feeding in the pools and marshes beside the Amble river.
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
There has been a lot of activity from the frogs in my garden pond in the past few days with 3 more clumps of spawn being laid.
I just tried some pics in the dark using flash and leaning over the side of the pond so that the camera was as close to the water as possible to get the low viewpoint.
I was using f11 with a diffused flash but depth of field is still lacking in some of the shots when trying to get the tip of the nose and the eyes all in focus together.
Hopefully there'll be more opportunities to get it right in the next few days.
 | ||
| Common frogs |
 |
| Common frog |
 |
| Common frog |
 |
| Common frog |
 |
| Common frog |
Had our first frog's spawn in the garden pond yesterday 14th January, a couple of weeks later than last year although this is often a month after the West of the County where they have seen it this winter before Christmas.
Anyway some record photos below and hopefully the frog numbers will continue to grow in the coming weeks and there will be a lot more spawn laid.
 |
| Common Frog |
 |
| Common Frog's spawn |
 |
| Common Frog |
I was fortunate to receive a call from an interested neighbour to Walmsley Sanctuary who suspected that the dark bird feeding in the marshes at the bottom of her garden could have been a Glossy Ibis.
William beat me out there this morning and located the bird in glorious sunlight (such a change from recent grey days ...& months).
Here are a couple of shots and there are a few more on my website at Glossy Ibis
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
 |
| Glossy Ibis |
Headed down to the south coast at lunch time after getting my 2 year "locals pass" for the Eden Project sorted out and having had a good look at the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year photos which are on display at Eden.
I saw the Ring Necked Duck at the Par beach pool but it was always at the far side of the pool and with a gale blowing was really not worth trying for with the camera.
With nothing showing at St.Andrews pool I decided to go down to Spit beach remembering that Nigel had some good Black Redstarts there last weekend.
I couldn't locate the Black Redstarts but did turn up a single Purple Sandpiper amongst a dozen or so Turnstones.
There were also some Oystercatchers roosting on the rocks with a group of 8 Great Crested Grebes in the sea off the harbour wall.
They were difficult to get near so eventually I climbed up on the harbour wall and managed to get a lot closer although the wind was blowing hard and the water was turbulent.
Nigel was however poised with his camera should I fall off the wall!!!
 |
| Oystercatchers |
 |
| Oystercatchers |
 |
| Purple sandpiper |
 |
| Turnstone |
 |
| Great crested Grebes in the sea off Par harbour |
 |
| Great crested Grebes in the sea off Par harbour |
 |
| Great crested Grebe in the sea off Par harbour |
A small group of us met up on Saturday to photograph a beautiful juvenile female Goshawk which belonged to Wayne and Doreen who had allowed us to hone our photographic skills on their pride and joy.
A few images follow of this bird which is not in the wild and thus possesses all the acoutrements of the falconers trade which on occassions I've managed to hide but in others I've let show.
%20(1).JPG)
