Some Sun At Last

Cumstoun - 19.1.20

A new photo opportunity for me this morning to view a deer carcass thats been attracting several Common Buzzards including a pale phase individual. On occasion Buzzards will sit on some vantage point and so long as you remain in the car you can get quite close, but not these individuals they were the most wary of birds and the slightest movement or noise they detected they were off.

Work in progress....

Common Buzzard

Pale Phase Common Buzzard

Buzz Lightyear

Ringford - 12.10.19

In the couple of visits to Alan McFadyen's hides I must have spent over twelve hours of waiting for a shot that's different to what I've already captured and one of the birds that would make the weekend that should be on everyones list would be....the Common Buzzard. To date I've only managed fleeting glimpses of this very shy bird of prey, swooping towards the hide at the very last moment veering off into a tree way off in the distance...my usual view, so fingers crossed I'm hoping today's the day.

It's afternoon and I'm in the hide to photograph the Tawny Owl later tonight that requires being in position before it gets dark, on a post is a male Sparrowhawk has turned up sporting some of the finest plumage I've seen with not a feather out of place (you can see images of this BOP in another post) suddenly a Buzzard that's been sat out of sight in a nearby tree swoops down sending the Sparrowhawk off into the nearby woods, the Buzzard investigates jumping from post to post then onto some rocks, there's some great poses and the images are looking ok in the last of the afternoon light, the Buzzard all the while looking for some free offering, I'm tempted just to watch but keep to the task in hand, the camera is in overdrive capturing this one off encounter with the buffer not really managing to keep up, oh for a 1DX !

All too quickly the encounter is over that's lasted no more than maybe two to three minuets. Now I wasn't really expecting this encounter, an encounter I've not seen on previously or on subsequent visits and maybe will only will as a frequent visitor, luck maybe but it's made my weekend.

Common Buzzard

Sunday Morning at Cannop Ponds

With all the signs of boar damage around the forest I thought this morning I’d get out and about and attempt to locate and photograph Wild Boar. Cannop Ponds being one area were boar have caused havoc digging up all the grassed picnic areas, so here was the starting point of my search.

Following some directions I head up into the forestry soon finding signs of boar activity, and, fifty meters further on I spotted a grey/brown object with a very active wiggling tail…wild boar ! I move a little closer remembering what my mother had said, boar are very dangerous and will charge to protect their off spring, with that knowledge at the fourfront of my mind I move closer, I count at lease three animals deep in cover grunting to each other as they route about feeding, then I’m spotted and with a couple of squeals their gone, deeper into cover.

For the next hour or so I try to get a view of the now very wary boar, not the dangerous animals they have been portrayed, at one point stumbling on four animals at around a meter distance which I have to admit had my hart pumping a little. With one record shot in the bag I head back to the ponds, Its quite bird wise but I do get some decent images of a very vocal Little Grebe