Waxwings Everywhere !

Waxwings are now being reported in a number locations in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North Wales areas, so camera at the ready it was off to Bolton to photograph again these great birds. Being fairly familiar with Bolton I had a good idea where the birds were located so I set off in confident mood

Arriving at the location I quickly spotted the birds sat in a tall tree which wasn't going to give great photo opportunities, the birds were flying to a nearby Rowan tree located in the rear courtyard of nearby social housing which the very kind residents let me use to photograph the birds, thank you all

Below is a selection of the bird images taken when the birds visited the outer branches of the Rowan thereby eliminating image clutter and utilising the blue sky as backdrop

Thanks for looking..

The background colour of the image above is a corrugated factor roof which contrasts well with the female blackbird

Mandarin's at The Ponds

Morning at Cannop Ponds, Forest of Dean, Glos to photograph the wild but resident Mandarin Ducks, the trick appears to be, feed the Mallards which then encourages the Mandarin's to come a little closer...

Morning Outing Before Barbara Turns Up

Brief morning outing to my local patch at Birtle before Storm Barbara turns up !...

Never Ending Fog !

Managed to get out to Pennington Flash today after a number of foggy days, 

A Break in the Weather

A break in the weather which turned out to be a fantastic day so it was off to Pennington Flash to see if I could nail the Bittern, sadly this didn't happen but here's some image's from this morning..

Winter Grebes

With a promising weather forecast this morning I set off for a couple of hours with the Great Crested Grebes at Elton. No sooner than I arrived the clouds rolled in and then it started to rain, not wanting to be put off and wasting the morning I carried on regardless

This is selection of shots in very poor light conditions.

Thanks for looking

Egyptian Grasshopper,

Here's an image from the summer of an Egyptian Grasshopper resting on the door handle of a hire car, it was taken on an iPhone in the Parque Regional de Las Salinas, San Pedro, Costa Blanca.

The image is cropped, but take it from me it was big at around 70mm. A good id characteristic is the vertical stripped eye

Garden, Dunnock

Birtle Lodge, Little Grebe

Little Grebe..

Winter Tuffty, Elton

Female Tufted Duck...Elton Reservoir

Birtle Lodge, Female Goosander

Brief visit on way home, mix of 12 males and females

Elton, Great Crested Grebe

Making the most of the fantastic weather and light so off round Elton Reservoir.

Elton, Coot

Making the most of the fantastic weather and light so off round Elton Reservoir. Shots were taken on different side of the lake with different light conditions

"Walking on Water"

"Walking on Water"......Pied Wagtail on ice

It's a brilliantly sunny November morning and I decide to visit Elton Reservoir, it must be well over 15 years since my last visit. The city is humming in the distance, but I'm content not having to cope with the stress and rigours of work any longer

I'm sitting under a grass bank trying to keep inconspicuous, looking, watching, listening identifying the various bird species, the early morning sun's melting the the ice on the frozen edge of the reservoir when, a Pied Wagtail drops in just in front of me, it appears to be walking on water, I fire off a burst of 20 images in 2 seconds, then... 

I just watch and enjoy.

Waxwings Have Arrived, Blackburn

Had the opportunity to photograph around 40 Waxwings located in Blackburn quite near to home so not an opportunity to miss. The report was Waxwings were feeds on Rowen berries in the location of the Go Outdoor clothing outlet, the Griffin Pub and a residential housing estate behind the Griffin Pub. 

On arrival, rather than lugging all the gear around I had a quick check of the Go Outdoor carpark, no sign of Waxwings! Option two was to walk down the road to the Griffin Pub and check out that location, part way dow the road I picked up some Waxwings so it was back to the car to collect the gear. Setting up opposite the Griffin Pub focusing on a berry laden Rowan tree I and a number of other photographers waited, and waited, but apparently the birds were feeding on berries in a residential estate behind the Griffin, so it was pack up the gear and relocate

Now located in a small residential housing development with even more Rowen trees! resident are watching with interest what all these people are up to with long lens cameras. The Waxwings are in trees close by watching, waiting, then flying in to feeding for two to three minuets at a time. 

So with memory cards full, a successful day. Thanks for looking