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Stephen Burch's Birding & Dragonfly Website |
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Home | Trip Reports| Gallery | UK index | Oxon pics | UK pics | Dragonflies | Other Nature | Contact | Links |
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Stephen Burch's Birding & Dragonfly Website |
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Home | Trip Reports| Gallery | UK index | Oxon pics | UK pics | Dragonflies | Other Nature | Contact | Links |
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Great Spotted Woodpecker, South Wales 17 December 2020 While waiting for the Sparrowhawk to show, there were plenty of other birds coming and going on the feeders. Most were far too fast to capture, but this slightly unusual Great Spotted Woodpecker pose in the early morning light is worth showing. |
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Blue Tit, South Wales 17 December 2020 Plenty of these around but moving very quickly as ever. This one spent a few seconds on this perch - just long enough! |
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Sparrowhawk, South Wales 17 December 2020 My third visit of the year to Ian Howells' great Woodland hide in South Wales! Fortunately it was just before the latest Welsh Covid-19 lockdown. The main aim of this visit was to photograph the male Sparrowhawk that I'd seen previously as an immature and then moulting. For this visit the moult was complete, and he was looking very smart indeed! Click to enlarge For a gallery of all my Sparrowhawk photos from this session, click here. |
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Sparrowhawk, South Wales 17 December 2020 A crop of the shot above Click to enlarge For a gallery of all my Sparrowhawk photos from this session, click here. |
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Sparrowhawk, South Wales 17 December 2020 The bird was facing away for almost the whole time during its three visits. Just once it arrived and faced the other way very briefly. Click to enlarge For a gallery of all my Sparrowhawk photos from this session, click here. |
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Sparrowhawk, South Wales 17 December 2020 Suddenly alert, the bird had spotted a movement and was about to dash off in hot pursuit! Click to enlarge For a gallery of all my Sparrowhawk photos from this session, click here |
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Sparrowhawk, South Wales 17 December 2020 This bird came in once and surprisingly chased off the male before abruptly departing. Fortunately the male came back shortly afterwards. Thanks to Mick Cunningham for correcting me on the age of this bird. It is not an adult female as I had thought but actually a juvenile/first winter. Sex uncertain. Click to enlarge For a gallery of all my Sparrowhawk photos from this session, click here |
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Buzzard, Near Swindon, Wiltshire 10 December 2020 I had a good day at David White's Buzzard hide near Swindon (bookable through Wildlife Photography Hides) despite the poor light all day and the rain for some of it. With some early morning sun it would however have been much better! On the ground tucking into Pheasant! Click to enlarge |
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Buzzard, Near Swindon, Wiltshire 10 December 2020 On a nearby post Click to enlarge |
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Buzzard, Near Swindon, Wiltshire 10 December 2020 The direct stare! Click to enlarge |
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Buzzards, Near Swindon, Wiltshire 10 December 2020 When the food starts to run out, the fighting begins. This difficult to capture in the poor light however. Click to enlarge |
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Buzzards, Near Swindon, Wiltshire 10 December 2020 The one on the right was clearly the subordinate bird and was held down by the other for quite some time. It eventually flew off, apparently none the worse for its experience. Click to enlarge |
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Red Kite, Near Swindon, Wiltshire 10 December 2020 The odd Red Kite was also to be seen, usually flying over and dipping down to grab a morsel. This one decided to land quite close to the hide early on when the light was really poor. Click to enlarge |
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Kestrel, Ferrybridge, Dorset 23 October 2020 As with Lodmoor, I've previously had some success at the large Ferrybridge car park using the car as a mobile hide. I'd found this relatively tame Kestrel hunting close to the car park a few days earlier but it wasn't being very obliging. In this longer session I managed to get quite close to it when it was both hovering around the car park edges and when perched on a rock (see below). In this shot, the bird almost appears to be in level flight - but it was just adjusting its position momentarily when hovering. Just a pity the light wasn't better. Click to enlarge |
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Kestrel, Ferrybridge, Dorset 23 October 2020 Another shot of the hovering bird, but this time the background was the Portland hill which gives less of a silhouette effect and stronger colours. Click to enlarge |
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Kestrel, Ferrybridge, Dorset 23 October 2020 Hovering and looking at me instead of searching the ground for prey! Click to enlarge |
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Kestrel, Ferrybridge, Dorset 23 October 2020 Perched on one of the rocks used to mark the edge of the car park. Click to enlarge |
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Meadow Pipit, Ferrybridge, Dorset 23 October 2020 A less glamorous inhabitant of the car park! Click to enlarge |
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Grey Heron, Lodmoor, Dorset 20 October 2020 Just after take-off - fortunately in a direction almost perpendicular to my line of sight to it. Click to enlarge |
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Black-tailed Godwit, Lodmoor, Dorset 20 October 2020 Sun was in short supply for our week in Dorset, but here it appeared weakly late afternoon to brighten up a flock of godwits that was feeding quite close to the path. Click to enlarge |
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Teal, Lodmoor, Dorset 16 October 2020 As I have found before, the path along the western side of Lodmoor can be good in the late afternoon/early evening as many birds seem used to all the human traffic. This Teal is a prime example, normally so wary this one was feeding happily only a few meters from the path. Click to enlarge |
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Kestrels, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 Another great session at Pete Whieldon's Woodland Hide which provided some further evidence of the many benefits of the EOS R5. The male and immature tended to appear alternately until this last, mid-afternoon visit when both appeared together. However this pose did not last long! Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Kestrel, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 The immature coming into land - taken with the EOS 7D mkII. Action shots weren't easy this session and I only got one sequence early on. Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Kestrel, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 The male in weak sun on the nearest perch. Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Kestrel, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 The male on a rock with a dark background Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Kestrel, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 The immature. Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Kestrel, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 Close shot of the immature. Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Kestrel, Otterbourne, Hampshire 13 October 2020 A crop of the photo above showing the benefit of those 45 Mp! Click to enlarge. For a Gallery of all my Kestrel photos from this session, click here. |
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Red Kite, Berkshire Downs 9 October 2020 Another flight shot using the animal eye detection auto focus feature on my new toy - the 45 Mp Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera. Click to enlarge |
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Red Kite, Berkshire Downs 9 October 2020 Crop of the shot above Click to enlarge |
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Red Kite, Berkshire Downs 7 October 2020 Trying for some flight shots using the animal eye detection auto focus feature on my new toy - the 45 Mp Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera! Click to enlarge |
© All pictures copyright Stephen Burch |
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