Its been an interesting year of wildlife and photography for me. I’ve probably not seen or photographed as much as last year, but what I’ve seen and standard of my photos I reckon has improved. The first notable photograph was taken at Centre Parcs in late January, where I photographed a sparrowhawk for the first…
Since I bought my Pentax WG-2 waterproof camera I’ve barely used it. As a waterproof compact, it doesn’t match a DSLR for quality, but its ability to be submerged in water does offer some different opportunities. Today I went to RSPB Rainham where the constant rain has flooded large areas, so I thought I try…
Some more photos form my trip to Kefalonia now, with the black winged stilt I saw on Katelios beach. I wandered down the beach hoping for a glimpse of the animal I had heard dive into the reeds or anything else around when I spotted a bird walking along the dead sea grass. I could…
On the same trip to Argostoli as my last post, I also explored the small wooded area around the visitor centre there (which isn’t advertised anywhere for some reason!?). As I walked along the path a beetle the size of a stag beetle flew right past me, which I have to admit gave me quite…
Back in May, while on holiday in Kefalonia, Greece, I headed to Argostoli. It is the capital of the island and has a well know spot near some fishing boats for loggerhead turtle. My photos were a bit better than last time! South of the bridge is Koutavos lagoon. There were a few little egrets…
One bird their was plenty of at Filey Brigg was oystercatchers. There was a lot of feeding going on, as the tide was dropping and revealing the mussel beds. One couldn’t wait for the tide to drop completelyd and braved the waves for lunch! One bonus was this eider, it was nice to see one…
While at Filey Brigg, I was lucky enough to get close to some oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus as they fed on some mussels. These particular oystercatchers were feeding by the ‘hammering’ method, which involves using their thickened beak to smash the shell of their prey to get to the edible insides. But not all oystercatcher feed…
While photographing the purple sandpipers at Filey Brigg, we were joined by this lovely grey seal who just sat on a rock, occasionally bothering to look our way! As the tide went down she did move around and went for a swim at one point. But it mostly just sat their grooming or stretching every…
On a trip up to Yorkshire I visited Filey Brigg with my friend Dave, I spent a day at Filey Brigg. We had heard that purple sandpipers could be found there, something neither of us had seen. And we managed to see a few: The light was either poor (cloudy, needing 1600 to have any…
The Ruddy Shelduck originates from Southern Europe, North Africa and South and Central Asia (with some populations wintering in South East Asia). It is a large rusty orangey brown duck, 64cm in length and with a wingspan of 133cm. The male is slightly larger the female and weighs 1.4kg to her 1.2kg (Robinson, 2005). The…