20250326 Ring Ouzel & Hen Harrier, Roydon Common

 

20250326 Ring Ouzel
Female type.
In early morning mist and heavy dew.

20250326 Ring Ouzel
Against light, heat haze and dew evaporation, late morning.

20250326 Mandarine Duck
Santon Downham

20250321 Willow Tit, NE Norfolk

 

20250321 Willow Tit
Calling persistantly from top of tall tree.
Bib widens from chin to throat.

20250321 Willow Tit
Outer tail feather shorter...

20250321 Chiffchaff
Birds in full and loud song.

20230321 Willow Tit
Wing panel not obvious...
Loosley associated with Goldcrest untill stopping to call.

20250321 Blue Tit
Few pairs in area of damp woodland by Stream.
Long-tailed Tit flock of 10 birds and no sign of Marsh Tit...

20250321 Willow Tit
'zi-zi, taah taah taah'.

20161226 Marsh Tit 
Selbrigg Pond, but of limited use as in December.

20230403 Marsh Tit
Outer tail feather same length as others....

20230304 Marsh Tit
Sculthorpe Moor in March.

20210325 Marsh Tit

20250325 Willow Tit

20250319 Pallid Harrier, NE Norfolk

 

20250319 Pallid Harrier
Against very strong sunlight, initially an unidentified  silhouette in EVF...

20250319 Pallid Harrier
Strong face pattern but in shade here.

20250319 Pallid Harrier
Breast streaks fade to white belly.

20250319 Pallid Harrier
Mobbed by local Red Kite and Buzzard then soared up high....
as the Strait of Messina... those were the days.

20250319 Pallid Harrier
Very pallid cf Buzzard.

20250320 Hen Harrier
Warham Greens
5 primaries show in a rounded hand.
More contrast in the secondaries as bars easily visable.

20250320 Hen Harrier
Warham Greens

20250319 Marsh Harrier
Male twisting down onto prey.
Similar primary formula as Hen... 

20250314 Twite & Black-tailed Godwit Cley Marshes

 

20250314 Twite

20250314 Twite
Spring male with pink rump.
On ridge by Sea Pool. c12 got up flushed by Marsh Harrier.
Small as a mouse, against the light and heat haize...

20250314 Twite
Pleased with the weedy bokeh in background...

20250314 Ruff
Swan Lake.

20250314 Black-tailed Godwit 
Within the flock, a shot for the Godwit enthusiasts...

20250214 Pintail
Continually up-ending, 1/2000th to freeze head movement this close.

20250224 Lesser White-fronted Goose, Warham Fort & Cley Marshes

 

20250224 Cattle Egret 
2 wintering in Wighton area.

20250224 Russian White-fronted Goose
Warham Fort, River Stiffkey flood plain.

20250224 Lesser White-fronted Goose
9 birds here.

20240224 Lesser White-fronted Goose & Greylag Goose
Greylag 73% longer & 56% heavier...!

20250214 Lesser White-fronted Goose
Comparison with White Fronts. Larger gander at right end.

20250219 Smew & Slavonian Grebe, Abberton Reservoir Essex

 

20250219 Smew
Male with 2 female type, Layer Breton causeway.
2400mm. Subject detection frequently pulls the focus point nearer off the target with the MC20...

20250219 Smew
2400mm equiv.

20250219 Smew
2400mm equiv.

20250219 Slavonian Grebe

20250219 Slavonian Grebe
Pair by VP on causeway.

20250219 Slavonian Grebe

20250219 Slavonian Grebe
2400mm, 1/1000th sec, F13, ISO8000....!!!
Overcast dull white cloud.

20250219 Slavonian Grebe
2400mm with MC20. Birds bobbing on choppy water causing subject detection in
C-AF to jump closer, as seen here. Most shots in burst missed like this....
Use of S-AF without subject detection gave good focus throughout burst.

20250219 Goosander
Abberton Res is the site for this species...
MC20 at 1570mm.