20251205 Snow Bunting, John Muir Country Park, East Lothian

 

20251126 Otter & Goosander, Bayfield Lake

 

20251126 Otter
'The cat's whiskers' top shot of all time...

20251126 Goosander
Lone male coming out of eclipse plumage.
In some shots fishing line can be seen around the birds bill.

20251125 Ruff
22 birds roosting by Iron Rd along with 10 Lapwing and 5 E Curlew.

20251126 Goosander

20251126 Otter
Family group of 4. No sign of Pike parts.

20251121 Yellow-browed Warbler & Golden Plover, Holkham

 

20251121 Yellow-browed Warbler
This bird called and showed well at the excellent Bluetail Trial.

20251121 Yellow-browed Warbler
2 Yellbrow in area.
Calls of Hume's appeared to come form North of the track,
where many Coal Tit then appeared...

20251121 Yellow-browed Warbler
Yellow and Olive tones therefore not Hume's Leaf Warbler...
By late morning claims of 2 Hume's in the area where put out...

20251121 Egyptian Shelduck
Several pairs showing signs of territorial behaviour, Holkham Pines.
The area is overrun by this feral species.

20251121 Golden Plover
Flock of 100 with Pink-Foot, Burnham Overy.

20251118 Goldcrest & Hume's Leaf Warbler, Holkham Pines & Holme Dunes

 

20251116 Goldcrest
Shot to demonstrate Depth Blur in background but also foreground. 
Isolates the target very well.
A quality bokeh achieved from a 'small sensor' jpeg.

20251116 Goldcrest 
Study of the wing at F5.9, head and tail out of focus.
The Big Black is a bright lens fully open, and performs well in the darkness of the pine belt.

20251118 Chiffchaff
F7.1, only closed 1/3 of a stop, is the sweet spot of The Big Black.
Should have been a Pallas's on a very dull grey morn at Titch...
Again a bright pleasing image obtained though.

20251118 Hume's Leaf Warbler
On arrival the bird popped up... but sunk back into veg never to show again??
Excellent background and close on path, initially all look well set.
Weak yell-brow type call infrequently heard all day...
Ticker's tweet of the day: 'you got a caterpillar in the sea-buckthorn'...
Being an exponent of extremely long range bird photography,
 this recalls the most famous comment on the first flyby Glossy shot off Norfolk back in the day...
'you got a lobster pot'... credits to follow.
Note the white chin and throat, without yellow tones.
20111202 qv.

20251106 Long-tailed Duck & American Golden Plover, NW Norfolk

 

20251106 Long-tailed Duck
North Lagoon Snettisham.
2 juveniles here, as the 2 that shot past Cley on 28th Oct... qv below.

20251106 Long-necked Duck

20251106 American Golden Plover
Titchwell Freshmarsh.
Lesser bulk than the Eurasian Golden Plover.
Obvious primary extension showed at range.

20251106 American Golden Plover
Darker spangling on upper-parts and blackish cap above solid supercilium.

20251106 A Golden Plover
Bird flew below the main E Golden flock.
Showed as slighter and darker overall.

20251106 A Golden Plover
Dark grey under-wing coverts were easily seen at range.

20251106 Firecrest
Low in veg by pools. Yellow-browed Warbler also in area.

20251105 Common Crossbill & Pied Wagtail, Little Snoring

 

20251105 C Crossbill
Adult Female drinking from puddle.
Small flocks also seen along the Suffolk coast suggests a good winter for this irruptive species.

20251105 Pied Wagtail
1st winter.

20251105 Pied Wagtail

20251105 C Crossbill
Male and female.

20251105 C Crossbill
3 males 1 female.

20251109 C Crossbill
Mid morning shots in direct sun. Heat haze from the flat ground caused most shots to be binned.

20251109 C Crossbill

20251109 C Crossbill

20251109 C Crossbill
Male bathing.

20251109  C Crossbill

20251101 Brown Shrike, Hollesley Common Suffolk

 

20251101 Brown Shrike
Bird very happy within MOD base and therefore completely undisturbed.
Posed on the perimeter fences frequently.

20251101 Brown Shrike
Very small amount of Depth Blur applied still isolates the target well. 
Note slight loss of fine feather detail on the outer edge of bird.

20251028 Water Pipit, Cley Marshes

 

20251028 Water Pipit
Without Depth Blur.

20251028 Water Pipit
With minimal Depth Blur a noticeable improvement in isolating the target bird, 
and this leads strangely to a tighter crop...

20251028 Water Pipit
With Depth Blur.

20251028 Water Pipit
Walked effortlessly over the detritus about Bish hide, Richardson's Scrape.

20251028 The Robert Gillmor Hide
 Arrives 12 years on from major winter flooding...
which wiped out the original North Hide.
Thankfully a new era in hide design dawns, mobile and floats.

20251028 Long-tailed Duck
Zoomed West inshore, ID realised too late...

20251028 Jack Snipe
...and the now infamous white feather... for directions by the school teacher to the bird??

20251030 Red Phalarope
Spinning with female Shoveler.
Pope's Pool from Walsey Hills... 1680mm, F11

20251031 Fieldfare
Salthouse. Many overnight arrivals.

20251031 Starling
Numbers increasing each night into reedbed roost.

20251026 Glaucous Gull, Weybourne

 

20251026 Glaucous Gull
In rain and overcast grey, with strong Westerly wind.

20251026 Glaucous Gull
1st Winter.

20251028 Glaucous Gull
Flying along Cley Beach in sunshine.