Common Snipe

A couple more wader photographs from Mallorca. As I add the images of each species to my main website I will post a few here.

Common Snipe

Waders from Mallorca

Greenshanks and Spotted Redshanks were frequently feeding in front of the hides at S'albufera in Mallorca. They weren't in abundance though with only several about. Annoyingly the two species didn't seem to get on and would chase each other from their favoured feeding spots. Typically this would happen just as they were coming into photographic range, so a bit of patience was needed for these shots. Especially the Spotted Redshanks that seldom put their heads at the desired angle, getting some light in the eye was a bit of a struggle. We did however strike lucky with a very close Greenshank, at a roadside location from the car, hence the headshot.

Greenshank

Spotted Redshank

Welsh Stonechats

A sunny forecast, so a very early start this morning and I was deep in the Welsh countryside taking photographs by 05:30. I have a number of places that I annually visit in North Wales at this time of year for localised species. With the poor weather over the last couple of weeks I had a bit of catching up to do, I knew that spring was moving on and birds would be feeding their young, you suddenly realise that it is nearly summer and could have missed so much. Even with this in mind, I was slightly surprised to see a family of young Stonechats, they were feeding themselves and were very advanced. I was comparing this to my nestboxes back home where none of the Blue or Great Tits have fledged yet.
I didn't see an adult female Stonechat and had the feeling that she might already be on her second brood, as the male was singing for most of the time I was there.

Juveniles

Male

Female, taken earlier in the year

Common Whitethroat

This has been one of the species that I needed more images of for some time. A concerted effort over the last month has gone quite well with plenty of them around. Here are a few of the results.

Plovers

With the horrible weather we have at the moment, I have finally started to sort through my images from Mallorca. First up are some Plovers - Little-ringed and Kentish. It was nice to be able to photograph these small birds at close range and get some good feather detail. The low evening light has really lifted them from the background, particularly the Little-ringed Plover with it's yellow eye ring.

Little-ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Spring Migrants

A few shots of some spring arrivals I have encountered over the last couple of weeks.

Common Whitethroat

Meadow Pipit

Whinchat

Sedge Warbler

Wheatear

Daylight Fox

I have Foxes that regularly visit the garden. I put out peanuts for them each evening and have had up to six at one time. Photographing them isn't easy as they usually appear at dusk when the natural light is poor. Occasionally they turn up at different times, but usually don't hang around long enough to get any shots. Yesterday one appeared at lunchtime and was quite obliging. I grabbed the camera and although I had the wrong lens on and the light wasn't too good, I managed a few shots through the kitchen window.

Red-rumped Swallow

A Red-rumped Swallow at Leasowe, Wirral was showing well last night. Unfortunately It didn't really come close enough for anything other than record shots. A shame because the wind was in the right direction and the light was good. A few heavily cropped images being my best efforts.

Mandarin Ducks

A couple of Photographs of a drake Mandarin duck. We have a good population of these on the Wirral. When I took these shots at a local lake there were at least 5 males and 3 females. The sun disappeared soon after I arrived, so a return visit is needed in the next few weeks.

Reed Warblers

Over the last two or three years I have been trying to get some good Reed Warbler images, without much luck. This was mainly down to the strong winds we were experiencing at the best time to photograph them, this being April and May when the males are in full song. Trying to find and photograph these small birds through the reed stems is no easy task, coupled with the winds, it was near enough impossible. So at last this year we had some calmer weather and after several days of peering into the reedbed, I achieved some good results.
One thing that has become obvious whilst editing the images is that, once you have a Reed Warbler in a reedbed shot, all the others are very similar. So just four of the best in this post.