Turtle Dove

During our trip to Extremadura in Spain, one the hides we had booked was for Hoopoe. This was a one person hide and Rich was the first to use it, one day before myself. I was quite jealous when he texted me to say he had just had a Turtle Dove in front of his lens. A very scarce bird in the UK nowadays. Later on Rich told the owner of the hides about the Dove, who was suprised and said he had never seen one there.
The next day it was my turn in the hide. Whilst photographing the Hoopoe I noticed a bird feeding on the ground. Yes, it was the Turtle Dove, too distant for any decent shots, but I hoped it would come closer. To be honest, I was more interested in the Dove than the Hoopoe. Anyway it did come closer, to perfect range. It even perched up on the tree that the Hoopoes were nesting in. It's not very often that such luck occurs like this and I was very pleased.
Funnily enough the Dove wasn't seen again. Here's a few images of it.

Black-winged Stilts

A few Black-winged Stilt images from my trip to Spain in April. The low sun and camera angle made for some great light and we were lucky enough to have a mating pair, right in front of us.

Common Snipe

More waders from my Mallorca trip back in April. This time Common Snipe in some lovely calm blue water. It is very satisfying to be able to photograph the birds in these perfect conditions.

Wood Sandpipers

Another Sandpiper I photographed in Mallorca was the Wood Sandpiper. Yet again a very obliging subject, right in front of the hide. It was worth the trip just to get the shots of the three Sandpiper species.

Green Sandpipers

Another Sandpiper I photographed in Mallorca was the Green Sandpiper. I had seen them here in the past, but this time the conditions were perfect. With calm blue water and the birds right in front of the hide, I managed some lovely reflective shots.

Marsh Sandpiper

It's been a few months since my last post. During April and May I have been away on photography trips. I spent 8 days in Mallorca and then 10 days in Extremadura, Spain, and I have just returned from 14 days on the Uists, in the Outer Hebrides. This has added 12000 new images to my back log, so it looks like I will be spending quite a bit of time on the computer in the coming months.

Back to my trip in Mallorca. A nice suprise was a Marsh Sandpiper that was at the S'Albufera reserve for a few days while I was there. Quite a rare bird in the UK and Mallorca, so a nice addition to my list of species photographed.

 

Sanderlings

I have finally finished processing and updating my Sanderling images. I have added 67 new images to my website. I had many shots of winter plumaged birds taken locally on the Wirral and North Wales. Then I had images of breeding plumaged birds, taken on the Outer Hebrides, back in 2013. It's hard to believe it is the same species when you compare the two plumages. Both very stunning in the right light and conditions.

  

Red-necked Phalaropes from Iceland

Almost everywhere we went in Iceland, where there was water, Red-necked Phalaropes would be present. These tiny little birds were hard to ignore as they darted around at great speed, frantically catching flies. I ended up taking many more shots of them than planned, they are very photogenic and are hard to resist as they present themselves right in front of you. On several occasions I was lying down photographing something on the water and would have a Phalarope swim between me and the subject. Great birds and great fun to do. 54 new images of them on my website: Steven Round Bird Photography