Dotterel

I took a trip to North Wales yesterday to photograph a juvenile Dotterel which had been on the Great Orme for a week. As I was driving near I could see that it was quite windy, but when I arrived at the top of the mountain and got out of the car I could barely stand up in the gale conditions.
I had spent about half an hour looking for the bird when some movement caught my eye, it was the blowing feathers of the Dotterel which was keeping very low by some rocks. I settled down nearby and after a while it became obvious that I wasn't going to get many shots of it walking around, every time it stood up it was buffeted around in the wind and quickly settled down again. Under the circumstances I think I just about exhausted every angle and pose possible of this very approachable bird.

My Favourite Images (2)

The second in the series of some of my favourite images.

Brahminy Kite
Photographed in Goa, India. One of two wild birds that were very tame due to being fed fish scraps since they were young. This is a full frame image taken with a 300mm lens.

Corncrake
A bit of time and patience was rewarded with close views of these birds on the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

Cuckoo
This juvenile bird was here locally a few years ago. It was late summer and very overdue for its migratory trip south. It gave a week of photo opportunities which I made the most of. I believe these wing stretches were part of it's final preparation for it's long journey ahead, this was the last day it was seen here.

Dipper
I was set up in a hide on a private stretch of river for this shot. After several days without a Dipper coming close, one eventually performed for over an hour right in front of me.

Dotterel
Taken on the same trip as the Corncrake. A group of these birds were very approachable, as I crawled on my stomach to get within 20ft of them.

Dunlin
Taken locally at a high tide winter roost.