North Uist, Outer Hebrides trip. May 2025 (part 2)

 Our first full day on the islands, we decided to not get up too early after all the travelling of the previous day. From the cottage I saw several pairs of Red-throated Divers calling and flying around.

Red-throated Diver

 

There were plenty of Rock Doves about. The ones here are apparently as pure "Rock Dove" as you can get. 

Rock Dove

 Next breakfast, then off out for a drive round. A Kestrel hovering at the side of the road was the next subject.

Kestrel

 

 

One thing we noticed straight away, was the abundance of Short-eared Owls. They seemed to be everywhere, and in areas that I hadn't seen them in the past.

Short-eared Owl

 It was nice to see a Whooper Swan while we were driving around. The orange colouring on it's head due to the iron in the water, where it has been feeding.

Whooper Swan

 

The rest of the day was spent wandering around at RSPB Balranald. It was a recce really, to see what was about and to think about particular photo sessions that I could do there. I did notice that the wader numbers seemed to be lower than usual. The next few images were from the afternoon's wanderings.

Ringed Plover

Common Gull

White Wagtail

Skylark

Session with a Kestrel

I was recently invited by Austin Thomas to photograph a female Kestrel.  It is a wild bird that has become very confiding in him, as he has been feeding it for some time now.  He recently won the award of Birdguides photo of the year with a shot of the bird running towards him.

When we arrived at the site the Kestrel obviously recognised Austin's car, as it flew in and perched up nearby.  I got set up, lying on the ground, and in no time at all the bird had flown down onto the track.  This low angle produced some weird and wonderful images.  As it would run towards us, it's feet were at times completely off the ground, and with the track sloping away, the only thing in focus would be the bird.  It was great fun and I managed a good variety of shots in a relatively short session.

Many thanks to Austin for the invite.  I am very grateful to be invited to share, in reaping the rewards of the many hours he has put in, to be able achieve such images.

A Variety of Images

At this time of year I have many plans for photographic projects. The success of them is usually determined by the weather, which up to now, has been pretty poor. Hopefully spring will soon be here. This post is a small assortment of some of the photographs I have managed to take in the last month or so.

Blue Tit

Bullfinch

Goldfinch

Great Crested Grebe (courtship display)

Great Crested Grebe

Kestrel

Lesser Redpoll

Kestrel Up Close

Earlier this week I had the fortune to encounter a very obliging Kestrel. It was hunting for food with brief spells of hovering and then perching on posts, sometimes landing within 10m of where I was standing.

My Favourite Images (4)

Part four of the series of some of my favourite images.

Kingfisher
These next two images were taken in my woodland garden where there is a small river. I know that to have Kingfishers in your garden might seem perfect but it is not as ideal as it sounds. They are very occasional as they breed much further upstream, I have spent many days sitting in my hide without any results and I haven't seen or heard any this year at all. I am always listening out for them though and will be straight down to the hide when they return.

Kestrel
I was very fortunate with this lovely male bird. It allowed me to get very close for some nice shots.

Jay
The perfect lighting on this close up was enhanced by the reflection of the water in a bird bath which it was perched on the edge of.

Lapwing
A difficult subject to get good flying shots of due to their flight being very erratic. This is probably my best effort as it was large in the frame giving good detail.