Grasshopper Warblers

I had hoped to be working my way through my Mallorca images by now, but too many things to do as is usual at this time of year, especially if the sun shines. With some great weather last week and an influx of a good number of Grasshopper Warblers locally, it was a week of getting up at dawn to make the most of it. Another three hundred images of these birds to sort through now, as if I didn't have enough already. They are addictive to do though and I will no doubt be out doing more, the next time the opportunity arises. Here are some of the best I have edited so far.

Flight Shots

A quick trip to my local RSPB reserve the other evening turned out to be quite productive. I went hoping to photograph Garganey, a pair had been reported but as I suspected they were far too distant to photograph. There was little about and I was intending to leave but thought I would give it half an hour. It was a good decision, a lot of birds flying around and the low light made for some nice shots.

Grey Heron

Common Buzzard

Shoveler

Shelduck

Mallard (male)

Mallard (female)

Butterflies

I have been trying to get some decent shots of Orange Tip Butterflies over the last week. They have been hard work as they don't settle very often, when they do it is usually only for a few seconds and more often than not they aren't photographable. So after a lot of time and patience and I have three reasonable images.

Another species that has been in my garden is the Holly Blue, a little more obliging than the Orange Tip in that it settles more often, it hasn't been openening it's wings though.

A common species at this time of year is the Speckled Wood. In the next shot is the UK variant, the last two are a couple taken in Mallorca, you can see that they are much more orange than ours.

Speckled Wood (Mallorca)

Spanish Insects

I have just spent eight days in Mallorca intensively photographing birds and anything else wild that appeared before the camera with my good friend Rich.
We had hoped for an assortment of migrant birds, which should have been in abundance. There were however, very few. The weather was very warm and clear so possibly the migrants were passing straight over the island. There was still plenty to photograph though and not one hours sunlight was wasted.  With many thousands of bird images to sort through, I thought I would get the few insect shots I took out of the way first. 

A couple of Dragonflies starting with a Red-veined Darter

A female Black-tailed Skimmer

A pair of mating Blue-tailed Damselflies

The impressively large Swallowtail Butterfly

It was shame this tiny Green Hairstreak Butterfly had damaged wings.

Displaying Goldeneye

I have tried for many years to get photographs of Goldeneye displaying, without much luck. Last week that changed with a number of them close enough for some good shots.
Their technique is very physical, throwing their heads back and kicking up their legs at the same time. They also get into some very strange postures as you can see from the Images, from craning their necks to lying very low in the water. It was nice to eventually get some of these long overdue shots.

Late Waxwings

I decided to shoot over to Wales for the last hour of sunlight this evening to try and get a few shots of three Waxwings that had been reported. I arrived to see them perched on an overhead wire above a couple of Cotoneaster bushes, amazingly for this time of year the bushes still held quite a lot of berries. They kept dropping down and feeding for a minute or two, before returning back to the wire.
The light wasn't brilliant and the pale coloured factory behind the bushes didn't help with the background, I managed a few half decent shots though. There was a female Blackcap and a Fieldfare in the bushes also, the latter was keeping well hidden though and wasn't photographable. A Pied Wagtail was an added bonus just as I was about to leave. Not a bad hours work for a spur of the moment session.

Waxwing

Blackcap (female)

Pied Wagtail

Common Toads

Earlier this week I was in North Wales photographing birds. Nearby a small lake was obviously a breeding ground for a good number of Common Toads, there were many making their way over the grass towards the lake, which was already swimming with them. I always try to make the most of  any photo opportunities because you never know when you will get the chance again. This was one of those occasions, so several hours later I had a bad back from lying on the ground and some quite nice shots.