Photo of the Day - Young Swallow Feeding Time

Another from my Swallow project, back in June.

Holidaying in France (Part 2)

My trips to the park would vary from day to day, no two being the same.  Different species would come and go, from small waders such as Green and Wood Sandpipers to large Herons and Egrets. The lake was too deep for waders, so they would circle around and then fly off again. I never knew what would turn up next.
I had hoped to photograph Purple Heron, as I had seen some good shots of one taken here earlier this year.  Speaking to a local, he told me that May and June was the best time to see them, although I did briefly see one but wasn't able to photograph it. Here are a few shots of some of the species that were photographable.

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Black-winged Stilt

Little Egret

Little Egret

Holidaying in France

I have just returned from a two week holiday in Southern France, staying near Nice.  Before the trip I was debating whether to take my camera equipment, as having spent a good number of hours on the internet, trying to find local sites for photography I hadn't really come up with much.  The Carmargue would have been ideal, but was about two and a half hours drive away.

Anyway, I did take the camera and after a few days there I discovered a large park only five miles from our apartment.  What a contrast to the surrounding towns and resorts, packed with holiday makers.  There was a small lake surrounded by reed beds, which had a screen hide and a raised viewing platform.

I would spend many hours here over the two weeks, arriving at first light each day.  The two main species that I concentrated on were Night Heron and Little Bittern.  I'm very pleased with the results and will do more posts to show these and other species. To start with, here's a Black-winged Stilt that flew in.

Photo of the Day - Female Goosander

One taken a couple of years ago.

Photo of the Day - Black Guillemot

One taken a few weeks ago. I've just added more of these to my main website - Steven Round Bird Photography - Black Guillemot

Spring Dippers

Back in March I spent some time photographing a pair of Dippers.  They were building a nest and most of the time were collecting moss from the rocks, both in and out of the water.  I was lying on the rocks next to the bank to photograph them. It wasn't the most comfortable of photographic sessions, but some rewarding shots were to be had. They were so preoccupied with their moss gathering that they didn't seem to notice me, sometimes coming within 3 metres of my lens.

Photo of the Day - Common Redstart

One from a few years ago.  Richard Steel and myself had a project photographing these that lasted three or four seasons.  It is probably some of the most enjoyable work I have done, they are a real treat to photograph.  Having pulled this image from the files, I see I have over 2400 images of them, a lot of which haven't been sorted. The work of processing and cataloguing images is never ending, it is seemingly impossible to catch up. Maybe one day!