Capercaillie

I recently heard of an obliging male Capercaillie. They are a schedule 1 species, which means that you would need a licence to photograph them in the breeding season, which is fast approaching. Consequently I was anxious to make the long journey to the highlands of Scotland as soon as possible, which I did in the middle of last week with my friend Gerhard. A good walk deep into the forest and the bird was found.
He was displaying and strutting his stuff over an area so we sat and waited, he would come close, have a look at us and then roam off again. This meant some changing of lenses which gave a good variety of shots. He flew up into the trees to feed on the pine needles, flying almost vertically, which is impressive for such a large bird. Thirteen hours driving for a couple of hours photography seems a bit crazy, but it was well worth it. Just seeing this magnificent bird was enough and what a day to remember!

There are lots more images on my website - stevenround-birdphotography.com

A Lot of Knot

The high tides in early January here on the Wirral produced some amazing sights of what was estimated to be 24,000 Knot. They gather on the shoreline and are pushed closer and closer as the incoming tide leaves them with very little room to roost. They were literally a few feet away from the promenade at high tide. I will do a couple of posts of them, this one being of them mainly on the ground. The next post will be of flight shots.

Sparrowhawk up Close

I have been keen to get out to my hide over the last week as there have been up to 11 Greenfinches visiting the feeders, along with the 40 plus Goldfinches. Greenfinches have been quite scarce here for some time now, with only the occasional one visiting from time to time.
A brief spell of sunshine and I set myself up to photograph them. I had only been in the hide for 5 minutes when the alarm calls of  the Blue Tits alerted me to the probability of a Sparrowhawk in the area. It then swooped down in front of the hide hoping to catch an unwary Goldfinch. Without success, it perched up next to the feeders. As I was set up to photograph small birds it was too close to fit in the frame so I made the most of a few close up head and shoulder shots.

Waxwings

This winter has seen one of the biggest invasions of Waxwings into the UK. Tens of thousands of them have moved southwards through the country over the last couple of months. I couldn't resist going out and adding more images of these to my already large collection. I wanted to try and get shots of them on the ground, as this would be generally a little different from the majority of my photographs of them. At first light they were coming down onto the grass to feed on the berries they had displaced from the trees. The low sun and the frosty ground really enhanced them. I also took some large group shots of them in the trees and it only really leaves me with flight shots still to do.

Frosty Birds

The past couple of days here have looked like a winter wonderland. Having had freezing fog, everything was covered in a thick layer of frost. With the sun shining I braved the minus 3 conditions for a few hours in my hides. My first goal was to try and get the Buzzards down on the frosty grass. It took quite some time before one of them decided to come to feed. The male was sitting in the tree above, but for some reason didn't want to come down. I think possibly because he had watched me go into the hide. The female who is much more wary than the male did eventually fly in. I had to be extra careful not to spook her as I had a feeling it would be over for the day if I did. Carefully, I managed to get the shots that I wanted. After she had gone I turned my attention to the 5 or 6 Jays that were coming in to feed. After about 3 hours the skies clouded over and it was back to the house to thaw out.

2013 Desk Top Calendars

New 2013 desk top calendars are available from my website. The 12 cards as shown below are 210x148mm (A5)and are printed on thick quality photo paper. They come with a clear plastic display case and are £11.50 inc p&p (UK)

Click here to go the calendar sales page - Calendar Sales

Red Kites

My friend Rich and I decided that we were long overdue a trip to the Red Kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm in mid Wales. It was 2006 that I was last there so some new pictures of the Kites were desperately needed. We chose what was supposed to be a clear sunny day, I say supposed to be. There was a lot of dark cloud about and very little sunshine which isn't good for flight shots.
The birds were fed and the frenzy of several hundred Kites circling and diving was quite a spectacle. We made the most of the brief spells of the sun, which only totalled about twenty minutes throughout the afternoon. I was trying to achieve shots that were a little different from the norm which went reasonably well. Another trip is on the cards later this winter though, this time with a clear afternoon.