A break at Sea

A change from land to sea. A chance to do a little cetacean whispering. Common Dolphins were dancing around and under the ship. Narrowly missed out on an Orca. Still that’s the beauty of Scotland … always a chance to return and see more.

Wreck of the hesperus

Strong Northerlies push birds circulating in the North Sea closer to shore. Some get buffeted onshore and sit it out on coastal pools. Producing a wreck. A wreck of seabirds. So it was a few days ago with a a party of around forty Little Gulls … with a Grey Phalarope thrown in for good measure. The Little Gull in this shot was photo-bombing the phalarope … or is it the other way around?

Spotted, but not Spotted

One wader that seems to set more problems for my customers than any others is the winter plumage Spotted Redshank.

In summer plumage when the bird is as black as coal from bill tip to toe nail … no problem. It;s when it enters the cold grey plumage of winter it takes on the guise of its commoner cousin. A half decent flight view will sort Common Redshank from Spotted; the lack of white on the trailing edge of the wings is obvious. On the deck the dark eyestripe and white supercilium which appears to extend the length of the thin drooping bill being the most obvious. The whiter belly and grey plumage are also good pointers to it being spotted. This one was photographed at Kelling the other day.

 

 

 

Bunkered

What is it about gold courses? Yet another nice bird at Brancaster this week. Originally seen flying in off the sea and heading inland this Hoopoe took a while to pin down. It eventually settled to feed for the best part of the week in the bunkers and on the fairways of the golf course. Very many thanks to the management and players that allowed access in a very gracious way to all that wanted to see and photograph the bird. More photos can be found within the ‘latest section’ of the Wildcatch Photography site. http://wildcatchphotography.zenfolio.com/?q=hoopoe

 

Keeling Over

This year has been the best I can remember in Norfolk for Keeled Skimmer.

Bog Orchid

Almost imperceptible. Completely hidden. In the words of others; ‘If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t see it’.

Bog Orchid is a rare small plant just a few centimetres tall found amid boggy ground. Seeing it is always difficult. Getting near enough to photograph it is a wet feet and knees job.

Endearing

It was good to see Black Guillemot last week up in Scotland. I had the feeling numbers were down as they had vacated several areas where previously they had been present. However, these are probably the most social and endearing of the Auk family … yes even more endearing than Puffins.

Darting

Dartford Warblers appear to have had a decent winter. Good numbers on the heath. This male flitted past us the other week but was gone before I could get a decent shot.

To meet a prince

It’s spring!

Shellfish on ice

When friend Bob and I visited the river Ouse where it flows through King’s Lynn last spring we both made a comment. We were looking at the congregation of gulls at the shellfish processing plant when we agreed that it would be a great place to find an Iceland Gull during the winter.

Last week we found ourselves in the area and had heard an Iceland had been seen on the Ouse. It didn’t take us long to find it… right beside the shellfish processing plant! Initially it was on the dockside roofs but it soon came down to the bank side where it made itself very available for photographs.