Thurs 13th December take 2

Have some catching up to do on my post's and as I am layed up with a bad back at the moment, it seems a good time to do it. With a lot of sightings about and with the days getting shorter, it was a toss up were to go for the best, decided on a visit to Marbury Country Park in Cheshire, the first time there for me, were a Bitten was reported the day before as showing well, but there was no sign and if I had not felt a collage coming on and got a few scenery shots the camera would not have been used, could not afford to wait too long as we were hoping to follow a friend from Westport Lake to Silverdale Colliery, to hopefully find the Iceland Gull, as is usually the case it's what you can find just driving along that can make your day, hence getting a shot of the Heron trying to disguise himself as part of the bush and the Buzzard on a wire, although missed the shot of the day!! I thought he was gone for good only to get the call from the car, "hurry up he has only gone to a post further down, jump in and get your camera ready as you will only get one chance at it, before he see's you","No Pressure there Then", at this point the adrenalin starts pumping, please tell me it's not only me that this has happened to, I half get out of the car, focus, see him looking at me with that glint in the eye, get goose bumps that this is the shot of the Century!! only to find the camera would not shoot, "Bugger whats wrong", only to find I had switched off the camera on the way back to the car, by the time I have re-set the moment has passed and he's gone, as you can imagine Driver cannot understand why I missed such an easy shot, air turns BLUE and we continue on our way with him non the wiser, oh well another lesson learned, Arrived at Silverdale only to find no sign of the Iceland Gull after standing in the freezing cold for about two hours. Heron

Buzzard

Buzzard

Marbury C. P. Chehsire.

Ross-On-Sea North Wales

After a couple of days of reports that there were around 15 plus Purple Sandpiper's present in Ross-On-Sea and with missing a trip to Rhyl last week for the Dessert Wheatear, this was my first oppertunity to head up that way, but alas there were no sightings of the Wheatear, so carried on to Ross-On-Sea for the Sandpiper as this was a first for me, a couple of record shots below but to say that the weather was bracing is an understatement and only found two sheltering from the incoming tide along with a hand full of Redshanks and Turnstones, after a warming pub lunch had a walk on the small harbour and came across the Rock Pipit's which are another first for me. I always think that if you know you can better your shots it's a good excuse for a further visit to a lovely area, so will be back.

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Rock Pipit

Turnstone

Redshank

Mist On The Moors

Staffs Moorland

Staffs Moorland

Waxwings in Macclesfield

Finally Waxwings on my doorstep, found one first of all and then it's constant calling brought in another two. Waxwing

Waxwing

North Staffordshire Moorlands

As anyone who knows the Moors well, will tell you, it has a completely different climate to anywhere else, after seeing a report that a Snow Bunting had been seen again at the Mermaid Pool Morridge, we decided to investigate only to find it blowing a gail and you could see the rain in the distance a mile off, with a few other ardent Birders joining the search, there were two found along the track going away from the Pool and with patience and withstanding the down pour, as there were clear sky's coming in behind the rain clouds, the best of the shots are below, got only by lying behind a big boulder, only after standing up did I realise just how wet I had got,saturated from the waist down and was lucky to be let back in the car for the ride home, but I think it was well worth it and the damp is soon forgotten with a change of clothes and a hot cup of tea. Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Hanley Staffordshire

Met up with lots of friends old and new and spent a great day in the Octagon Retail Park, watching and waiting for the Waxwings to come and go onto the berry trees, arrived at around 9am and stayed until approx 3pm, there must have been around 20 of us at one point staking out one small tree, much to the bewilderment of shoppers and passers-by, with their curiosity getting to most of them, as they stopped to asked what we were there for, I have no doubt many of which now have the internet blocked as they look up what a Waxwing is !! Mistle Thrush

Waxwing

Waxwing

Tittesworth Res.

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Derbyshire & Staffordshire Moorlands

A lovely early morning visit to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Moorlands today, to look for Red Grouse, suddenly heard a tap, tapping behind me and without a perch around for miles a Great Spotted Woodpecker had managed to find a sign post within a couple of feet of me, turned out to be the shot of the day!!!! More images can be found on my new Zenfolio Website link below:-
http://annpallasbentley.zenfolio.com/

Day 2 Norfolk

Day two of my Norfolk break and it was off for a regular pilgrimage to the local Harbour's and beaches.

Turnstone

Turnstone

Little Gull

Little Gull

Little Gull

Brancaster Overy

New Web Site

Please find below the link to my new web site, still under construction:-
http://annpallasbentley.zenfolio.com/

Day One Norfolk Hols!

Arrived late morning after a later setting off time from home than normal, with Birdguides alerts going off every few minutes, went directly to Holme NOA to see the Barred Warbler but not showing well, moved over to the Red-breasted Flycatcher but it had decided to change position and was in a bush that had you looking directly into the sun, found it very difficult to see, as it was very mobile, did get a glimpse of it's posteria a couple of times, so left the Die Hards to it, as I had found a bush absolutely full of Butterflies, phone alert had us dash off to Titchwell for a Baird's Sandpiper, which had just gone when we arrived, but got a shot of a Little Egret, so the trip was not all waste, only to have the alert that a Wryneck had been found along the path by the sand dunes back at Holme NOA (Sods Law LOL), so back we went but the Wryneck had not been seen for some time, so spent three hours watching the Barred Warbler in the hopes the Wryneck would show itself again, could not get any better shots of the Warbler than I already have and had to leave to book into accommodation, only to have alert go off later saying the Wryneck had re-appeared around 6pm, so quite a frustrating first day. Comma

Large White

Large White

Red Admiral

Red Admiral

Little Egret

Seahouses Day Two!

Well I need to be careful how I word this but Day 2 started with a Shag on the rocks in the Harbour and although a Juvenile it was quite happy to pose and was the first one I have ever seen, spent a great day around the Harbour and surrounding Beaches, had another crack at the Eiders and ended the day with catching the Golden Plover perched on the last of the rocks to succumb to the incoming tide. Ringed Plover

Turnstone

Bar Tailed Godwit

Bar Tailed Godwit

Gannet (Juvenile)

Eider

Golden Plover

Shag

Shag

Shag

Holy Island Causeway (Lindisfarne)

Day two brought the shot of my short Amateur photography career and the luckiest, I will never be this close to a Heron again, just passing over the Causeway to Holy Island, when I spotted it out of the passanger window, was so close could only take a shot of it with a small Canon Compact Camera kept mainly for Scenic shots, and has not needed to be cropped at all. As there was traffic behind only got off two shots.

Seahouses Northumberland

A few days to spare before a weeks holiday in NORFOLK found me visiting Seahouses in Northumberland, for the very first time, what a fantastic little fishing village, also had fantastic weather, Day One arrived in Seahouses by 2pm and went straight to the Harbour for the Eiders, the best of which are below, after only seeing one once before at Rudyard Lake and only in dull weather imagine my suprise when I found 15 plus females and approx 6 plus males and not only that they where actually accommodating beyond belief, have gone a little overboard with the Scenic shots, especially on Banburgh Castle, so they will have to follow shortly.

Eider (Female)

Herring Gull (Juvenile)