Black-throated Thrush at Whipsnade Bedfordshire UK December 2019

Black-throated Thrush (Turdus atrogularis) Whipsnade Bedfordshire UK December 2019

Black-throated Thrush (Turdus atrogularis) Whipsnade Bedfordshire UK December 2019

Suffolk birds so far this winter

Suffolk birds so far this winter...

Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) Felixstowe, Suffolk UK December 2019

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) Shingle Street, Suffolk UK December 2019

Norfolk birds this autumn & winter

Norfolk birds this autumn & winter....

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) Wells, Norfolk UK November 2019

Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) Cley, Norfolk UK November 2019

Olympus E-M1X

Am I going to follow the herd? My back tells me I should.

Olympus have loaned me a Olympus E-M1X plus a M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm F4 IS PRO to play with for a couple of weeks.

I'm still grappling with the new array of buttons. And there are a lot of them. In the process of picking up the camera I've somehow managed to take twenty or so shots, before even looking through the viewfinder. I don't feel I'm in control of the camera yet, but then I have used Canon for at least the last thirty years so its going to take some time.

Next problem was viewing the results. I'm still using a prehistoric computer with an old photoshop installed. It won't even open the DNG files converted from the Olympus RAW Files (ORF).

My back though is happy.

Our youngest crawled up to this Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Our youngest crawled up to this Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and took some photos of it with his Olympus Tough.

British Wildlife Photography Awards 2019

Delighted to announce one of my photographs of a Common Swift drinking won the Animal Behaviour category in the British Wildlife Photography Awards for 2019. See https://bwpawards.org/winners2019

 

 

Bittern

One of the highlights from a couple of visits to Minsmere in June was this female Bittern.

The Peregrines of Norwich Cathedral 2019

The Peregrines Falcons (Falco peregrinus) at Norwich Cathedral have fledged three young.

To order ‘The Peregrines of Norwich Cathedral’ book at the sale price of £3.95 (including p&p) scroll down under 'Bird & Wildlife Photographs' at http://robinchittenden.co.uk
I still have a few copies left that are taking up too much space.

The adult female comes in to tempt the first juvenile to fledge into another flight with a light snack. Photograph taken 7th June 2019

The adult female Peregrine Falcon at Norwich Cathedral flies in front of the Bell Tower with some prey, which was used, unsuccessfully, to entice the first fledged juvenile into flight. Photograph taken 7th June 2019

The third juvenile to fledge from Norwich Cathedral made it to this first floor window sill on a house in The Close, before she decided, a few hours later, to hop down to the ground. She was then returned to the Bell Tower. Photograph taken 7th June 2019

The first juvenile to fledge from Norwich Cathedral roosted on this wall by the Dean's House and then spent the next day, in a nearby tree, followed by a quick visit to the Cloisters before settling for the roof of the Dean's house. See below. Photograph taken 9th June 2019

The first juvenile to fledge strengthening her wings. She spent most of the afternoon on the roof of the Dean's house, before returning to the Cathedral. Taken 9th June 2019

9

Common Cuckoo

Common Cuckoo at Buckenham Marshes in Norfolk May 2019

The first photograph shows the fairly tame bird, which was often chased off by the more dominant, but much more nervous male (the lower photograph). They were both tempted by the larder of Brown-tailed Moth caterpillars there. The tame bird's visits were erratic and sometimes not for long, and annoyingly it would often feed obscured within the vegetation. I visited the site six times, for a total of about 22 hours. In that time the tame bird was present for an accumulative total of about half an hour, during most of which it was partially or mostly out of view. Occasionally it would pop up and allow itself to be photographed. I came away feeling I still had not quite got THE photograph. Thanks to Murray Smith for letting us know about the bird.

Short wildlife tour to Dorset May 2019

One of the highlights of a recent wildlife tour to Dorset was the image that appeared in front of my eyes as I scanned the heath in front of me. I'm sure I must have let out an audible gasp as my eyes clocked on, (and my inner voice was rambing on, ' It couldn't be, could it? Yes it is'.) a roosting Nightjar. Luckily it allowed a fairly close approach but shame about the pale grass stem though.

Nightjar (Caprimulgus eurpaeus)

 Sika Deer (Cervus nippon)

Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

Wildlife Tour of Cyprus April 2019

Some photographs from a recent tour to Cyprus.

Disappontingly you only have to look in the direction of many of the birds in Cyprus and they will fly off. Presumably this is a reflection of  the rampant hunting across the island. However over the two week tour we occassionally came across tamer individuals, which weren't too bothered if you pointed a lens at them.

Cyprus Scops Owl (Otus cyprius)

Cyprus Wheatear (Oenanthe cypriaca)

Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius)

Collared Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis)

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (Merops persicus)

Little Crake (Porzana parva)

Front cover of the April 2019 issue of British Birds

It was great to see my Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) photograph on the front cover of the April 2019 issue of British Birds.

This male was the bird at Sheringham in January 2018 http://robinchittenden.co.uk

Some photographs taken over this winter

Some photographs taken over this autumn and winter.

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva) Southwold, Suffolk October 2018

Shorelark (Eremophila alpestris) Kessingland, Suffolk October 2018

Merveille du Jour (Griposia aprilina) Norfolk October 2018

Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) Winterton, Norfolk November 2018

Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) Norfolk January 2019

Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) Norfolk January 2019

Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) Norfolk January 2019

This is the juvenile Grey Seal that spotted me prostrate on the beach, photographing the Glaucous Gull (above), at Cley. 

It bounded up to me and made itself comfortable lying right next to me and even had a little doze. The warm glow of being accepted by a wild animal was punctured, somewhat, by the thought it mistook me for a seal.

 

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) Norfolk January 2019

This is the Little Grebe that shockingly died right in front of me. It had caught a fish & was bobbing its head up & down as it tried to swallow it. It then threw its head back & keeled over onto its back & floated off down river. 200m downstream I managed to retrieve the bird. 

This Bullhead fish was stuck in the mouth of the Little Grebe. Its pectoral fins were held out perpendicularly so preventing it being swallowed. But why had the bird died so suddenly? Could it still breathe through its nostrils with the fish's head in the mouth?

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) Norfolk February 2019