Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) & Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) Whitlingham Country Park Norfolk 13th December 2012

Lucky morning as these two would normally be in the most distant sections of the Great Broad.

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni hornemanni) Aldeburgh Suffolk UK GB December 2012

Can't resist tame birds. Perhaps surprisingly it was still very tricky to photograph well. At least it didn't fly away, but it could spend a couple of hours missing and feed in the no-go area of the yacht club car park. Other little difficulties included its rapidly moving bill as it continually munched away on Long-horned Poppy seeds. It spent long periods partially obscured by the Long-horned Poppies and in sunny conditions the Poppies cast distracting shadows on the bird. In dull conditions it was awkward to balance the depth of field with high shutter speed to stop bill movement. You would need a good to get depth of field to enable both the bill and wing to be in focus (especially as it is such a podgy thing).

Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus)

As you may know there have been a few about.

Black-bellied Dipper (Cinclus cinclus cinclus)

Popping over to the Midlands couldn't resist dropping in at Thetford.

Norfolk storms

Photographs from a wet windy Saturday.

Little Auk (Alle alle) Salthouse

Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) Burnham Overy Staithe

A selection of birds photographed at Stiffkey Norfolk

Photos taken during the murky, foggy conditions 23rd October 2012. Amazing what the latest cameras can cope with despite the exceptionally poor light and visibility.

Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus)

Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus)

Not so Black-headed Gull Suffolk October 2012

Leucistic Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)

Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus) Oulton Broad Suffolk October 2012

Initially identified as a Black-necked Grebe. Was this a case of mass hallucination or were there really two birds involved?

Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima)

Came across this on a family walk on Mousehold Heath, Norwich

Grey Squirrel swimming

While on an electric boat from Martham we came across this Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) swimming across the Candle Dyke.  Watch out any Red Squirrels thinking they are safe on their islands.

Some waders & wildlfowl

Recent shots from north Norfolk.

Curlew (Numenius arquata)

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

Sunset

Couldn't resist the abstract colours offshore at Salthouse.

Sandy Stiltball

An endangered fungi on the GB Red List protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Schedule 8). The Norwich area is the UK stronghold. 

Sandy Stiltball (Battarrea phalloide

and below a new fungi for Norfolk, recently found in Norwich.

Fungi species (Daldinia loculata)

 

North Norfolk

Between the showers

Little Gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus)

Cley windmill

Seabirds

Can't resist seabird colonies. Well...they are full of tame birds.

Northern Gannet (Morus Bassanus)

Northern Gannet (Morus Bassanus)

Time for insects

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)

Application

As mentioned before great to see my photographs used in this iphone/ipad application, which is growing in popularity. Click here for a direct link.

Northumberland trip

Farne Islands and around

Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Eider (Somateria mollissima)

Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Bird survey work

While sitting quite still for up to three hours, some wildlife can come close, even by intensively farmed crops.

And amazingly you can, if you're lucky, stumble across the odd Orchid or two, flowering in a set aside strips, while carrying out a breeding bird survey.

European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus)

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)

Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus)

Photographs from a Limosa tour to Lesvos/Lesbos Greece April 2012

Baillon's Crake (Porzana pusilla)

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)