Rose-coloured Starlings

There was an invasion of Rose-coloured Starlings to Western Europe in June and several made it to Norfolk. This one was at Sprowston in Norwich^.

Getting closer to nature in the garden.

Getting closer to nature in the garden. Feeding the Wood Mice and low flying birds of prey in the noticeably clearer air.

Wood Mouse

Common Buzzard

Red Kite

Young Tawny Owls in Norwich

Young Tawny Owls (Strix aluco). Several early starts were eventually rewarded by having the youngsters in the open.

The wintering Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Norfolk

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis tschutschensis) Sedgeford Norfolk winter 2019-2020

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

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