Mark Mowbray Nature Photography

2nd January 2012

2012-01-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

My first real outing of the year was a massive success for me compaired to recent attempts

We headed off to Newbiggin for the Desert Wheatear which showed brilliantly.

The beach also produced some nice Sanderling with a couple of colour ringed individuals amongst them.

We also called into the QEII where the young Whooper swan is back and showing very well too, strangely enough its got a BTO leg ring on it now.
The ring appears to have BTO NAT HIS MUSEUM LONDON stamped onto it.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

As many of you might have noticed I haven't posted since last May mainly due to having no time to get out and about due to moving house and settling into a new job with a new company.

Anyway hopefully i'm back and should be posting regular blog posts once again.

Here's my first of the year with a poor image of a nice young Whopper at the QEII today

22nd May 2011 - Spoonbills, Warblers, Grey wagtail, Wind and Rain.

2011-05-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to have a drive to Druridge to see if the 4 Spoonbills were still about as I've never managed to hook up with any Spoonbills before. When I arrived at the Budge screen nothing was to be seen on the water apart from a couple of ducks and a heron so I headed on towards the other two hides.

In the hide which over looks the wetlands I found Rick Thornton watching 4 Spoonbills! so I sat down had a bit chat with Rick as i'd not seen him for many years.

The weather wasn't good with the sun in our face which obviously doesn't help!

See below some record shots of these amazing birds.

After the spoonbills I headed off to Ingram where the wind was even stronger but the birds were not as far away. Several warblers were in the gorse, along with a few linnets and dozens of swallows flying along the river.

On the river I spotted a Grey Wagtail which was very tame unfortunately it was on the opposite bank so I couldn't get very close in for my pics.

There were chaffinch every where a some were so tame they were landing on the wing mirrors of my car waiting to be fed!

All in all I had a really enjoyable days birding even if the weather wasn't too kind. The only negative was the lack of Adders in the valley as that was the main subject of todays outing for me. I uppose you can't always get everything you want.

Next month i'll make sure |I choose a hot, calm, sunny day to visit Ingram for the snakes :-)

Hauxley

2011-05-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

I've not been out for weeks so thought i'd update the blog with a couple of pics from Hauxley Reserve from A few days ago.

Not much else happening at the minute due to moving house but i'll be back to normal service soon!

Looking forward to seeing if my spot fly returns this year to its breeding site from last year. Hopefully i'll get some cracking images again if it does!

and here's some of my son enjoying his day out watching the birds!

May day, May day!

2011-05-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

Our first day out in a while began at QEII park with this gorgeous Whooper swan

Then we quickly headed up to Cresswell to see the Avocets which have now built a nest on the sand bar, the most northerly nesting in the UK as far as I know.

If anyone knows any better please feel free to educate me :-)

After the avocets I found this Gropper in the dunes near the car park.

From Cresswell we headed to Druridge with nothing much of interest.

then onto Hauxley where I found this large colony of sand martins nesting in the edges of the dunes. Hundreds of the little buggers too! Incredibly difficult to photograph so here's a few of my better rubbish images.

after Druridge we headed out on the RSPB cruise from Amble with very little of interest except a few puffins, terns and seals.

Hopefully my next outing wont be too long away this time round, I'm planning a trip to see if the spot fly's have returned to the neting site which I found last year so will hopefully have some more images to share soon.

2011-03-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Headed over to see the Waxwings at Ashington with Keith this morning but as is the norm now for us light was not very kind which was a shame as the birds played very well indeed.

As we were taking our images a second group of birds flew in from the south making the group larger than I expected to find.

I managed to count 60 birds before getting bored and giving up!

The image below shows part of the flock.

The birds were doing the usual waxwing routine resting up high and swooping in for a quick feed before returning to the tree tops to rest for a while. It was easy to tell when the birds were coming to feed as they became very vocal just prior to take off.

after a spell with the waxwings we decided to head to Amble for some well deserved chips, after eating we had a wander around the rocks where I spotted several Purple Sandpipers.

also large numbers of Eiders on the sea

and Keith spotted two stunning Med Gulls in the small bay with the sandy beach unfortunately dog walkers helped keep the birds out of reach for any good images with my 100-400mm lens.

Buzzards, Grouse and a couple of odd balls

2011-03-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

No the odd balls ain't Keith and myself before you ask!

We headed off into the hills on Sunday to try and locate some Adders to photograph unfortunately the wind was blowing a hooly and the Adders were no where to be seen. So we decided to have a wander into the hill tops to find some grouse with loads of reds and a few blacks wandering about we had some great fun trying to get close enough for some images but we both failed this time around.

We did eventually end up with some good birds but not very good photos just record shots.

Highlights of the day for me were the White Pheasant and a large flock of yellowhammers along with a canada x greylag hybrid goose and one of my favourite flowers the snowdrop which were all over the place.

St Mary's

2011-03-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Spent a couple of hours at St Marys Island today.

Had a good time with the waders - nearly got wet with the rising tide not watching what I was doing too busy looking through the lens!

Here's a few pictures from today but i'll leave the ID's to you lot as my wader knowledge is very poor.

I think - Bartailed Godwit, Knot & Turnstone

Bartailed Godwit

Dunlin

Knot

Turnstone

I would appreciate ID help with the bird on this next image though, I thought Dunlin but........

(confirmed as Dunlin - thanks to K Reeder & A Tilmouth.).

Eiders, Seals & Octopus!

2011-03-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

I had an unusual day at Blyth quayside today.

Called in with Nicola, James & Amy so James could feed the gulls, Its one of his favourite things to do :-)

When we arrived I spotted someone with a 7D and 100-400, It was Keith so drove over next to him for a chat. After chatting we fed the birds while Keith took advantage of our bread and photographed a few gulls.

The Eiders were looking very nice today in the sunshine.

As we fed the birds Keith shouted over to tell us about a seal coming into the river from down stream so we watched as it came up and started feeding happily just a few meters out from the quay side. I didn't have my long lens with me so we popped back home to get it and when we got back it was still feeding away in front of us.

I managed a few images of it 'floating' about like a log then caught something very unusual for Blyth, it surfaced with what appears to be an octopus! or perhaps a squid?

I'm saying octopus! but will be happy to be corrected if i'm wrong.

Incase anyone is wondering about the tropical looking water colours these are created by the Arklow Meadow ship and the Alcan unloading facility which casts a gorgeous green and orange tint into the river on sunny days like today.

Black and Red

2011-02-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday 27th February saw us heading off into the moors in search of Grouse, to be more specific Black Grouse.

The day started well with reasonable light but as we got closer to the moors that all changed and as usual for us the light vanished and the rain appeared!

Our first notable encounter were five stunning Roe deer feeding not far from the road behind a wall.

My next find was a stunning Golden Plover (actually two Golden Plovers) but I only managed a distant image of one. Fabulous colours and rather good camo too.

As I drove along I spotted what I thought were 7 crows on a wall in the distance but when we had a better look Keith realised they were in fact Black Grouse! These were the only black grouse of the day but at least I got a record shot.

Onwards we headed into the moors and as expected we found plenty of Red Grouse at much closer distances to the car but this one was really calm and we followed him on foot for a few minutes - just enough time to get a couple of decent photos and not cause him any stress. His female waited down in a ditch for us to move off before she came back out again.

All in all we had a good day especially considering the fact it rained most of the time.

Some day we will find some sunshine!

Lightroom

2011-02-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

I visited Lindisfarne on the 12th February with my pal Keith Reeder.

I've already posted a few of my many really good (in my opinion) bird images but I also played about with the landscapes while out and about.

The below was taken with my 100-400L IS USM lens on the 50D. When I first looked at it I nearly put them all straight into the recycle bin as they lacked contrast and detail but I didn't and I decided to see if I could recover any details in Lightroom 3.3.

I've posted a before and after below - What do you lot think? I'm rather happy with the results but my monitor isn't calibrated yet so it might be a bit off!

A few more from last weekends outing

2011-02-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

Having spent a little time processing some images from last Saturdays outing with Keith

I've got a few more images to share with you all. These aren't the best quality but I liked them.

The light was dropping off fast and give off a lovely warm glow however it doesn't really suit the images in my opinion.

Godwits, Sanderling and Pale Bellied Brent Geese

2011-02-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

Headed out to Holy Island this morning in horrible weather but relying on the forecasters saying bright spells by midday.

When we arrived the weather was far from good with very little light, no where near enough for the camera so we headed off into the dunes to look for SEO's. No sign of SEO's apart from a couple of fresh owl pellets. We continued on till we got onto the sands where we found several godwits and other waders unfortunatley they were very easily spooked and just not willing to play.

We continued onwards towards the Lough hide were Keith spotted the pale bellied brent geese in the field just behind the hide. (We guessed at around 500 of them.).

After covering most of the populated end of the island we decided to call it a day and headed back to our car without getting many pictures.

On the way back I decided to try a couple of sandy places I know of as the sun had broken through the clouds. All the images I managed are very poor due to bad exposure (my fault!)

I've never know godwits be so tame as they were today. Great fun to photograph.

Hope you enjoy.

Fieldfare

2011-01-31T04:09:00.000-08:00

I've not been out much recently due to horrible lighting conditions but took advantage of todays sunshine while out with my dog for his morning walk.

Headed down to the Bates Pit area of Blyth and discovered the fieldfare have returned in decent numbers. Not much else about apart from hundreds of mixed finch and plenty of the usual waders. A couple of swans were on the pools but no signs of the water rail thats been about recently i'm sure they are still there but they didn't want to play today!

Amble again!

2011-01-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

I decided to have another look at Amble today as back to work tomorrow.

Plenty of sanderling and turnstones about again and a few widgeon in the bay along with a couple of mute swans.

Roll on spring time for some sun so I can get some low ISO shots for a change - these are ISO 800 - 1000 again.

Amble Eider

2011-01-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

just been having a check through some Eider shots from yesterdays trip to Amble when I noticed something odd - A bloody great sea fishing swivel and line wrapped around this girls neck.

Lets hope she gets rid of it before it gets rid of her!

02-01-2011

2011-01-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

I had my first attempt at Sanderling today and even though the weather and light in particular was very poor I thoroughly enjoyed myself. All these are taken with a minimum ISO of 1000 some are as high as 1600.

The location was Amble in Northumberland.

as a bonus bird we also got some canny Turnstone images too.

As the light faded to near none existant I spotted a very unusual bird feeding on the beach in the tide line a Goldfinch

from here we headed home via the QEII at Ashington where my pal Keith spotted this young Whooper swan in amongst the mute swans.

Bates' Water Rail

2011-01-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

Called back down Bates settling pools again today for a look about.

The light was still really poor but i'm just sick of not being out with the camera so high ISO day again i'm afraid.

These are poor record pics of one of the two water rails that were showing today.

Bolam then back to Blyth

2010-12-29T14:13:00.000-08:00

I headed across to Bolam lake today with my good friend Keith Reeder.

The weather was horrible with low light and lots of fog but we stuck it out and actually enjoyed our day out even though my photographs were far from any good!

Here's the best of a bad bunch, all high ISO and slow shutter speads (I think the lowest ISO I managed today was 1000.).

After this we headed across to Bates pit at Blyth to have another go at the Fieldfare. The numbers were down a little today but there are still plenty of them about to get shots at however due to poor weather and several dog walkers we just didn't manage any decent pics again. I did however get my first half decent woodcock image as this bird was flushed by Keith nearly giving him heart failure as he nearly stood on it before it moved!

around the pools I spotted two water rail which were great to see although again I couldn't get any pics of them apart from this well hidden view of one below :-

Bates Pit Pools

2010-12-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Had a quick look around the bates pit site on Boxing day

A few curlew flew past when I first arrived

Then I heard the the calls of the fieldfare, as I moved on I found them and there was loads (guessing in excess of 100). Unfortunately they were very nervous so I couldn't get any decent images but I plan to return tomorrow if the light improves.

As I moved onto the pools I found loads of reed buntings feeding on the grasses.

A snowy Sunday afternoon

2010-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

Snow fell on Blyth nearly all day today but I braved the elements and headed out through my local crem and onto the Blyth estuary.

Plenty of waders about in the mud, a few big flocks of mixed finch mostly Goldfinch and Chaffinch along with a few Twite.

In the reed beds several buntings feeding on grass seeds including some very friendly ones.

Then as the snow came down really heavy and light all but gone I found these WAXWINGS!

I counted just over 50 but they are very mobile and were flying all over the area searching for food and roosting sites I think.

They appeared to settle in the tops of the tall trees behind Travis Perkins.

November 2010

2010-11-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

Novembers been a funny month for me. Not much time to do anything but I did manage a few short outings so far.

A quick visit to the QEII produced these four cormorants and a lovely Bullfinch.

The a drive along to Linton roundabout produced these whoopers

But the highlight of November and possibly even this year has got to have been seeing this beautiful Squacco.

Unfortunately a few days after I managed to see it this stunning, friendly little bird passed away presumably due to starvation and cold.

Poor little thing brought so much joy to us all at Morpeth then so much sadness when we found out its fate!

Washington WWT

2010-10-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

Had a wander around WWT Washington on Thursday, the light was poor again but we had a brilliant day out with our kids.

The above Sparrowhawk hit something small in a bush right outside of the hawthorn hide (I think it was a longtail tit but didn't have time to see.) then quickly carried it off to eat in the woods.

After sitting in the hide for a while we headed off around the centre where I spotted a couple of different 'birds' above us, the first was a very high flying Eurofighter and the next was G-HEMS - air ambulance - Pride of Cumbria.

My last image was taken on the Wednesday at Wallington Hall but I thought i'd add it to todays posting.

None of the images are good quality but considering the weather conditions lately and my poor knowledge of my still new to me 50D i'm happy enough with what I got.

St Marys 11-10-10

2010-10-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

had a short spell at St Marys again today trying to get some better light than what I had yesterday but it was just as bad.

The bluetail was once again showing well but kept its distance but I had more luck with the Goldcrests.

Hope you like them?

Nice talking to Brian today too, if I can help you with your 50D Brian please ask - i'm no expert but i'm getting reasonable results with mine now (I think)

St Marys 10-10-10

2010-10-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

Called into St Mary's today to see what was about and managed to see the Red flanked blue tail but couldn't get any decent images of it.

The coast has had one of the biggest falls of migrants in recent years today with goldcrests everywhere (litterally everywhere!) but amongst them I found a lovely male siskin who just didn't care about me being near to it and continued feeding as if I wasn't there!

Here's a few from my trip out today - the weather was horrendous and light was almost none existant but the pics turned out nice all the same.

any id help on the next two below please? I think the first is a chiffchaff and second possible barred warbler or female black cap ?

Blyth's Female Eiders

2010-10-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

Had a look down the harbour today and managed a few nice (ish) Eider shots.

There's several females in the harbour now and a couple of males - the males however didn't want to be photographed today apart from one that came in really close, getting down low enough for a decent shot was a little tricky.

St Marys Kestrel

2010-10-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

managed a walk along the dunes at St Marys yesterday and caught glimps of this Kestrel

there wasnt much else about - just the usual waders, greenfinch, goldfinch and apparently a Merlin but I thought the bird in question was actually this Kestrel!

2010-10-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

bored with all this poor weather today I decided to have a walk along the banks of the local river - the Blyth.

Plenty to watch on the mud flats but not really close enough to get decent images of them but I managed a few just for a test of the higher ISO of my new 50D

There were large numbers of Gulls, Redshank, Godwits, Herons, Curlew, Oystercatchers, Cormorants and a few of the little ones in these pics which I think are plovers of some kind ( I'm not very good with wader ID's!.).

Hope you like them

30th Sept 2010

2010-09-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Some of my followers might have noticed a lack of posts from me since my spotted flycatcher?

This was mostly due to the fact that while taking the images of the spot fly I accidentally dropped my 30D with 100-400 lens attached splitting the camera body right down the side of it and basically writting it off. (they don't bounce off tarmac very well!!!)

Anyway after several weeks without either items and a couple of repair quotes later I managed to get the lens repaired at Fixation UK Ltd and had enough cash left over from my insurance cheque to buy a nice 50D body.

Unfortunately since getting my 50D the weather ain't been good enough to get out much so here's a small collection of what i've managed so far.

All of the above were taken at the QEII country park at Ashington.

I managed a quick visit to St. Marys today and caught a glimpse of the barred warbler but didn't get any pics as it just wasn't wanting to show itself.

(Sorry to John Malloy for not saying Hi but didn't want to interupt your chat. Will no doubt see you around again soon!).

Spotted Flycatcher

2010-07-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

Found a stunning little Spotted Flycatcher feeding amongst the head stones in a Northumberland Cemetery today, very friendly little chaps and not worried by my presence at all.

WWT Washington

2010-06-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Had a trek down to WWT Washington to see the young avocets and had a brilliant day.

Bumped into a pal of mine too which is always nice.

Here's a few of my pics.

2010-06-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

not having been out much recently mostly due to lack of time but I have made the effort this week and managed a couple of pics of the ducklings on the river Blyth in total these birds have 23 young!

I also stumbled across a family of young Blue tits on the bates pit ponds

and i'll finish off todays short post with this nice chiffchaff (I think?) with a beak full of food.

Ingram Adders

2010-05-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Called into Ingram valley yesterday with my wife and young son for a wander about and stumbled (literally) across four adders, nearly stepped onto two of the buggers!

Luckily I spotted the two when I had James with me so headed back to car and left him with my wife safely out of their area, then I headed off into the hillside with the camera this is when I realised that there were actually four in a very small area probably about 4m x 4m. It was a rocky area underneath a small tree and I felt very uneasy with all those snakes around me as they kept appearing from under my feet and I only had trainers on not my usual walking boots which made the risk of a bite more dangerous as trainers would've provided no protection to me at all.

Keith Reeder suggested I should have tried to move the grass away from its eyes before taking this image! :-)

I think not!

After spending a few minutes with the snakes I decided to move on as I really didn't feel comfortable with them all around me. I headed back into the valley and drove onto the visitor center where I spoke to the wardens and let them know where the adders were. Apparently there are alot of them this year and he suggested that three of them were probably large females and one definately a male (something to do with the amount of brown colour on the skin sexes them.).

This one above is the same one as in the first image. It was the best behaved of the four but it appears BLIND on all the pics i've got of it, there are no eyes just indentations where the eyes should be.

I've included this image just to show how difficult it can be to find an adder in the wild, Please take extra care when in the great outdoors wear walking boots to provide extra protection against an attack even experienced walkers like myself do occasionally get too close to adders. I nearly got bit last year when out with Keith in the Cheviots I lent over a stone wall to take a picture of some flowers (without checking it first.) and an adder was basking on the top of the wall! That could've been a very costly error and its one I wont repeat in a hurry!

On the birding front the area was rather quiet but I did see whinchat, buzzard, grey heron, BHG, robins, thrush, spuggies and the usual tits and finch around the visitor center area. One cuckoo was calling higher up the valley but I couldn't see it.

Meadow Pipit flight shots

2010-05-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Called into Holy Island for lunch today and managed a couple of nice flight shots of what I think is a meadow pipit

This one below was taken yesterday in Ingram valley not sure what it is as I only managed to see its back!

May 2010

2010-05-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since i've been out and about but i've managed a few minutes with the camera this week so here's some of what i've been capturing.

Hope you like them?

Catching up on what i've been up to..................

2010-04-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much to post recently with all the poor weather but Blyth seems to be alive with these little fellows just now Chiffchaffs are calling all over the place!

There's also a few Dunnock around too along with several nice sized flocks of Bullfinch in some parts of Blyth

My garden birds are starting to settle into the boxes now with bluetits and blackbirds both setting up home in the back

Along with all this going on I managed a trip to Druridge today to see if I could find the Great white egret, I did but it was a long way off.

still it was great to see it especially when in flight - what a gracefull flyer. The pools also had several shovelers and a lovely toad.

Washington Wetlands Avocet is back!

2010-03-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I said "Next first of the year I hope to be a grasshopper warbler. "

I was wrong - today we headed off down to Washington wetlands for a day out with my son and wife. The weather was funny with bright sun at times and very overcast other times. The wetlands were as usual quiet but we enjoy it that way. After a brief look in the new hide at Hawthorn woods we headed off down to wader lake to see if we could spot the latest arrival and there it was feeding on the far bank.

Having watched it for a few minutes something came over the lake lifting nearly every bird on the water including the avocet which shot off in completely the wrong direction for photographs!

Other highlights from today were the moorhens which are very aggresive just now, kept me entertained for ages.

and this cute little duck (i've no idea what kind it is.).

the only other interesting bird I had today was another waxwing in my garden which I managed to grab a pic of too

Waxwings and Chiff Chaff

2010-03-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

Well i've not got any pics to post today but I have had the waxwing back in the garden again today after my apples and also my first chiff chaff of the season in the trees didn't see it but could hear it miles away calling for a mate all day long!

So it looks like the summer is just around the corner with my pond full of mating frogs and the plants starting to show signs of growth again.

Next first of the year I hope to be a grasshopper warbler.

Blyth Estuary

2010-03-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

Had a wander along the riverside at Blyth last weekend the weather was as usual poor but I managed a few ok pics for a change.

lots of redshank about on the frozen mudflats

and a few curlew too, I think this is a male curlew as its got a small beak but doesn't look like a wimbrel so guessing curlew (I'm not very good at ID'ing waders.)

Looking forward to some sunshine on a Saturday and Sunday for a change!

WAXWINGS

2010-02-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to yuk weather yet again another crappy weekend without being able to do much photography.

Went downstairs for a cuppa then opened the blinds in my conservatory to find these :-

in the trees at the bottom of my garden were a pair of stunning waxwings so I headed back up stairs to grab the camera so I could get a couple of pics only to find on my return that there were now

on my bird table roof eating the apples I put out for the fieldfares a couple of weeks ago! So a crappy dull wet day turned out to be a fab morning of waxwing watching and I really enjoyed myself sitting watching them fighting over the apples.

After a couple of hours on the apples they headed off into Blyth Crematorium grounds so with a bit of luck i'm looking forward to opening the blinds again tomorrow to see if they have returned for some more apples.

(sorry for the poor pics but weather crap and through the glass windows of the conservatory.).

Here's a couple from last week of Goldeneye taken behind the old heliport on the river Blyth.

again poor weather resulted in poor quality pics

hope you like them?

2010-02-14T15:07:00.000-08:00

I've managed a few trips out this weekend and enjoyed some nice weather too for a change. Saturday I had a wander down the Blyth estuary where I found the usual waders Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin and Knot along with Lapwings, Swans, Teal, Mallard, Goldeneye and Turnstone.

My favourite group from Saturday has to be the 8 Bar-tailed Godwits that were sifting through the mud for food along with several gulls and curlew.

Here's a pic of 6 of them below :-

Not much else to mention except Sunday I headed to Killingworth Lake which was alot quieter than the past few times i've been there but still decent numbers of Tufted ducks and Coot along with lots of geese, swans and not forgetting the hundreds of gulls! The grass is almost totally gone beside the car park now just a field of mud and bird droppings!

Looking back

2010-02-11T14:20:00.001-08:00

Having had poor weather everyday i've not been stuck in the office for the past few weeks i've decided to look at my pics from last year and found this nice spuggy from my trip to Lindisfarne Island with my pal Keith Reeder.

hope you all like it?

Bates Pit Ponds

2010-01-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

Had a wander around the settlement pools at Bates Pit today with my dog and it was alive with birds.

As I entered the site I spotted a Robin and a Wren sitting in the blackberry bushes then I heard the call of Fieldfare but from this point I couldn't see any. As we headed along the path we spooted some Bullfinch both males and females in a bush eating the orange berries (not sure what plant they are.)

Eventually I stumbled across the fieldfare and there are lots probably about 70 - 100 in one flock, stunning birds but they were rather shy I could've done with a 2x extender on my 400mm lens.

The usual other birds were also present - a couple of Redwing, curlew, kingfisher, gulls, heron, mute swan, moorhen, redshank, blackbirds, thrushes and spuggys with a single skylark too.

2010-01-18T15:45:00.000-08:00

News of a couple of my favourite swans only minutes from my house yesterday got me all ready for a trip out today to see if I could get another first for me and it didn't take very long before I found them Two stunning Bewicks only minutes from my house. The first time in four years that Bewicks had been in Northumberland.

When I got to the site I found John Malloy sitting quietly wishing for better light, the sun was behind the swan well slightly left and behind making it very difficult to get decent shots. John's are far better than mine but i'm happy enough just to have found the birds still in the field.

Hopefully I will get back at the weekend this time in the morning if they are still about and the weather is nice.

2010-01-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well as you will probably have noticed we've had a little snow recently :-)

The above image is of Blyth Crematorium grounds with the crem in the background, while wandering about I noticed loads of the normal thrushes, blackbirds and various tit species but also a very nice redwing which i've posted an image of on here on a previous posting.

One thing unusual for my area was my first ever fieldfare in my garden but only for a quick visit to a cotoneaster bush in the garden behind mine. Still he was a stunning bird.

Hopefully it'll return with its pals to visit the apples i've put out on my bird feeders.

2010-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

I spotted this kestrel sitting high up in a large conifer in the grounds of Waliington hall near Morpeth, I didn't know if this shot would work with it being really high up but I think its ok

2010-01-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

First outing of the year was in our local crematorium grounds, everwhere had 4 inches of fresh snow and the light wasn't too nice but I was sick of sitting indoors.

There was plenty about today - several blue tits and great tits, a few jackdaws and robins but the only thing I managed to get close to was this redwing

2009-12-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

After looking at several other peoples photos from Wallington Hall's bird hide I arranged a trip out with my pal Keith Reeder to see what we could find - BUGGER ALL was the answer !

Apparently the feeders wouldn't be filled up because it was a bank holiday! Looking at the lack of food I would suggest they had been empty for more than a few hours not a scrap of food was to be found around the feeding station. This is something I will be taking up with the national trust as we both ended up feeling very much ripped off and rather sad for all the hungry birds that we spotted in the trees hanging about for a feed.

After an hour or so in the hide we give up and headed into the grounds, on the way into the woodland I spotted a deer on the far edge of a field, too far to get a pic of it but nice to see. So off we wandered into the woods, the light was poor and nothing much was about so we continued along the river then back onto the road where I spotted a Kestrel sitting high on a tree watching for some food to fly past.

From here we headed into the warm green house, wow was it warm! We then headed outside and found several rather friendly little robins.

After several minutes taking robin pics we headed back to the carpark. On the way I spotted my next target species - a Red Squirrel, unfortunately way up in the tops of the tallest trees in the woods so no photos for me again.

After our very disappointing day out at Wallington we ended it at the QEII for some BIF shots. While we were snapping away Keith noticed someone else with the same 100-400L lens snapping away at Pipits and Wagtails and covered in lots and lots of MUD - It was Alan T - Great to finally bump into Alan after e-mail conversations for many months its always nice to bump into someone face to face.

Here's the best of the QEII pics

2009-12-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

went out for a walk on Christmas morning (about 11 am ) with my pup and spotted this kestrel flying near to me so I snapped away at it only to discover later when I processed my pics that it was carrying what appears to be a pipit which it had caught just in time for Christmas lunch!

2009-12-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

As the light started to drop hundreds of waders came in to roost at Saint Marys Island, they all circled for a few minutes then came down in a nearby field. Looking at the pics I its easy to see the majority of the birds are golden plover along with several lapwing.

Apart from these there wasn't much else to shout about.

Druridge Pools

2009-11-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

Had a wander over to Druridge Pools after lunch today. The main pool was very quiet when we first got there with only three little grebes on it and a couple of mallards but it didn't take long for the birds to start flying in, firstly came 14 whoopers a few at a time follwed by hundreds of mixed ducks - mallards, teal and wigeon mainly. next was the turn of the lapwing - hundreds came in off the beach and joined the whoopers in the field behind the main pool but a tractor came right through the field five minutes or so later lifting everything the hoopers flew into the field to the left and the lapwings flew straight over the oddie hide and onto the other ponds.

2009-11-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

We decided to have a run out to bolam today as the sun was out and the wind didn't seem too bad but when we arrived the light just wasn't as good as I had hoped for.

We got settled into a good position in the car park I scattered the stone wall with seed and just as the birds started to play the game a stupid woman pulled along side of us in a 4x4 and virtually blocked out the entire wall from view even though she must have seen my 400mm lense pointing out the drivers window. She then decided to see how much noise she could make by slamming her 4x4's doors as hard as was physically possible and allowing her two stupid dogs to run about barking and generally frightening every bird in the park away from the wall.

On a plus when we headed off we spotted these three lovely deer in a field just around the corner from Bolam lake so the day didn't end too badly after all.

Testing out my new monitor

2009-11-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

Thought i'd try pp'in a pic on my new samsung monitor today seeing that i've not got access to a calibration device I can only guess at the settings so here goes my first image :-

A seagull

Bearded tit - Holy Island

2009-11-08T12:13:00.001-08:00

another shot of the Holy Island Bearded Tit from my trip out with my pal Keith today

Bearded Tit, SEO and Little Egret

2009-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Had my first ever trip to Holy Island today with my pal Keith Reeder.
Not knowing what to expect I must say all in I had one of the best days out of my life today with three stunning species on display.

The first was the SEO's - five in total were flying about the dunes right where we just happened to be! The weather was poor and the light not good but all in I got some nice images.

The next stunner we came across was the bearded tit a species i've wanted to see all my life but never managed it until today, a fabulous male.

On our way back off the island Keith spotted another lifer for me - a little egret on the sands to our left just a few meters from the road.

2009-10-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

Needed a break from fixing my virus ridden laptop today so we headed north to Swarland caravan park to see a friend who has recently purchased a caravan there and she told me of some rather odd looking birds she had stumbled on while out for a walk so we headed over to see if we could find them. It was rather a surprise to find several EMU in the heart of rural northumberland!

Rather entertaining little chaps these are.

WWT Washington 18th October 2009

2009-10-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

A couple from WWT Washington, the weather was horrible with very poor light so ISO 800 was needed to get some half decent shots using my pal Keith Reeder's Canon 30D body he has kindly loaned out to me! combined with my canon 100-400L IS USM lense.

Crow or Jackdaw? Both look the same to me :)

2009-10-15T14:53:00.001-07:00

Could be a crow, could be a jackdaw? Who knows and does anyone really care?

I've been informed probably a jackdaw? Please correct me if i'm wrong.

Druridge Ibis

2009-10-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my Druridge Glossy Ibis pics again and found this one which I think is rather nice.

3 from today

2009-10-11T12:58:00.001-07:00

A nice stonechat from st. Marys this morning

A coot from Killingworth lake

A Canada goose from Killingworth lake.

Bolam Nuthatch

2009-10-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

A nice nuthatch which I photographed at Bolam lake in March 09 they are very tame at Bolam and you if you're lucky you can get them to feed out of your hand!

My first attempt at butterflies

2009-10-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

I think its a small tortoiseshell on a flower at Bolam Lake in Northumberland

I particularily like the small fly in the top image.

Farne Islands

2009-10-06T12:25:00.001-07:00

Ealier in the year I headed across to the Farnes with my good friends Keith Reeder, Barry Fisher and Marcus Conway along with a few others from http://www.ukbirdphotographers.net/.

I've selected a few of my favourites for this post on my blog I do hope you like them.

Glossy Ibis

2009-10-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

I finally called into the Oddie hide at Druridge Pools on Sunday 3rd to see if I could get the ibis which has been around for a week or so now. After getting my camera set up and car locked I headed for the Oddie hide passing an old chap on the way who informed me that the ibis was 20 feet from the hides windows so quickly making my way up the hide.

I arrived to find John Malloy happily firing shot after shot of the bird just on the waters edge feeding on fish fry and flies. I very quickly settled down and started firing off a few shots of my own.

After half an hour or so the Ibis took off and headed into the top corner of the lake where it began feeding around the pipe. Soon the hide was full of photographers who had heard the Ibis was in front of the hide in a great position unfortunately (for them) they were just too late to see it close to the hide, I stayed for another half an hour but the Ibis never showed any signs of returning so we headed off back home to process my photos.