Fantastic Experience

What a way to end 2007!

Returning from walking the dog today I decided to go to a spot where I had seen a Kingfisher on several previous occasions. As I reached the location the first thing I saw was the Kingfisher flying low above the water towards me. It landed on a tree branch on the opposite side of the river from me, a distance of around 15 yards.

For the next 20 minutes I stood transfixed as the bird dived into the water several times, returning with a small fish each time. It completely ignored me and a couple of other passers by as it sat patiently watching the water waiting for it's next catch.

Fortunately I had my digital compact TZ3 with super duper 280mm zoom lens with me and although the sky was very overcast and there wasn't a lot of light I did manage to get some half decent shots, certainly the best ones of the Kingfisher so far.

I will be returning to the same spot with my DSLR when we get some decent sunlight to try for some much better shots.

Incidentally I have changed the title of my blog to more truely reflect the subject content.

To anyone who may read this I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2008.

In the bleak midwinter.........

........the birds rely on a helping hand from us more than ever for food.

The temperature here fell as low as -10 degrees last night and the frost has never lifted all day. The good thing was that there was some reasonable sunshine which made photography a little bit easier and more enjoyable.

The garden feeders are very busy just now and the birds did not even mind too much when I took my camera out into the garden to try for some closer shots. I counted 3 different Robins flitting around at one point.

Return of the sun

Very cold here the last 3 days although at least there was no frost this morning.

Plenty of action around the feeders though mainly Chaffinches as usual. There has been a couple of Robins flitting around the garden but I am still unsure if it is a pair or 2 males/females.

One new and unwelcome visitor has been a Grey Heron raiding our fish pond. I managed to rescue one large goldfish and returned it to the pond but unfortunately lost another goldfish which had been left lying in the middle of the lawn for some reason. A net has now been put over the top of the pond to protect whatever fish may be left and the Heron has not been back since.

Dank dismal December

I hate this time of year when the hours of daylight are so short, the ground is permanently wet and muddy and if it isn't raining then it has just finished or is about to start. Taking photographs just now isn't easy, there is either insufficent light to get a good shutter speed or the camera is going to get wet from the rain. More often than not both these scenarious occur simultaneously.

There has been nothing of note in the garden and I am still waiting hopefully for visits from Waxwings or Bramblings. Meanwhile we continue to feed the Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Blackbirds, Starlings, the odd Goldfinch or Siskin the latter of which have not yet arrived in large numbers, and Great Tit. I have had a glimpse of the Sparrowhawk but she has not caught anything else in our garden since the previous catch in late summer. There seems to be plenty Blue Tits around just now and we can have several in different parts of the garden at one time. We also have two Robins which seem quite tolerant of each others company so they may be a pair although the females are reputed to leave the breeding territory or even the country during the winter.

The rivers are fairly high now and I have seen less of the Kingfishers and Grey Wagtails though they are still around. On the contrary I have seen many more Dippers recently and a Swan has also taken up residence. The annual Salmon run is still in full swing though the fishing season is now over and there are many dead Salmon littering the banks of the Tweed by the park. One crow struck lucky finding he had Salmon on the menu for Sunday lunch.

More river life

There is still little activity in the garden due no doubt to the incredibly mild and sunny autumn we have experienced. Visitors have included a Wren, a Robin, Starlings and some Blue Tits.

It is a little alarming that the common Blue Tit may soon become an endangered bird after a very poor breeding season for them this year. Although there are plenty adult birds around just now there must be a big concern over the number of chicks which have fledged this year. Hopefully next Spring will be much better for them otherwise Blue Tit numbers will fall dramatically.

I am still trying unsuccessfully for a quality photograph of a Kingfisher. Typically on the one day that I got fairly close to the bird I did not have a camera with me! Taught me a valuable lesson that did.

Just a few photos from the last couple of weeks all taken beside nearby rivers and not the best quality unfortunately including two of the Kingfisher flying away from me, the only view I get of them most of the time!

Kingfisher

I took my small digital compact camera with me this morning walking the dog up the River Tweed and I was so glad that I did.

Approaching the park on the way back into town I noticed what appeared to be an object sitting on top of an old branch about 30 yards away. Still unsure as to what it was, as I was setting the camera up the object moved. My camera has a maximum zoom of 280mm and one glance at the LCD screen told me that the object was indeed that most elusive of birds, the Kingfisher!

I managed to take a couple of shots before it dived into the water and out again on to the branch. A few seconds later it flew off low across the water, past me heading upstream.

What I found surprising was that the bird was in quite an exposed location in full view of a footbridge about 100 yards away and there were quite a few people out walking at the time.

The original two pictures have been drastically cropped and enhanced to produce the two close- ups shown above.

No pictures today!

After spending the first fortnight in the month on a Mediterranean cruise and the past week trying to get back into the real world again I have not had much chance for snapping the birds in our garden, not that there has been much to capture anyway.

Have not seen any Siskins since our return. However we are getting lots of visits from Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Sparrows and Starlings all of which are being attracted by the fatty balls we are putting out. The Starlings are also going for the sultanas we feed to the Blackbirds.

I am still trying to get a photo of Kingfishers which I have seen on the River Tweed when walking the dog in the mornings. I had a definite sighting of one again a couple of days ago but did not have the camera with me. Took the camera with me this morning but it was all to no avail. However I will keep trying!

Interesting point from the holiday was the appearance of two birds on the ship. They looked very much like either House Martins or Sand Martins and they were hitching a free lift south on board. During the day they would fly alongside and over and around the ship and at night I noticed them sitting in plastic palm trees which were situated on the sun deck. As soon as the ship turned to sail north again they vanished. Very clever indeed!

Update

Nothing much happening in the garden over the past couple of months until today!

Our racing pigeon stuck around for a couple of weeks but was very wary of any attempts to catch it. We even went away for a short break of 3 days and on our return he was still on our roof ! He eventually vanished as suddenly as he appeared in the first place and it is quite possible that a raptor or cat got him.

On the subject of raptors we had a visit from a female Sparrowhawk today which took one of the Blackbirds which regularly come for sultanas. She was very obliging and kindly posed for photos before flying off with the remains of her prey grasped in her talons.

Bed and breakfast

There was an unexpected visitor camping out in our front doorway last night sheltering from the heavy rain. It is definitely a racing or homing pigeon going by the rings on it's legs and it appeared to be a little distressed when it first appeared. I fed it on some wild bird food but it ignored the bread which I also put out. I attempted to catch it this morning to get the full registration number in order that I could report it as a stray. However it flew off but it has reappeared again this evening. Let's see if it is still here tomorrow.

We had a good day out this week at the Seabird Centre, North Berwick. As there were no boats operating to the Bass Rock we finished up visiting Dunbar Harbour to see Kittiwakes nesting followed by Musselburgh lagoons where there were a large number of birds including Curlews, Cormorants, Eiders and Oyster Catchers. We also caught sight of a Godwit and a Whimbrel.

Meanwhile, back at the riverside.

After the excitement of last week's Osprey chick ringing it was going to be hard to follow that up but I think I managed to do it despite not having the photographic evidence to prove it.

While walking the dog by the river one morning I found myself looking at a Kingfisher perched on a branch just above the water level, about 10 yards in front of me. It quickly cottoned on to the fact that it was being observed and flew off within a matter of seconds, it's bright blue body flashing across the water. I also saw it the following morning but from a much greater distance and it will be quite a challenge to get some photos of it.

Another bird which has proved elusive for the last couple of years is the Barn Owl but we saw one of these in the distance whilst walking round farmland adjacent to our house one evening last week. I am also fairly certain that I saw an Osprey flying over the garden one afternoon.

Although I failed to capture the Kingfisher on film I saw this dipper on the opposite bank and grabbed a few shots. The bird wasn't as close as I would have liked it to be so the pictures are not as clear as they could have been.

Osprey chick ringing-4th July 2007

This day will stay in my memory for a long time to come. In the morning I was on duty at Ospreywatch and was able to watch the ringing at the televised nest on CCTV. A film crew from Border Television were in attendance and the event was covered on the local evening news the following night. In the afternoon another volunteer and I attended a ringing at a different nest.

When we arrived at the nest the parent birds could be seen circling the nest at a distance and in fact a third Osprey also appeared briefly and all three could be seen in the sky at one time.

When the chicks were lowered to the ground each was taken from the bag in turn and weighed and measured before being ringed. A vet was also in attendance and she checked each bird thoroughly before taking a blood sample. After the formalities were over there was time for us to be photographed with the chicks before they were returned to the nest.

Although a licence is required to photograph at an Osprey nest I was covered by the fact that the party of ringers was licenced.

This was indeed a once in a lifetime experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The photographs shown are a very small sample from the 140 shots which I took on the day!

Nothing much to report.

Weather has been very poor over the last few weeks and there is more torrential rain forecast here tomorrow. The garden feeders are constantly busy but always with the same birds, ie Siskins, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, some House Sparrows, the odd Goldfinch, Blue Tit and Great Tit. Jackdaws are now coming to the peanut feeder but they are very camera shy! The Great Spotted Woodpecker has become lesser spotted and the Blackbirds are even more greedy for sultanas. There are a few juvenile birds around now and I have seen a few young Great Tits and Starlings. The Thrush doesn't come to our garden, I caught him on some common ground close by.