Did You Get My Best Side

 My first post for 2026, and the first in some time is from my first foray with my camera in quite a while too.

Even though I am retired life is still very busy and finding the time for hobbies can be difficult, and at this time of year when the weather is colder, my bones are creakier, and the light is less predictable getting out for a spot of photography is a challenge.

All of today's shots are from Martin Mere Wetland Centre from 14th January. It was a really cold day and the light conditions were changeable most of these images were shot with a high ISO (as much as 12800) so I have had to a little work to reduce the noise. I think they have mostly turned out alright. 

    Male Pochard

    Male Pintail

    Black Tailed Godwit

    That Pintail again...

    Male Reed Bunting, coming in to land

    Reed Bunting, about to take off...

    

     Male Greenfinch

    Male leucistic Reed Bunting with a chaffinch looking on

    Launch time for a male chaffinch 

    One of my favourite birds, a Long-tailed Tit. Did you know that these are truly social birds, over 50% of their nests have non-parent birds assisting with raising the chicks. Wonderful little things.

Ruddy Turnstone

 I had been watching a small group of these birds feeding on the rocks at the bas of the harbour wall in Whitby. They were using their beaks to flip over the seaweed in search of a meal. It was quite mesmerising watching them as they were so focused. What I hadn't realised however was that there were more of them on top of the harbour wall just a few metres away and it seems like they were hoping for handouts from the people walking by.

I was able to capture several nice shots of them and have selected just a few to share with you.

They are seemingly quite tame but also constantly on the move. These birds are still in their winter plumage, in the summer they have very distinctive markings, much bolder browns and a lot more white on the heads.

Turnstones do not  breed in the UK, apparently there is only one possible recorded breeding event and that was in Scotland in 1976. Those that do visit the UK will breed in Northern Europe, Greenland and NE Canada. For a small bird they are very hardy and have been known to live to 22 years of age.

Wading Birds

 Today I had my first proper outing of the year. The sun was out, the temperature was in double digits and the top came down on the car as i headed off to Dunham Massey where there is a fabulous garden and deer park, maintained by the National Trust. It is 2 years since my last visit so it was nice to get back. I was able to photograph some spring flowers, some water fowl and of course some of the deer that live wild in the park.

I was really pleased when I got home to upload the pictures and start to work on them when I realised I also had a few pictures from last week when I had been for a walk along the waterfront near my home.

So before I get into the pictures from Dunham Massey here are a few shots of some of the waders that grace our shores.

The first two pictures show a couple of Black Tailed Godwit. I am not very good at recognising some of our waders because from a distance I find it difficult to differentiate, however these I was quite confident in my identification.

Pictures in most  of my guide books show these birds in their breeding plumage which is a bit richer than these two however it can be differentiated from the bar tailed godwit because it is larger in size, has longer legs and has a long, slightly upturned bill which is black at the end.

The bird in the other pictures is a Common Redshank, easily distinguishable by its bright red legs (hence the name) and its straight red bill, although in these images its bill is covered in mud as it has been searching for worms, molluscs and crustaceans. These are quite nervous birds generally so it was nice that this one did not fly away.

A Stunning Display

It is hard to convey the full spectacle of this "murmurating" flock (I am not sure that is a word, I have just verbed a noun) of Knot and these pictures only show a small proportion of the flock as a whole. It really was an absolute treat on Tuesday lunchtime as the 10m Spring tide brought the waders close inshore to feed.

I had been out for a walk without my camera and was surprised to see a large number of twitchers gathering at different points along the promenade. I stopped to speak with a couple who informed me that there was a mixture of different species, including Redshank, Dunlin, Knot, Oystercatchers, Curlew and Ringed Plovers. Some I could recognise but others I was not sure of so it was nice to listen to someone who was in the  know.

Another couple of avid bird watchers let me use their spotting scope to get a close up view of the birds as they crept closer to the shore ahead of the tide. 

Spring tides happen regularly but 10m tides are not so common so when they do occur it provides a real spectacle as the number of species that feed out in the bay becomes apparent and it was not only twitchers but other walkers who stopped to enjoy the sights and sounds of so many thousands of birds.

Learning that the tide would reach its full height at 12:40 meant I had enough time to go home and get my camera and then nip back to take some pictures. The light was, as you can see pretty poor so it wasn't possible to get clear and detailed close up shots of the birds, a fast shutter speed was needed but that increased the ISO and then the grainy images were quite frankly very poor.

Instead I concentrated on some wider shots and although the flocks of birds were mostly wading in the shallows feeding every now and then something would spook them and with an incredible whooshing sound thousands of birds would take to the air and fly in the amazing formations you see above before settling to feed once again.

I think the majority of birds were Knot but I am sure there are others mixed up in there too.

I am particularly pleased with the first image which shows a large flock taking off and then the final image which has the flock starting to spread out with the wind turbines of Burbo Bank in the background, I like this shot because the flock of birds forms a layer in the sky which follows the lines and layers of cloud, the sea and the shoreline.

I feel really privileged to have witnessed this, had I not gone for my walk when I did I would have never known this was going to happen and now I know to look out for the next high spring tide so I can go down again, and hopefully next time the light will be a little better. But hey, I am definitely not complaining.
 

Turnstone

 I love wildlife photography, patiently waiting and getting up close to beautiful creatures is so rewarding and something I have really missed doing. Yesterday when I went out I was planning on photographing the lighthouse (see yesterdays' blog) and the sea defences along the beach at New Brighton but I always go out prepared for any eventuality and I was so glad I did because I spotted a small flock of Turnstones taking a break among the concrete structures.

I cautiously approached hoping not to spook them and trying not to get wet or snag my clothes on the barnacles etc. I guess the birds felt quite safe because although they were certainly alert and paid attention to my presence they didn't fly away so I managed to get a few really nice shots.

On The Waters Edge

Today here are two more shots from the waters edge at Martin Mere.

In the first shot we have a Black Tailed Godwit with its long black legs and winter plumage it looks quite striking 

The second shot is of a Ruff in winter plumage although he looks as though he is starting to develop his breeding plumage with the fluffy collar which will be used for displays in the spring to attract a mate. The warden described it as a satellite male which I believe is an immature or less well developed male that will try to encroach on a territorial male and impregnate the female, a sneaky little blighter.

One, Two, Three!

I thought I knew what these wading birds snapped recently at RSPB Burton Mere were but I have forgotten and feel slightly foolish. Even so they're rather nice.

Who's got Yellow Legs?

I spotted this beautiful wading bird at Thunder Bay's Boulevard Lake during an evening walk. I thought that it was a sandpiper at first but I wasn't completely sure so when I chose this shot for my blog tonight I realised I needed to do some research. All of my bird books show European birds and so I had to look a bit further afield since this isn't a species we would habitually see here in the UK.

So, what is it? I believe that it is a juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs . This species is fairly common in the boreal forest regions of Canada and North America as you can see if you follow the link above. However it is classified as a rare bird here in the UK as can be seen from this link I was really pleased to get such a lovely shot that I can share it with you.

Seabirds and Waders

There's quite a lot to see in today's post with a variety of birds spotted on my walk along the beaches at Runswick Bay and Staithes.

The first shot is of a pair of loved up Fulmar. While I was watching them they engaged in a bit of courtship behaviour unfortunately the shots I got of that were not very clear, given the light and the distance and the fact that I was shooting against a dark background it was quite tricky getting a sharp image. These birds are not gulls but a species of Petrel and they have a distinctive channel on top of their beak. I tried to get some shots of them in flight and they are really skilled fliers, they move so fast so I didn't get the shots I had hoped. I was amazed how they could fly directly at the cliff face at speed and then at the very last moment brake and land safely on the smallest of ledges.

The next three pictures are of Oyster Catchers, three in flight and then others wading in the shallow pools and silt. These seem really gentle birds and they allowed me to get quite close.

The next picture is of a Herring Gull, I think these are quite beautiful birds although they have a bit of a reputation as thugs and thieves.  They're quite fearless around people and are known to steal food from peoples' hands.  This particular bird was patrolling the car park at Staithes looking for handouts, he didn't get anything from me.

The final pictures are my favourite from today, not necessarily because they are great photos but more because they are of a bird I had never seen before, a Turnstone.  These lovely little birds were scavenging among the debris along the shoreline in the harbour at Staithes.  They were quite gregarious and seemed quite at ease with my presence taking pictures. The first of these shots shows the bird living up to its' name.

On a rock

Black Backed Gull

Common Sandpiper

Common Gull

After the difficult birds in flight yesterday I have picked some much easier shots for today. 

You could think that these three birds were actually posing for these photos.

#Seabirds #Waders #DeeEstuary #WirralCoast