It was This Big

 It is just over 11 years since I started posting photos on this blog and although I don't post nearly as often as I used to it still generates a fair bit of traffic from all around the world, which is quite reassuring. For example even though I didn't post at all since mid August I had over 41,500 views last month and over 1,000  per day this month too. In the grand scheme of things I don't really know how that compares to others but it is nice to know that what I am posting gets seen somewhere.

Sometimes I can go out with my camera and take hundreds of photos in a very short time and then on days like today when the light was  rather flat and grey I will take much fewer. Today over three hours at Martin Mere WWT reserve in Lancashire I took just 32 photos, the best of which I will share below. Even though I wasn't snapping away I still enjoyed the time there, sitting in the hides enjoying the company of like minded people or walking along the quite pathways and I was really pleased that I had made the effort to get out.

So to the pictures... Rather than split them up over several days I am going to put them all here with a few comments.

Firstly a couple of shots of a Black Tailed Godwit. These are incredibly rare birds in the UK, a Red Listed species with less than 50 breeding pairs being recorded across the UK so to see two here at Martin Mere was a genuine treat.

Next we have this very snooty looking Greylag Goose, these are fairly common and often seem fairly tame. This one, stood on the side of the lake was definitely posturing.

When it comes to superiority this beautiful Whooper Swan really seemed to be bragging about something. These are winter visitors to the UK coming down from Iceland. It is an Amber Listed species and it is illegal to disturb these birds. It is great to watch them swanning around on the lake. Sometimes they are very serene and at other times they get in quite a flap. It was amusing watching them vying for the best spots on the lake and this one, in this series of pictures appears to be trying to convince us that it really was that big, no, Really, That Big!

It is said that when Robins appear loved ones are near and today that definitely felt like it was true, and as I thought about that saying I thought among others about my mother in law who would have been 89 tomorrow.

And finally, perhaps my favourite shots of the day, not birds at all but a series of pictures of a leaf. Yes, that's right, a leaf. Don't switch off yet I promise these are pictures worth your time.  As I was walking along a path beneath the trees on my way out I saw a random leaf apparently hovering in the air. Of course it was not hovering at all, it was suspended by a gossamer thread that from most angels was completely invisible. In the low light and with the backdrop of autumn colours I thought it was fun to capture these final few images. It wasn't until I enlarged the pictures at home that I was able to see the thread by which the leaf was hanging, but not in all the pictures. I love the lighting and the bokeh in these pictures and the way the leaf appears to be floating or in free fall and I thought it was a fun way to end this post. Enjoy...

That's all for today, come back soon, and please feel free to leave a comment or share this post.

Bright Eyes

Well just in case you are wondering, the title of this post does not relate to the famous song written by Mike Batt (of Wombles fame) and performed by Art Garfunkel, and which was used as the theme for the film adaptation of Watership Down. It is about the star of the post, the beautiful Goldeneye. Actually the song Bright Eyes might be better connected to the duck as the lyrics talk about floating on the tide and "bright eyes, burning like fire" which doesn't really apply to rabbits, anyway I digress.

In January a pair of Goldeneye had been spotted on the marine Lake at West Kirby and although I could see them I could not photograph them as they stayed too far out on the lake for me to get a decent shot. At Martin Mere however there are a couple of pairs on one of the ponds and over two visits I managed to get a few shots.

On my most recent visit I was having a chat with one of my sons who expressed his opinion that geese tended to be more interesting and better looking than ducks. I disagreed with this and pointed out a smew which was immediately on hand and also referred him to the Goldeneye which by any assessment is a stunning looking bird.

The male with his bold black and white plumage and vivid yellow eyes is amazing, and even the female which is more understated is still quite beautiful.

They are a diving duck and will disappear beneath the surface in their hunt for food. They have wide tails which you can see in the fourth picture is used to propel them under the water as they dive.

In the final three images I was unsure whether the male was simply taking a drink of water or whether he was displaying to the female (it is spring after all), given that he repeated this action several times I suspect he was showing off.

Looking at those shots I also noticed the ripples in the background which could have easily featured in one of my recent posts, but the focus at the moment is definitely on the wildlife. I have lots more shots of birds from Martin Mere that I will be sharing soon so keep your eyes peeled for my next post.

 

Razorbill

 As well as Puffins on Skomer there is a large population of Razorbills, although as they nest of cliffs and rocky outcrops it is more difficult to get close up photos.

Fortunately these birds were nesting close to the pathway that leads down the cliff to the landing stage and so I was able to get a few shots.

Although they lack the brightly coloured bills of the puffin they are stunning birds. I was really pleased to get a shot of the two birds grooming each other. It seems like such a tender moment.

Living on the Edge

 I don't think I can say much about these shots, other than it was so exciting to be able to get close to these beautiful creatures. They really are such special birds. I am always amazed at how hardy they are given how small they are and the life they lead, 8 months out at sea, 4 months on a rocky island in a burrow underground.

In a few weeks when their eggs hatch these birds will be on a constant round of fishing and feeding the little pufflings, who when they have fledged effectively just hurl themselves off the cliff into the air and they too will very soon head off out into the wild ocean.

A Cute Couple

 

I still have some other great pictures from my trip to share but I couldn't wait to get to the puffin pics and so I have jumped right in with this cute little couple.

There are over 42,000 pairs of puffins on Skomer at this time of year. At the moment many of them are inside their burrows sitting on eggs or out on the water feeding so while I got to see lots of birds there were not as many on display as at other times of the breeding season. In fact this was the only pair I saw together the whole time I was on the island. It was so cool to catch them preening each other and making gentle "growling" sounds before one went back underground to their egg. I figured it was a changing of the guard situation, perhaps one is relaying information about the best fishing spots while the other is giving an update on the egg.

Did you know that the average lifespan for a puffin is 30 years but the oldest recorded age is 41 years although it is thought likely that birds could live longer than that it is just that the bands used to tag the birds don't last as long as the birds do. They reach maturity and start breeding from 5 - 6 years old and remain with their mate for the rest of their lives. Outside of the breeding season they spend about 8 months apart out at sea, they return to the same nesting sites each spring and somehow from among the thousand of other birds they manage to find each other to raise the next generation of their family.

Great White (Egret not Shark)

 I had pretty much given up on my visit to Burton Mere yesterday. I had managed a few shots of geese in flight and I had watched a pair of Marsh Harriers flying off over the reed bed but there was not much else within range to photograph. To cap it all I twisted my ankle and had decided to call it a day.

On the walk back to the car park I stopped briefly at one of the screens where I had seen a Little Grebe and a Great White Egret before. The grebe was on show but with the sun directly in front of me all I could get was a silhouette. Then this egret flew down and started fishing close enough that I could get a few pictures. I watched as it caught several fish and I managed to get several good shots of it with wings extended, fish in its beak or just stood poised regally with one eye watching for its next catch. I actually took over 100 images while I was watching so it was a good end to what had otherwise been a disappointing trip.

The images above are variations on just one shot, the penultimate shot of the day.

Obviously the first one is rotated through 90 degrees and I have converted it to black and white. I have cropped it slightly to centre the image and I have added a slight vignette. I am always on the lookout for heart shapes in nature and when I took the original photo I knew that I would be able to create the above image and I am super happy with the result.

The other pictures are, as I say from the same shot, they have been given slightly different edits but apart from the change to black and white for one and the addition of the vignette there is very little change to the actual raw data.

Head To Head

Although it was fairly sunny as the afternoon progressed, in the shady woodland around Dunham Massey the light was limited and so a very high ISO (4000) was needed to get these shots so they are soft and perhaps lacking in definition. That being said they are still quite nice images of some of the deer that call Dunham Massey home (or whatever the deer equivalent for "home" is).

The larger stags hang out together in small groups while the young bucks also group together and the females and last years foals form small family groups and could be found scattered through the woods.

Although the herd is used to the visitors to the park they are still wild animals and very timid and always on high alert so getting close was quite a challenge. It was quite rewarding though, especially when the two bucks started sparring with each other. It was clear that it was not a serious fight but they were definitely testing each other out as well as getting to grips with their new antlers.