Some Images from Frozen Norfolk - February 2012

An early morning drive up to Norfolk for a winter weekend was spectacular; a freezing minus 12 all the way and a beautiful scenery of spectacular frost, snow and mist.
We arrived at Titchwell to find it in full sun; while it was still well below freezing, the sun was warm and conditions were perfect.

A Spotted Redshank was feeding close in on one of the tidal pools:

A reflective shot in the still blue water:

Down at the beach their were numerous waders, including some nice Grey Plover:

Dunlin were as numerous as ever:

Knot:

Sanderling:

On Sunday at Kelling, the Coues' Arctic Redpoll was easy to locate, coming to the feeders on a regular basis:

Fieldfare at Holme Dunes:

A wintery scene at Welney:

Spanish Sparrow at the Hampshire Festival of Birds

With several rare birds in Hampshire, it seemed like a good destination for a day out.  Saturday started early with a drive down to the south coast in the dark to be there for dawn.  Despite a freezing morning, the wait wasn't a long one as the Spanish Sparrow at Calshot flew straight into the predicted bush just after dawn, before allowing some better views as it crossed the road before flying back into the houses.

After a much needed warming drink thanks to the terrific locals in the village centre, the Sparrow performed again, not at all bothered by the crowds only metres away in the centre car park.
I then walked around the village and out onto the marshes, in search of a Black Redstart at the power station.  Having found it straight away, a beautiful dark plumaged individual, it dissapeared again and couldnt be relocated.

A pair of Stonechat were also present:

As with most others in the area, the next stop was into the New Forest to see the Dark-eyed Junco that had been present for most of January.  The bird was showing straight away in a clearing, it never came particularly close:

A number of Crossbill were also in the area:

The only dissapointment of the day was a failure to find the Siberian Chiffchaff at a location near Gosport.  However, while so near it would have been rude not to pay a visit to Gossi, or Waldo as he is sometimes known - the long staying Ring-billed Gull, the North American bird that has frequented Walpole Park in Gosport for at least the last five winters.
I managed to locate him straight away, on the far bank.  However, some people arrived to feed the Swans, at which point all the gulls, including Gossi, decsended for a feeding frenzy.

The gulls were particularly friendly, this Black-headed content sitting on top of a woman's head while she fed the others:

A Little Egret rounded the day off nicely, posing by the boating lake and occaisionally plunging in to pull out a minnow:

Winning Images in the WWT Photography Competition

I am delighted to find two of my shots have recently won the in the Autumn leg of the WWT photography Competition 2011-12, for the London Centre.

The following shot of  a Black-headed gull won in the Wetland Wildlife category.  I was particularly pleased with this as it was a shot I had been trying to get for some time.

The gull shot also featured in The Daily Telegraph in late December, and The Mail Online:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079892/Swooping-conquer-Dramatic-shot-gull-diving-lake-running-wildlife-photo-competition.html

The following shot of a Ring-necked Parakeet won the People & Wildlife category:

Thanks very much to WWT for selecting these shots (and for sending me a copy of the BH Gull image after my recent laptop and tea collision disaster)!

Punk Is Dead - Steve Ignorant, Crass Songs - The Last Supper, For the Last Time - Shepherd's Bush Empire November 19th

After an accident involving a collision between my laptop and a cup of tea, this blog has taken an unscheduled break.  A new hard drive later, it's back with a few shots of a recent gig by the great Steve Ignorant.

Steve has been playing his Crass songs since getting a band together in 2007. After taking it around the world, this was the final time Steve was to play Crass songs with the band.

So to the Shepherd's Bush Empire.  An undoubtedly emotional Steve doing these songs for the last time, but this wasn't evident as the band launched into some classic numbers starting with Do They Owe Us A Living?

A superb set featured all the classic Crass songs.  Carol Hodges on vocals was terrific. Former Crass band members Penny Rimbaud and Eve Libertine joined in.

Steve now lives in Norfolk with his partner Jona.  He volunteers for the Sea Palling Search & Rescue team - the crew were present and did a great job of emptying the pockets of some old punks.  They even made it onto the stage!

More songs, more memories: Punk Is Dead, Banned From the Roxy, So What, Bloody Revolutions and the little kids on for the opening of Big A Little A, and what a crowd!

A great band and a great evening.

Where are the Steve Ignorants of today?

More Steve Ignorant information at http://steveignorant.co.uk/

Peregrine Pair

Last weekend in Barnes I was lucky to encounter a pair of Peregrines taking flight across the main lake.  Although I see these on a regular basis this was the best view I have experienced of these superb falcons. I suspect they had just fed as their flight was very slow; there was no menacing intent to their presence, which all the other birds seemed to sense.  Only the Lapwings took to the air while the ducks and gulls were only slightly perturbed by their appearance.

The pair briefly settled on one of the islands, showing the size difference between male (left) and female:

One of the Lapwings which took flight:

Black-headed Gulls feeding:

Spurn Point, Where Even the Lighthouse Is Ringed

I had hoped to squeeze in a visit to Spurn Point this year, and just managed to get there for the last weekend in October.

I hadn't been to Spurn for a long time, and it has hardly changed at all.  The old lighthouse is still a terrific building:

I headed down to the point early in the day.  It was fairly quiet, with the exception of a good number of Fieldfare heading south.  Most continued on down the point and out over the Humber estuary towards Lincolnshire. 

A pair of Sparrowhawks were present at the Point, clearly taking advantage of some weary migrants such as this female Blackbird which would have made an easy catch:

As with a lot of birds present, the Sparrowhawks were ringed too!:

Back up at Kilnsea a Pallas's Warbler couldn't be located, but whilst looking in the Churchyard I came across a Firecrest.  It was seen on and off throughout the day.  One of the most difficult birds to photograph, these speedy things never stop moving:

Later in the day it was refound along the road, when it suddenly dropped down behind the hedge at the Villa.  It had dropped straight into a mist net and was soon pulled out for ringing:

The smallest British bird, its tiny size was particularly evident in the hand:

A nice Lesser Redpoll also found its way into the nets:

Thanks to the ringers for showing the birds before release.