Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Tag: wildlife

  • 21st December 2024 – In and around Paphos, Cyprus

    21st December 2024 – In and around Paphos, Cyprus

    We joined the main group of our natural history tour to Cyprus today but, as they were visiting the Archeological Park in Cyprus (which we did yesterday), we were kind to ourselves and had a gentle stroll around the park focussing on the birds.

    Yesterday we started with a Sardinian warbler and today it was in the same spot to greet us; yet I failed again to get a decent shot. Stonechats were two-a-penny again but we were not complaining as they are lovely little birds and much more accommodating than warblers. We did manage to see a Cetti’s warbler but it soon disappeared into the depths of a bush before I could operate my camera.

    Photography with a bridge camera was not easy as the light wasn’t great today. At my time of life compromise is a constant!

    Stonechat

    At first I thought it must be a stonechat from its position but then realised it was a meadow pipit.

    This kestrel was clearly not a stonechat
    Kestrel obligingly flying past

    Some new plants to us in the park – Fagoniao cretica

    I think these hooded crows are more handsome than our carrion crows

    … and quite attractive in flight

    Coffee on the quay and a chance to add to our list with these great cormorants in the harbour

    In the afternoon we travelled inland and in the Anarita Park our guide Andy had a great spot with a Finsch’s wheatear.

    If you look closely you can see the Finsch’s wheatear on the top of the post. You might realise what a good spot this was as this is a highly cropped photo of a shot with my bridge camera with 600 mm lens.

    The Finsch’s wheatear a little closer

    Another good spot – this time by our botanist guide Jessica – Hyacinthella millingenii 

    We ended our day at the Agia Vagara settling pools which was a little disappointing as the light had more or less failed by then: we saw a few common snipe and a jack snipe, a teal and a pair of coots before we got caught in a heavy shower which had been threatening for most of the day.

    Although the forecast for the week had looked very good before our arrival I think it must have been written by the Cyprus Tourist Board because the reality is now somewhat disappointing. It’s definitely better than the UK though.

    Christmas in Paphos

  • 20th December 2024 – Paphos, Cyprus

    20th December 2024 – Paphos, Cyprus

    Yesterday we explored the headland near to the Archeological site at Paphos and today we more or less covered the same region; but this time inside the confines of the site. It was a wonderful visit and I shall include a few photos of the site and, in particular, the mosaics but there were lots of opportunities to see birds and some interesting plants.

    The first sighting was of a laughing dove (another first for me, except I now realise that I saw one yesterday) and then a Sardinian warbler.

    Laughing dove

    Normally I wouldn’t publish such a poor photo but I was very pleased to see this bird- a male Sardinian warbler

    There were lots of of these Anemone coronarias – some were a much darker purple

    Anemone coronaria

    The other interesting plant which was prevalent was a Leontodon tuberosus.

    Leontodon tuberosus
    The only butterfly photo of the day – a large white

    Red-throated pipit close up

    Not so close up – a common chiffchaff

    Stonechats everywhere

    Crested lark on the ruins

    Just a few of the ruins and mosaics for a flavour of what we saw (I will come back to this when I have more time and band width).

    And a few more birds to conclude:

    Laughing dove
    Linnet

    The locals certainly have stamina here (or perhaps it was a Russian gymnast).

    Whilst I was admiring his skills I missed a flock of golden plovers nearby.
  • 3rd December 2024 – Catcott Lows. Avalon Marshes

    3rd December 2024 – Catcott Lows. Avalon Marshes

    In autumn, Britain & Ireland receive vast numbers of wigeon from the breeding grounds located further north and this wintering population has increased significantly since 1983/84. The Wetland Bird Survey reveals a few widespread locations holding over 30,000 birds in winter.

    The vast majority of them must have been at Catcott today; or that’s how it seemed. Most of them seemed to be asleep when I arrived and not much disturbed them. There was the occasional distinctive whistle from them but not even a marsh harrier sent them up in a flock. Perhaps their tactic for survival was to remain still

    Eurasian wigeon

    Eurasian wigeon

    Eurasian wigeon

    Marsh harrier

    Marsh harrier

    Marsh harrier

    Had the marsh harrier spotted its prey or was this its resting place?

    Marsh harrier

    Marsh harrier

    Great egret and marsh harrier

    The great white egret found plenty to eat

    The only other spot from the hide was a common snipe which was visible for only a few moments before disappearing.

    Common snipe

    Common snipe

    However, the robin was not too secretive

    A deer watched on as the great white egret arrived

    Great white egret landing

    Teal in flight

    Another robin – posing again

    Another great white egret fishing in a ditch as I left

    Meadow pipit avoiding the danger of the barbed wire

  • 19th November 2024 – RSVP Greylake, Somerset

    19th November 2024 – RSVP Greylake, Somerset

    Although there was snow forecast for north of Bristol and reasonable weather forecast for mid Somerset, I was disappointed to set off in rain and sleet. It didn’t rain all day but it was pretty miserable throughout; it was quite testing seeing birds and even more challenging photographing them.

    I headed for Catcott Lows as there is a hide where you can park close by; but when I arrived I found it was closed as they were “managing” the trees on the lane leading to the hide. I continued further south to RSPB Greylake, a small reserve where, again, I wasn’t going to get drenched reaching the hides.

    There were big numbers of lapwing, wigeon and teal. Best of all there were quite a few snipe close to the hide, a water rail and an occasional marsh harrier.

    Wigeon

    Teal

    Lapwing

    Common snipe

    Snipe

    Marsh harrier

    Marsh harrier

    Marsh harrier

    Lapwing

    Common snipe

    Water rail

    Teal and snipe

    Wigeon

    On the way home I saw large numbers of little egrets and cattle egrets in the fields. Also, large numbers of starling were congregating and I thought it was a shame I couldn’t stay later to see the magnificent sight of the murmurations before they roost. But there again, I don’t think the views would have been too wonderful as the bad weather set in again and the light would have been very poor.

    Cattle egret

    I stopped very briefly at Cheddar Reservoir where I saw large numbers of pochard. I certainly didn’t stay long as it was only 2 degrees centigrade and definitely felt much colder with the wind blowing off the water.

    Pochard

    Meadow pipit

    Grey wagtail looking as cold as I felt

  • 10th November 2024 – Eastville Park, Bristol

    10th November 2024 – Eastville Park, Bristol

    There were the first glimpses of the sun for over a week as we started our walk around the park this morning. However, it was only a teaser and it didn’t last long. We are promised better tomorrow.

    No sun maybe, but there were flashes of brightness throughout our walk as we had several sightings of the magnificent kingfisher. Firstly, we saw one flying along the River Frome west to east, and then two together flying from east to west. Then closer to the park there was one perching and posing.

    Kingfisher

    Kingfisher

    Kingfisher

    … and away.

    There was a newcomer to the lake as a northern shoveler seems to have taken up residence.

    Northern shoveler

    Northern shoveler

    However there are always plenty of gulls resident and today we saw lesser black-backed and black-headed.

    Lesser black-backed gull

    Black-headed gull

    There always seem to be plenty of cormorants at the lake. The fish stocks must be pretty low by now.

    Cormorant

    Cormorant drying its wings ready for take off

    The tawny owl was visible ut not so easy to see today

    Other birds were available …

    Carrion crow

    No sunshine but the colours of the magpie were still apparent

  • 1st October 2024 – Avalon Marshes

    1st October 2024 – Avalon Marshes

    It doesn’t seem to have stopped raining in the last fortnight so I wasn’t too surprised to find, when I called in again at Cheddar Reservoir, that the water levels had risen. I’m sure that Bristol Waterworks, as well as the Almighty, had something to do with it. So no waders today. However, I was very pleased to see a northern wheatear which had popped in on its migration south.

    There were other small passerines flitting around to keep it company.

    Meadow pipit

    Goldfinches

    I then carried on south to the Avalon Marshes.

    I only had time for RSPB Ham Wall, but there was enough there to keep me occupied in the rather poor light. There were very few people around: perhaps they have all migrated too!

    An acrobatic shoveler

    Gadwall having a wash

    Great crested grebe about to dive

    Cormorant

    Kestrel

    Kestrel

    Kestrel

    Great crested grebe

    Gadwall

    Grey heron with gadwall as bodyguards

    Great white egret preening

    Great white egret the right way up
  • 31st March 2024 – Aust Warth, Severn Estuary, Gloucestershire

    31st March 2024 – Aust Warth, Severn Estuary, Gloucestershire

    It’s been so wet underfoot that birdwatching has not been my preferred pastime in the last few weeks.

    I’ve even been tempted to start a blog of other activities and had a go at a visit to a local church (see St Mary’s Berkeley, further up the Severn Estuary).

    However, I am probably on dodgy ground here as I know so little about ecclesiastical architecture and just as little about history.

    The only shelduck to come close enough for a photo opportunity

    We hit on a walk along the new flood defences along the Severn Estuary near Aust. We were hoping that the new path would not be too muddy, as turned out to be the case. The tide was very high and so there were no waders around but we did have distant views of lots of shelduck and a few Canada geese.

    Stonechat

    Stonechat

    However, we were rewarded in the early part of our walk with a a fairly close-up view of a northern wheatear and a stonechat; skylarks were with us all along the walk and certainly lifted our spirits.

    Northern wheatear

    Northern wheatear

    Northern wheatear

    Skylark

    Skylark

    Skylark

    Northern wheatear

  • 16th February 2024 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    16th February 2024 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    Another break in the rain and so we make a dash for Slimbridge. There’s not much doubt that these are currently wetlands.

    Northern lapwings and golden plover clearly enjoying the wet conditions

    There were a few rarities there today (spoonbill, dark-bellied Brent goose) but the only rarity (for Slimbridge) which we managed to see amongst the thousands of birds on view were two Whooper swans who have joined the visiting Bewick swans and the native mute swans.

    Bewick swan

    Whooper swan

    Mute swan

    Northern pintail

    A ruff and a shelduck either side of a pair of wigeon

    Black-tailed godwits were easier to pick out when they took to the air

    Lapwings

    Even the chaffinch had to negotiate the wet conditions

    We heard the curlews way before we saw them

    I only saw two oystercatchers

    There were rather a lot more golden plover

    The golden plovers regularly made splendid displays over the wetlands

    Northern shovelers

    Wigeon

    Whooper swan up close

    The Bewick swans are much smaller than the Whoopers (and the mute swans) and have proportionally more black and less yellow on their bills

    Male and female tufted duck

    A few of my favourites from the pens:

    Smew

    Goldeneye

    Common pochard

    Goldeneye displaying

    Slideshow of my photos from this morning’s visit: