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  • 2010
    • June
      • Bohemian Waxwing
        18/06/10


        Heading back from the US today. I'll hopefully add a number of blogs for our trip over the coming weeks (including a review of the Canon 500L IS USM lens that we rented!) but here's one of my favorite pics to wet your appetite.

        -Mark-

    • April
      • Springtime down at Pagham Harbour
        19/04/10
        Hi folks,

        First post in a long while. We moved house at the end of last year and since then seem to have been far too busy to take many pictures. The following were taken at Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve while on a short break. Enjoy...


        Wheater (F)



  • 2009
    • June
      • Skomer Island at Last!
        25/06/09

        Puffin in Flight

        Skomer is a small island off the South West coast of Wales famous for its bird collonies and wildlife. Unspoiled by civilization Skomer is and will remain a protected area of outstanding natural beauty managed by the National Trust.

        Having tried unsuccess

    • March
      • Pagham Harbour - Day 4
        23/03/09
        Final Day - Journey back home...

        As the title says, this was our last day spent at Pagham. We spent most of the morning packing up and getting ready to head out. After we'd gotten checked out, we headed around the harbour one last time before we headed back.

        The wind w

      • Pagham Harbour NR - Day 3
        22/03/09
        Day 3 - WWT Arundel

        This was another of our 2 full days in the pagham area. Mark started off by taking the morning shift around the harbour.

        I'll leave space here for him to fill in his experiences, but will again leave a selection of photos he took this morning.
      • Pagham Harbour NR - Day 2
        21/03/09
        Day 2 - March 21st, 2009

        When we do visit this nature reserve, we always have the kids with us, aged 3 & 4mo at this time. And as anyone who has kids know, looking for wild birds and having kids this young along don't mix, so we tend to take shifts taking a walk without the kids

      • Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve 2009
        20/03/09
        We visit this site practically every year, sometimes more than once. It's our favorite place to visit as it is right next to Haven's Church Farm site, making it an easy walk to get to and an absolute delight to visit. This nature reserve never fails to disappoint, always having something

    • February
      • Green Woodpecker Picture - Taken with 50D in Wyllie Woodlands
        08/02/09


        The above image was taken at distance in awful lighting conditions; the cropability of the Canon 50D's 15 Megapixel images is unbelievable!!

        -Mark-

      • First Outing with our new Canon 50D!!
        07/02/09
        Our first outing with the new Canon 50D today and it did not disappoint. The following 2 images were taken at truly unbelievable distance. The Buzzard (left) was the other side of a large field barely visible with the naked eye and the Sparrowhawk (right) was no more than a black splot against the s

      • Day trip to WWT Slimbridge
        01/02/09
        We're a member of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust here in the UK and spend whatever time we can these days taking trips to either the WWT Wales center in Llanelli or the WWT Slimbridge sites, both being within a reasonable drive from home. However we've also visited the WWT Arundel site

    • January
      • Visit of the Red Kite
        22/01/09
        Today was a fantastic day, made so by the visit of a gorgeous pair of Red Kites to our area of south Wales.We were visited once before earlier this week by a single individual, but this is the first time I've seen a pair. They were circling the area, so obviously not just flying through on the

      • Adult Green Woodpecker Picture
        18/01/09


        Taken in Woodlandls surrounding Wyllie.

        Poor lighting conditions meant this had to be shot at ISO 800 resulting in a slightly noisy image, but a respectable picture all the same.

        Other birds around this morning included sizable flocks of Goldfinch and Siskin, Long T

      • A variety of Thrushes inc. Redwings!
        03/01/09
        The following images were all taken around the Manmoel area where the majority of Thrushes were out in force. The only one that eluded us was the Fieldfare which I've only seen once so far this Winter.

        Redwings - A Winter visitor to the UK and our smallest true Thrush


      • Local Bird Snaps
        03/01/09
        Wren - One of Britain's smallest birds! - With a remarkably loud voice!


        Another shot of the same bird


        Male Bullfinch - Doing well in our local area but struggling elsewhere.


        Robin - Everyone's Favourite!

      • Buzzard Pictures taken near Manmoel
        01/01/09
        A very wintery scene in the Manmoel area today with a penetrating frost and bitterly cold wind.

        Numbers of Chaffinch in the area seem to be increasing but no sign of the Bramblings yet.

        Main sighting today was a very brave Buzzard that stuck around long enough for me to point t

  • 2008
    • November
      • First Sighting of Redwings since last Winter
        23/11/08

        The above bird was part of a small flock of no more than a dozen birds.

        Other sightings around the local woodlands this morning included:

        1x Green Woodpecker, 1x Sparrowhawk, 3+ Buzzards, 6+ Jays, Flock of Goldfinch, Numerous Long Tailed Tits, Few Nuthatch, Raven, Wood Pi

      • Lots of bird activity around Wyllie Woodlands
        16/11/08
        Lots of bird activity in the woodlands surrounding our home this morning with signtings including:

        Both Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redpoll (first local sighting since last Winter), Goldcrest, Jay, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Long Tailed Tits (a whole

      • Kingfisher Photo
        03/11/08
        Maybe a little unfortunate not to get a closer picture of this bird, but him and his partner were showing well this morning. :)

        Definately an improvement on my previous pictures. Enjoy...


      • River Walk, Nr. Pengham
        01/11/08
        Same area as yesterday. Birds of note included:

        1x Kingfisher (same spot and time as yesterday)
        2x Green Woodpecker
        Few Jays
        Half a dozen or so Bullfinch
        Long Tailed Tits
        1x Pied Wagtail
        2x Grey Wagtail

    • October
      • River Walk, Nr. Pengham
        31/10/08
        Took my son for a walk along the river this morning. Bird watching with a toddler is not normally recommended, but I took the camera anyway.

        Sightings included: 1x Kingfisher, 1x Green Woodpecker, 6+ Jays, 1 Bullfinch (M), Flock of Long Tailed Tits, 2x Heron, 3x Buzzard, Large flock of cr

      • Roath Park, Cardiff
        26/10/08
        "A 30 acre lake is formed in the park by the damming of the Nant Fawr stream. It is a popular facility for fishing and rowing. Other elements of the park include superb floral displays, the famous conservatory and high quality recreational areas."

        A very pleasant stroll around t

      • New Sighting - Avocets at Goldcliff Lagoons
        12/10/08


        I gave up my lie in this morning to go and explore the Goldcliff region to see if there was anything interesting around. The area certainly didn't disappoint with easily 40+ species to be seen including a group of ~15 Acocets - a new sighting for me! :)



        I coul

      • River Walk Nr. Ystrad Mynach
        11/10/08
        A relaxing few hours spent along the river produced the following (in no particular order):


        Although none of the pictures taken on this walk will win any awards, I'm particularly pleased with the Kingfisher as it's the first time I've ever managed to get a shot of thi

    • September
      • Newton Beach, Porthcawl - Sunday 21st of September 2008
        23/09/08
        Beautiful Beach + ideal setting for Waders = A Perfect world



        Sunday was the 2nd day in a glorious weekend, so we naturally gravitated to the outdoors for the day. As we had the 2 yr old with us, we thought we'd take him to the beach. And as we also would enjoy a bit of

      • Goldcliff Lagoons, Newport - Saturday 20th September, 2008
        21/09/08
        Lots of Waders!


        It's probably not easy to see from this image, but there were many hundreds of birds on Lagoon 3 shown in the picture above.

        It was almost impossible to get any decent pictures with the sun being where it was, or even to identify many of the waders p

      • Visit to Goldcliff Lagoons, Newport
        14/09/08
        Since we had such glorious weather all weekend long, we took full advantage of the weather on Sunday. We headed off to a new site that we hadn't gotten to explore yet, Goldcliff Lagoons - near Newport. We'd read all sorts of interesting sightings at this location on the Gwent Ornithologi

      • Long Weekend to The Lizard in Cornwall
        10/09/08
        We've just gotten back from a Friday-Monday break to "The Lizard" in Cornwall. We managed to dodge all the rotten weather and have a rather sunny and pleasant weekend overall. I'm going to divide the different days into catagories here, starting with the 5th of September and en

    • August
      • Day Trip to Rest Bay Common & Newton Beach (Porthcawl)
        22/08/08
        Well we FINALLY had a day when it wasn't raining and decided to make the most of it by taking a trip to the Porthcawl area.

        Our first stop was at Rest Bay Common, a lovely spot for a walk with great sea views and a good number of birds.

        Keep your eyes open for Stonechats,