First Snipe of the year.

Here's my first Snipe shot of 2014, and those of you that follow my
little piece of cyber space will know that I have a real soft spot for
this species. Snipe are such cracking birds and I enjoy photographing
them more than any other species of bird. There will be more shots to
follow soon I hope.

Thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Better late than never!!!

Well, it's been over 6 months since my last post; sorry about that, but
these days I don't have that much time for photography. Between work
and looking after my elderly father, days out with the camera have been
few and far between. But I have 2 weeks off work in the middle of May
so I plan to get out then. Here are some shots I have dug out of the hard
drives just to get the blog ticking over again.

Thanks for dropping by and there should be more images to follow soon.

Andy...

More Red Grouse

The other day I made the trip up to the Grouse site, and considering we
are in the midst of the shooting season the grouse were quite showy.
I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise which gave a gorgeous orange glow
on the surrounding vegetation ( see shot No.5 ) but this only lasted for a
couple of minutes before the cloud rolled in. I'm heading back up in the
morning so here's hoping for some more good light and close views.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Red Grouse

Well, I managed to get out on Saturday morning and decided to visit the
Common Snipe site. Knowing what this place is like at this time of year
I wasn't holding my breath, and just as I thought it was very quiet indeed
with nothing much showing at all. The Snipe were noticeably absent as I
didn't see a single one, also most of the other waders have gone and to be
quite honest there wasn't very much of anything else. The one species there
was a lot of were the juvenile Meadow Pipits, now at this stage in their short
lives they are a real pain in the backside for the photographer, they fly around
in large flocks, making lots of noise and are way beyond skittish, if you do
happen to find something to photograph along come a flock of these little sods
and scare everything away. I did manage a few shots of Red Grouse, but that
was all unfortunately.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Golden Plover

Some Golden Plover from earlier in the year, I've not been doing much
photography wise, so I'm really looking forward to this weekend, not
quite sure where I'm going to go but I'm definitely getting out with the camera.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...  

Common Sandpiper

Yesterday morning I headed Up North once again, but this time I was looking
for a different species and not my beloved Common Snipe. Though the Snipe
were present I had Common Sandpiper on my mind and was really hoping to bag
a few shots of this very flighty species. After a 4 hour wait ( just about completed
Angry Birds ) the Common Sandpipers landed on my favourite dry stone wall and
gave some really close views, with the male was constantly calling to his mate. If I'm
not mistaken, I have shots of Common Snipe on this part of the wall, just wish it was
a little closer to home ;-)

Things are starting to slow down up on the  high moorland, and as High Summer fast
approaches it won't be to long before all the Springtime visitors all depart, thus making
shots more difficult to come by, so I was very pleased to capture these images.

Wherever possible I'm trying to shoot full frame and the benefits are plain to see, the
sheer amount of detail captured in the 7D RAW file is amazing. When you look at these
images in LR4 you can see every feather filament and every strand of the Lichen.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Skylark

Catching up on a little processing, whilst looking for Common Snipe I found
one of the numerous Skylarks that frequent this habitat. This individual was very
confiding and allowed some very close views, which was nice :-)

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Pheasant Display

I photographed this displaying Pheasant on the same day as I photographed
that superb Woodcock, it was also on the same wall about 50ft further up.

I love photographing Pheasants, they are such good value, with that very
showy plumage and they put on a superb display at this time of year.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Common Snipe

After dragging myself out of bed at 2am this morning, I headed up to
the Snipe site to see what was about. I arrived at about 4am and the
place was alive with calling birds, that gorgeous sound that Curlews
make filled the air and I spent a good thirty minutes just listening to
it. After a short drive up one of the tracks I found a superb Pheasant
that was in full display mode ( shots to follow in the next blog ) and he
put on a fantastic show. As the sun began to rise I got into position and
waited for the Snipe show to begin; and boy did it begin. For the first
time a female of the species turned up, and the two males decided to put
on a display fest in an attempt to impress the rather dainty female.

So here are a few shots from this mornings session, all are just about
Full Frame give or take a couple of pixels for straightening.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Woodcock

This morning I made the long drive up to the Snipe site, this place is
absolutely buzzing at the minute, with all species present and all are
posing very nicely making for some superb views.

After filling 20GB worth of cards with Common Snipe shots I decided
to head back down the valley and try for the numerous Redshank that
litter the dry stone walls. As I drove along one of the tracks I noticed
what looked like a very large Snipe, but this bird was much bigger than
a Common Snipe and it turned out to be a Woodcock. Never in my
wildest dreams did I ever think I would see this species on high heather
moorland, as the Woodcock is a woodland bird and mainly nocturnal and
spends most of the day in dense undergrowth, so to find one sat on a
dry stone wall was amazing. Unfortunately he wasn't very well and had an
injured leg, which could be the reason for him being out in the open. I'm
hoping he makes a swift recovery as he is such a stonking bird.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...

Whitethroat

Yesterday morning I headed Up North to check out a site that I found
last year, now this site was very good for Whinchat, but this year some very
smart Whitethroats have moved in and pushed the Whinchats further up
the valley and now have the run of the place. These are my first shots from the
new Whitethroat site and I'm quite pleased with them, especially shots No.1 and
No.3.

Until next time, thanks for dropping by.

Andy...