2011 News & Reports

It was a very evocative morning standing on the site of the WWI aerodrome at Stow Maries, Essex.

Being there in the mist, amid buildings in which those servicemen worked and lived.
Some of the buildings have cracked walls, broken windows & missing doors.

Other of those buildings have been restored with great care & skill by the dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers who are gradually bringing the site back to life as a fitting memorial for those who gave everything.

Another birding trip with Swallow Birding.
This was an extended weekend on the island of Oland, Sweden. The island is located to the south east of the country and so is excellently placed for birds to rest and re-fuel when migrating through the Baltic area.

A trip report can be found here
Sweden Oland Autumn Migration 2011

The image gallery is here Oland, Sweden

Once more, I made a return to North Norfolk.
This time in September with the hope of a finding a few rarities during my stay.

Unfortunately, with the winds coming from the west throughout my stay, there were no such "treats" to be found, so I made the most of my time there enjoying watching both the migrating and the resident species.

Whilst hoping that a rarity or two still might turn up if the winds changed, this visit I also decided to spend some time in trying for more Barn Owl images and also some of the Swallows.

Barn Owl numbers seemed to be quite good.
After a rough winter, it may well be that the last breeding season was a decent one, successfully providing a number of thriving young which are starting to forage for themselves.

The Swallows were as entertaining as ever with their fantastic flying abilities to twist and turn rapidly to catch flies and other insects in the sky.
One aspect of the Swallows that particularly surprised me and that was that the adults were still feeding their young. After chatting with some local birders it appears that the conditions had been good enough for some Swallow pairs to raise a third brood.

A selection of my images can be found here North Norfolk (September 2011)

I wonder what I'll see when I return for my October trip ....

At last I am catching up with the sorting out of images taken earlier on in the year.
It’s my own fault I guess, for getting out and about so much in the first few months of 2011 and taking so many photographs.

Once again the display at Flying Legends was excellent with some magnificent aircraft on display.
Grey skies once again meant that it wasn’t ideal conditions for photography but just seeing these wonderful aircraft hurtling across the skies in front of you and listening to the different sounds of the various makes of engine, made for great entertainment.

Unfortunately there were a couple of incidents that were to mar the day.
The Fokker Dridecker came to a stop on its nose on the Sunday after touching a bit of a bump on the grass runway and seeing the wind topple the aircraft over.
The same day, during the finishing sequence my favourite Mustang was in a midair collision with a Skyraider. I’m sorry to say that the Mustang crashed and there must be a huge question mark as to whether sufficient of the aircraft is salvageable to make a rebuild worthwhile.
The pilot of the Skyraider did a super job of landing the plane despite missing 4’ of his wing”.
I’m pleased to say that in all cases, the pilots avoided serious injury.

In early June, I went on a birding trip with Swallow Birding.

It was a great tour, although the wet weather necessitated a number of changes to the planned itinerary.

On the Saturday, despite the occasionally drizzle that was still falling, we all went down to the harbour and boarded the boat ahead of our day on Staple and Inner Farne Islands.
We were literally about to cast off when the message came through that the National Trust Wardens had closed Inner Farne to ensure the well-being of the seabirds, in particular to protect the chicks from the chill and damp.
So arrangements were made to make the trip to the islands the next day after which we went to spend an enjoyable, if damp, day visiting places inland such as Wooler Valley.

After re-arranging the Farnes boat trip it meant that we ended up missing out on a second planned boat trip which was to see the Roseate Terns of Cocquet Island.

So, how was Inner Farne? Puffin heaven :-)

Northumberland including the Farnes Islands

Well, eventually I have managed to process and add the remaining images from my trip to Mull.

Isle of Mull images (part 2)

As you've been looking through the images on this website have you come across one that is a particular favourite?

If you have please drop me a message through using the contact page.
I will look forward to hearing from you.

Wow!

What a superb place Isle of Mull turned out to be.
I had been concerned that all the reports I had heard meant that my expectations might be too high - but those reports turned out to be right.

For May, the weather was often pretty bad with both very strong winds and plenty of rain that were sufficient for trees to be uprooted and land-slips to occur.
A planned boat trip to photograph the White-tailed Eagle had to be re-arranged a number of times. We did get out eventually, but even then the decision to sail had, apparently, been pretty border line.
I managed to get soaked through more than once but even that didn't spoil this trip.

The sun shone for us too and in doing so treated us to some spectacular landscapes and wonderful sights provided by the wildlife around us.
There are many moments that have become special memories.
To give you an idea, here are just a few

- The first day and a life tick - a Sabine's Gull
- Then, at the same time, photographing the first formally recorded Red-necked Phalarope for the island.
- The sight of Gannets plunge diving just tens of yards off shore at Calgary Bay,
- At Ardalanish, lying on wet sand whilst photographing beautifully summer plumaged Dunlin and Sanderling that were feeding on that beach. These birds were unable to progress north-wards due to the exceptionally strong wind coming from that quarter.
- Having the chance to see otters cavorting in the water or feeding on beaches just yards from where I was.
- Going out on the boat to get close to “the Flying Barn Door” that is the White-tailed Eagle as it fished.
- A day spent in the rain on Lunga with the Puffins.

Conveying in words just how wonderful this trip was isn’t easy.
Suffice it to say I am already seeing if I can arrange a return visit next year.

The first selection of images can be found here Isle of Mull images (part 1)


This trip was made with EBirders, run by Marcus Conway.
It was superbly run, with great food and wonderful fun despite all the bad weather (perhaps even because of it in a way).
Thanks to Marcus who led the trip and managed to find some great subjects irrespective of the conditions, Gareth who was a super chef and to Helen, Brian and Phil, my fellow travellers, for all being such great company.

Well, April, May and June were very busy months for me - only 5 nights were spent at home in May!!

With all that time away I have had some great opportunities for wildlife watching and photography. Unfortunately with some of my chosen targets there was rather more waiting rather than watching or photographing - but that is how it goes.

I have rather a lot of images to sort through, selecting the best to process and post so I've decided to do these in tranches with the aim of releasing some new images at relevant images.


Starting off, I've added two portfolios.
A May week in Norfolk
A long weekend in Devon.

To come ...

More from
Norfolk
The Isle of Mull
The Farne Islands

and from my other main interest, images from Europe's greatest Warbirds airshow - Flying Legends at Duxford.


I hope that you will enjoy having a look through the site today and don't forget to pop back in a few days to see the latest additions.

Having been travelling so much in recent months, I had the chance to think about how the site appeared.

As a result, I have made some changes, none major, but I think the flow through the galleries is now easier and the addition of a slide show option, will reduce the need for clicking through.

Please take a moment to let me know if you like the changes (or not) using the contact page,

In mid June I spent an long weekend in sunny Devon.
This was another birding trip with Swallow Birding.


Not that it was that sunny for much of the time :-(

Regrettably, there was rather a lot of rain about. It was there to greet us when we arrived, followed us about during our stay and then escorted us home.
Yes, there was some lovely sunshine to enjoy but a bit more would have been nice.

Although really a birding weekend, there were a number of opportunities to get some photographs.
Our main target was to see the Cirl Bunting and we did succeed in finding some rather smart males, sometimes singing and at other times joining the females in collecting bugs and grasshoppers to feed their brood.
With these birds being so rare they are protected in law when nesting so it wasn't possible to get that close, but they were very special to watch through binoculars.

The middle of May saw me making the last of three spring time visits to the birding hot spot of North Norfolk.

As on my earlier trips, the weather was somewhat disappointing although there were some sunny periods which were gratefully enjoyed.

One of the rarities that appeared at this time was a male Great Snipe at Cley. Many keen birders will be aware of this. Luckily for me, I did manage to catch a distant glimpse of this European bird as it finished displaying and then took flight. The markings were clearly visible allowing absolute certainty of identification. Too far away for any worthwhile photographs this was a lifer for me!

I had a second lifer that trip with a Gull-billed Tern being seen on one of the islands in the fresh-marsh at Titchwell. Managed to get a few record shots from the walkway.
Must find a way to encourage these rarer birds to come closer to the camera.

Most of the other expected species were present and some like the Garganey and Marsh Harriers were once again close enough to let me get some decent shots.

I've put the images in the portfolio North Norfolk

Returned a little while ago from a super few days exploring some areas of the Bialowieza Forest & Biebrza Marshes in Poland.
What a super experience!

It is said by some that the countryside there is like that of England between the two World Wars. All I can say is that though somewhat lacking in modern refinements and facilities, the people were really welcoming, the countryside inspiring and the wildlife stunning.

Trip report Poland - The Forest and the Marsh

A selection of images can be found here Poland - The Forest and the Marsh

Well with all my various travels it has taken a little time but here is my trip report from North Norfolk.

Norfolk North Coast in April

Once I have sorted out some site logistics, I will be posting a formal gallery with additional images.

A wonderful few days in Spain.

A brief trip report 2011 - Spanish Pyrenees in April

Following on the recent arrival of the Great Grey Shrike at Stow Maries Airfield, a Woodchat Shrike was located in nearby Rettendon a last few days later.
I managed to obtain a few photographs from distance, nothing special but reasonable records. On returning a couple of days later in the hope of capturing better images I was greeted with the news that the shrike had just been taken by a Sparrowhawk!

Have enjoyed a long weekend down in the South West with Swallow Birding

We found over one hundred species including some good rarities.
The highlights including ...
- Ring-necked Duck (male) - distant and in low light so pix not brilliant.
- Siberian Chiffchaff (3 birds, possibly 4) - very active and even singing.
- Whooper Swan - superb views, classic photos.
- Hoopoe - distant and mobile.
- Pied Flycatcher - (3 males) - early arrivals, lovely to see and photograph.
- Hen Harrier - (Male bird) flew over quite high against grey sky.
- Greenland White-fronted Goose - again quite distant but facial markings and size
comparison against Canada Geese made absolutely certain ID.
- Bittern - Seen fluffing out neck feathers, bending neck right back with beak wide
open and also making a couple of "on the spot" leaps.
No calls or booming though. Still, super stuff.

The first of five weeks I'm intending to spend photographing the wildlife on the North Norfolk Coastal area.

Trip Report North Norfolk March 2011

Trip Gallery North Norfolk March 2011

Spent the afternoon strolling around the Stow Maries Airfield in the hope of seeing the Great Grey Shrike.

It looks like this will be a pretty special place in due time.
Firstly for the work being done to create wildlife habitat and secondly, restoring the WW1 Airfield.

Pleased to have managed to get some photos, but this was one elusive character this afternoon.

Great Grey Shrike

Thank you to those of you who have written to ask if I am willing to sell images.
The answer is yes.

The next few months are some of the busiest with the arrival of the migrants over spring and early summer so it will be a while before this option appears.

However in the meantime, if there is a particular image you'd like to have the opportunity to buy, please drop me a line.
I will also use this feedback when determining the images to include in the gallery.