Nature Reserve

Light before the rain towards Christchurch Priory

This afternoon I took a walk around Stanpit Marshes Nature reserve, with the weather starting out sunny, read the recent nature sighting board – and there apparently were Scandinavian Rock pipets sighted there recently.  I of course then set out to see one! This is my contender! Whether it is or not I am not sure – there is some interesting reading about the Scandinavian Rock pipets on the Christchurch

Sparrow in the Greenery

Over the past weekend I went on a couple of walks over two nature reserves, Blashford lakes ( windy and somewhat dull weather )  and Stour Valley Way – much nicer. At Blashford I did manage to get this shot of a Long-tail tit though. Whereas the Stour Valley yielded more.  

Get away from her!

Last Sunday I visited Testwood Lakes Wildlife Reserve.  The day was overcast and grey – and I’ve never seen much there before – so what could I find this time out. Well not a lot until I visited the first of the two bird hides there – where a Green Woodpecker was outside on the grass. There were some distant ducks outside this hide too – but even with my

Robin feeling the cold

Having some time off over the festive period, I visited my local reserves of  Blashford Lakes Nature & Hengistbury Head, a few times to try out the Canon 5d MkIV with both stills and its 4k video capability.  It also allowed me more time to play with my recent lens addition with it – a Canon 100-400 IS L lens. Whilst out I at Hegistbury Head, I was able to

Adult and Juvenile Little Grebes

Here is a short video of an adult and juvenile Little Grebes, taken at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve today.    

Duck!...No Seagull!

Took a Good Friday visit to Blashford Lakes, on a bright spring afternoon.  As spring starts, so does the battle for the best breeding sites.  This pair of black-headed gulls were laying claim to this floating raft on Ivy Lake, near the front of a hide.  They squawked at any attempted trespassers and flew often in circles round it.  Making a good platform to photograph this common seagull. This first

Blue Tit (1)

Over the past weekend, the woodland hide at Blashford Lakes, has been free at times to photograph some of the wild birds out of the windows.  There have been a lot of Siskin there this year, and the selection of birds photographs taken over the weekend starts with a selection of shots of them. Other winter visitors included a Lesser Redpole and Reed Bunting. More all round visitors to the

Treecreeper

I was fortunate to see a couple of Treecreepers today at Blashford Lakes, and managed to get this one in the frame, before a barking dog scared it off. In the rush I had not quite dialed in enough exposure compensation, so had to lift the bird in Adobe Camera raw.  I am fairly pleased with the rescue of the shots. This first shot I have rotated into portrait format.

Long-tailed Tit

Today’s images all come from the Woodland Hide at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve.  And fittingly they are all of Woodland Birds.  It was nice to see a flock of Long-tailed Tits feeding on the suet feeder.  Which even in dull overcast weather gave an opportunity to photograph them as they approached the feeder. Here are the best three images that I got today of them. Later on after walking around

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

Finally a bright Saturday in 2016!  After many grey days at the weekend it was a pleasure to walk around Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve today, and chase some of the elusive wild birds that are there.  Well not literally chase, but try and get them in the frame of the lens, not easy, as the birds seem to have a sixth sense that means, once you point the lens their