Wednesday 27 March 2013

Jon Taverner's Stump

Jon Taverner is a local bird photographer who lives within walking distance of Pennington Flash, and so that is where you will usually find him, especially on sunny days.  He has been seeding a particular tree stump at Penny which is very good for photos of Willow Tits, Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits - consequently I now call this place 'John Taverner's Stump'.

As you can see from some of these photographs, the light can be very good here and the habitat and backgrounds are perfect for some 'classic' shots.  It's possible to hide the seed so that it can't be seen on the photographs and there are some very interesting nooks and crannies for the birds to investigate.

Here's a few examples of the sort of shots you can get here:

Willow Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Blue Tit

Coal Tit
In addition to the tree stump, Jon also feeds the waterfowl in the nearby channel, and recently it has been possible to get some really good shots of a pair of male and female Goosander, which will often come very close to the bank for bread.  Some photos will follow soon.

My BirdGuides Gallery

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Grebe Dance

Here's some video footage of two Great Crested Grebes doing their full courtship ritual at Pennington Flash yesterday:


This is the first time I've seen the full dance from start to finish. Sorry it's a little distant and the quality has been reduced due to uploading on YouTube.

Thursday 14 March 2013

Rindle Road Feeding Station

Female Reed Bunting 
Female Reed Bunting 
Yellowhammer
Greenfinch - Bird on a Wire
Great Tit testing a recycled bottle feeder

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington

Had a great day out at Moore Nature Reserve in Warrington today.  Met some nice birders and saw some great birds.  The highlights were:
  • Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (female) - lifer
  • Kingfisher
  • Redhead Smew
  • 2 Great Crested Grebes
  • Seven Jays
I'll write a fuller report later, but for now some 'moore' record shots of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are over on my Flickr site - the link is on the right of this page.  I'll be adding the Kingfisher, Smew and Grebes later.

Female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Great Crested Grebes
At last! A decent Kingfisher shot