Willow Warbler

Friday 22nd April

Well the sunshine is out for a change on a bank holiday weekend. All day was spent sitting up cannock chase trying to photograph fox cubs with Ken. To keep us from going crazy whilst sitting in the heat waiting for 7 hours this little fellow was happy to have his picture taken.

(A special post will be completed later this spring showing the local foxes and hopefully some cubs)

Fledged Dippers

Saturday 16th April

10.30 am and I am lying in bed with a cold, got up to get a warm drink and checked my phone where I saw several missed calls and a text from Ken and Pete. After a quick call to Ken he said that two young were showing and getting ready to fledge.

11.00 am and I am in the car heading down the motorway again. 50 mins later and I arrive looking and feeling like crap but this will be another first for me.

The light was still tricky but with the 400mm and 1.4x converter I managed to get a few shots. A tawny owl was also flying around but I never managed to grap shot.

12.30 am and it is all too much for me, feeling even worse it was time to get back home to my bed.

Dippers

Another first for me so I was happy to get some shots. The light was not good at all and at times I was struggling to even get 1/100 sec. They were a pleasure to watch and hopefully I will return again in the near future.

9th April

As the weather was great for a change. As we missed out on the Black necked Grebe's the weekend before we decided to head back up to Cheshire first thing Sat morning.

When we got there the Grebes were showing well but the sun was directly in our faces, typical no sun the week before and now too much. We got set up and after a while they started to venture closer.

Trying to dodge the sun and continuously changing exposure setting it finally paid off when one pair started to perform.

Afternoon was now here so time for the M6 South journey again back to my local patch Cannock Chase. We came across this little Wren which was more than happy to perform for us.

2nd April - Dartford Warbler & Wheatear

Another Friday night spent on the net looking for places to go on the Saturday. A late night text from our good friend Pete and the plans were in order.

Met up with Ken and was shortly joined by Ian on the M6 heading north. The weather was looking bad and as we drove further north it started to rain heavy. The first location was reached were we could see a large pool and a very small looking Pete in the mist of rain :)

I had a quick walk down to the pool but all the wildlife soon moved on and headed straight to were Pete was standing, wrong choose of aftershave I was told.

Parking was a problem so we decided to head off to the Dee Estuary area. A brief walk down the hill and we came across 3 Wheatears nicely perhed on the wall with more in the field. Back to the cars to get the camera gear and when we returned guess what? No wheatears :(

We hung around for a while and eventually it paid off.

Back to the cars and off we go to see the recent sighting of a Dartford Warbler. We were told it had been showing well and very close so we headed up the hill.

It wasn't long before we got the first sighting and to say it had been showing well so a under statement. At times is was too close to focus on. I have always wanted to see the Dartford and never ever thought I would get the chance to photograph it like this.

This was a day I will not forget for a long time.