Fancystoats

I'm a keen amateur naturalist and photographer living in Somerset, England, UK. I've started this blog to showcase the photos taken near where I live and also from when I travel.

I've been running a Picasa gallery for several years and you can see some 2500 photos by clicking on the Picasa Web Albums page.

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Archive
2012 (12)
2011 (110)
2010 (45)
Obox Signature Series

Ring-necked Ducks

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I caught up with the two drake ring-necked ducks that have been dotting around the Dorset/Somerset border during this winter. They were on one of the flooded gravel pits at South Chard. Getting some shots involved judicious trespass but it was worth it. The birds were quite shy but I managed this shot of the two of them with a drake tufted duck.

While the two species are superficially similar, the ring necked ducks are smaller, have differently-patterned bills, a peaked crown and a shorter tail. They are also smaller overall and have a grey flank (which blends into white anteriorally) and no tuft on the head.

Cheddar Reservoir

This is not my favourite place. Cold, windy and featureless, it's one of the less aesthetically pleasing places of Somerset. However, the prospect of a semi-tame Great Northern Diver made it worth a visit. It was not to be seen so we had to make do with this drake Red-creasted Pochard and a pair of Shovelers.

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Dipper

I have been trying to track down a Dipper for some time. We've tried the Dorset coast and around Chard with no luck. However, the car park at Wookey Hole caves is a reliable site and we found one late this morning. It was quite confiding but I only managed a few shots before it flew off not to be seen again.

The fourth photo shows the semi-opaque nictitating membrane (otherwise known as the third eyelid) crossing the bird's eye. The exact function in the Dipper is unknown but it is thought to assist in cleaning the surface of the cornea and may aid underwater vision (Ormerod and Tyler, 1994)

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Peregrine Falcons

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Immediately after the meadow pipits, my attention was drawn to an unfamiliar but plaintive call. It turned out to be two peregrines jousting in mid air and stooping as if for practice. They didn't hang about long and I managed just a few shots before they disappeared.

Meadow Pipits

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You can tell when its a slow birding day when I start taking pictures of starlings, mute swans and blue tits. Today was turning out that way as the only observations of note on West Moor by 1030 this morning were 6 roe deer and about 60 lapwing. So when three meadow pipits flew into the wind past me and close enough to have few shots, I had a go. Even at around 20 metres the shots aren't bad..... A bit closer would have been better.

Its interesting how the birds seem to spend as much time in the air with their wings folded tight against the body as they do flapping.

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Bullfinches

Bullfinches are rather scarce in this part of Somerset but I believe numbers have increased over the last few years. I regularly hear their calls from the field behind my house.

Despite starting winter feeding some weeks ago, I have failed to attract them into the garden. However, they seem to like the native hedge that I planted around five years ago and particularly the guelder rose which this year has a fine crop of red berries.


I set the camera up in the bathroom and over a period of about 3 hours I took almost 300 photos and the best are shown below. The rest of the set can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/fancystoats/Bullfinches

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Spotted Sandpiper

I finally caught up with the Spotted Sandpiper in Lyme Regis. It was quite distant in poor light and this is the best of several shots. The main differences from Common Sandpiper can be seen: shorter tail, supercilium that extend behind the eye, the pale yellowish legs and the lack of patterned tertials. Other than that, the non-breeding birds of both species look very similar as the second picture of this series shows - a juvenile Common Sandpiper photographed at Chard Reservoir in August 2010.

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For comparison, a summer plumaged Spotted Sandpiper that I photographed in August 2009 in Costa Rica is shown below.
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Rock Pipits

After seeing the two drake Ring-necked Ducks in the Great Pond at Forde Abbey near Chard, we drove to Lyme Regis to look for the long-staying but elusive Spotted Sandpiper. I had high hopes of Dipper on the River Lim. We dipped on both. There were several Purple Sandpipers and a Turnstone on the Cobb, and a nice male Black Redstart around the Marine Theatre. However, the only birds that were sufficiently confiding were the Rock Pipits that were all along the seafront.

We'll need to go back for the Spotted Sandpiper.

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Blackcaps

At least two wintering Blackcaps have taken up residence in my garden. They seem very keen on the ornamental cherry and are steadily examining each cherry to see which are suitable. As they are too large to swallow whole, they prod each one to determine which ones are soft enough to peck away at. At this rate, there will be around two weeks worth of food left.

I took these photos through the living room window, hence they are a bit soft.

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Common Buzzard in flight

I managed 15 shots of a low-flying common buzzard next to Westport canal this morning.  Usually, overflying buzzards either rise too quickly or move off laterally preventing decent shots. This one went right over my head and conveniently called just at the right time. Again, an adult

 

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