13th December 2010

Coal Tit - Stewartby Lake gullwatch

Fieldfare - near wetland 3

Jay - Feeding station near the Pillinge hide

Fox - Marston corner of Stewartby Lake.

I postponed my plans for an early start this morning as it was extremely foggy. Even by 9am when I got to Stewartby Lake the entire lake was still hidden in the fog. Just as I was leaving the gullwatch the Coal Tit appeared right in front of me for just long enough to get a few poor records shots of it in the very dull and foggy light. I also saw a Fox near the stream outlet in the Marston corner of Stewartby Lake.

I then walked round to the visitors centre to get a coffee and wait for the fog to lift. A Red Kite flew passed the centre about 11am but it disappeared too quickly for me to get any photos. I watched a Peregrine was sitting on one of the chimneys on the far side of Stewartby Lake for a few minutes before it took over and flew away towards the tip.

I then did a circuit of the Pillinge where I saw large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares. There were 100s of both of these birds on the park all weekend. Again, no sight or sound of Bearded Tits or Cetti's Warblers...

12th December 2010

Panorama taken from the wetland 3 bank of the Pillinge

Panorama taken from the Pillinge Hide

These panoramas are both made up of 8 or 9 photos taken on my Canon S95 compact digital camera and stitched together using Photoshop Elements 8. (These are both very compressed versions of these images, the originals have far more detail in them...)

The Coal Tit was still in my parent's garden this morning, and still refused to go on to the country park...

The Great Northern Diver was still on Stewartby Lake in the morning and later Neil Wright and I saw it fly over the Pillinge heading in the direction of Rookery.

A walk round the Pillinge failed to show any sight or sound of either Bearded Tits or Cetti's Warblers... Neil and I did see a Common Buzzard perched up in a bush on the far side of wetland 3 and I got some digiscoped video of it. As the bird was about 300 yards away I had to use the digital zoom on my compact camera:

http://www.vimeo.com/17900547

11th December 2010

Dunlin - Pillinge Lake

Goosander - Stewartby Lake

Great Northern Diver - Stewartby Lake

I was pleased to see that the two female-type Goosanders were still present when I got to Stewartby Lake. I initially saw one of them from the gullwatch and then got a lift round to the sailing club bank where I took a couple of distant record shots of the Great Northern Diver.

Later I got a few, again rather poor, record shots of one of the Goosanders on Stewartby Lake not far from the visitors centre. These were the first Goosanders photos I have taken on the country park so I was pleased to get them even though they weren't great, and I was pretty sure I'd get the chance to get better ones over the long weekend. As it turned out these were the only photos I got of them...

Whilst I was watching the Goosander I had a phone cal from Bob Hook saying he had just found a Dunlin on the Pillinge, another bird I hadn't photographed on the park so I walked round to meet him. Fortunately, the bird was feeding on one of the small island when I got there and I got some digiscoped photos and video from about 100 yards range.

A Coal Tit appeared on the bird feeders at my parents in the afternoon. I had photographed one in their garden before, but not on the country park. Unfortunately, it spent the whole time in either my parent's or their next door neighbours garden this afternoon rather than venturing on to the park...

21st November 2010

A still photo taken using my new Canon S95 compact digital camera attached to my Nikon ED50 scope. The photo was taken from the pillinge hide.

And a video of the same group of Lapwings and Teal taken with the S95/ED50 combination.

http://www.vimeo.com/17062629

The light was pretty dull and I'm pleased with both the still photo and particularly the video results... :-)

I also saw 5 Lesser Repolls near the Pillinge lake with Neil Wright and Bob Hook.

20th November 2010

A group of 5 Lesser Redpolls were seen by Neil Wright, Bob Hook and myself between the Pillinge and the railway line. I also saw a Goldcrest in the same area, the first one I've seen on the park all year...

7th November 2010 More Bearded Tits!

Today there were at least 12 Bearded Tits in Wetland 3. This time some of them posed very well for me in great light... :-)

6th November 2010 Bearded Tits!

Roy Nye had seen two Bearded Tits at wetland 9 on the 4th November so I spent the morning trying to see if there were any still about. I'm very pleased to say that there were at least 8 Bearded Tits commuting between wetlands 9 and 3!... :-)