Two South African flight-shots

Black-shouldered Kite, Wakkertroom wetland reserve, South Africa, July 2006.

Pink-backed Pelican, Mkhuze game reserve, South Africa, July 2006.

The latest (September 2006) issue of Bird Watching magazine (available at WHSMiths and other good newsagents) contains an article I wrote about digiscoping in South Africa. I was lucky enough to be invited out there in July this year by Swarovski Optik. These two shots were not in the article, nor in the posts of South African birds you will find below (click on July 2006 link). They do, however, show that flight photography is not completely beyond the realm of us conventional digscopers...
Click the pic for larger version.
Canon PowerShot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Small Tortoise

Small Tortoiseshell, Eye Green NR, Peterborough, 28.8.06
Canon PowerShot A95

Lesser Stag Beetle

Pretending to be dead...

Still pretending...

...And its off!
Lesser Stag Beetle popped out of a log in one of my logpiles in my Peterborough garden, yesterday evening (18.8.06).

Tit, flycatcher and warbler

Long-tailed Tit

Spotted Flycatcher

Lesser Whitethroat
I had a glorious morning yesterday at Ferry Meadows (27.8.06). The highlight was a visiting Osprey, but the sheer numbers of warblers mixed with Long-tailed Tits and a family of SPotted Flycatchers were a delight to behold.
All images are clickable for larger versions.
Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Caterpillars in the buff

Buff-tip caterpillars munching on willows outside the hides at Cley NWT, Norfolk, 13.8.06.
Fell free to click them for bigger versions.
Canon Powershot A95

Bloody lucky beetle

Bloody-nosed Beetle, Titchwell, 15.8.06. One of the few that escaped squishing by careless birdwatchers and dog-walkers.
Canon Powershot A95

Lunchtime for a skimmer

Black-tailed Skimmer munching a flying insect meal, Hickling NWT, Norfolk, 18.8.06.
Canon Powershot A95

Mr Toad

Common Toad, Cley NWT, 16.8.06
Canon Powershot A95

Seals and Sandwiches

Common Seals, Blakeney Point, Norfolk, 16.8.06
Click each for whoppers
Canon Powershot A95

Avocets

Avocets, freshmarsh, Titchwell, 15.8.06.

Click the pic for a big one.
Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Turnstone on a razor edge

Turnstone, Titchwell, Norfolk, 15.8.06
Click it for larger version.
Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Black Swan studies

Black Swan, Cley NWT, Norfolk,16.8.06.
Click images for larger versions.
Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Lapwing close-ups

Lapwing, Cley NWT, Norfolk, 13.8.06
Click images for larger versions.
All Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Dabchicks Part 3

Little Grebes at the nest, Cley NWT, August 2006. Click images for larger versions. Enjoy the feather detail...
All Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Dabchicks Part 2

Little Grebes at the nest, Cley NWT, August 2006. Click images for larger versions. Enjoy the feather detail...
All Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

Dabchicks Part 1

Little Grebes at the nest, Cley NWT, August 2006. Click images for larger versions. Enjoy the feather detail...
All Canon Powershot A95, Kowa TSN-823 + 32xWLER

More on the Yellow Wags

Further to my post below about the colour-ringed Yellow Wagtail, I contacted Guy Anderson at the RSPB with all the info I could glean and some of my photos (see the earlier post).
He came back with the following information:
"The 'red' ring is actually orange (these two colours regularly get mixed up). The ring above the metal on the right leg is yellow (these fade a bit). This makes the bird P886234, which fits the metal ring you've seen perfectly.She was ringed as a chick in a nest near Deeping St Nicholas on 1 July 2003, so she's obviously returned pretty close to her natal area to breed, but she's made the journey to Africa and back 3 times now. I suspect she must be having a second brood this late in the season."

That flimsy little passerine is one tough bird! Respect.

White Admiral

White Admiral, Bedford Purlieus, Cambs, 5.8.06
Canon Powershot A95

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail, Maxey Pits, Cambs, 5.8.06.
This female Yellow Wagtail was apparently bringing prey to a presumed second brood. The prey, as you may see from this photo was a grasshopper which had had its legs and wings removed. There are loads of grasshoppers at this site, so it makes sense for the wags to use them as a major chock food. So it was no surprise when her partner turned up, also carrying a de-limbed grasshopper.
The female was a colour-ringed bird, with a creamy yellow ring above the BTO ring on the right leg and a blue above red on the left. It will be interesting to find out where it was from – I believe there has been a fair amount of colour-ringing of Yellow Wags recently.
More pics will follow later, so watch this space. Click for a large version

The male partner, also carrying a grasshopper.
I have cropped some of my pics of the feamle to look at the BTO ring. I think it contains 8623, but I may be wrong. What do you think? I used the lettering in the address to get my bearings. The ring should say INFORM BTO BRITISH MUSEUM NAT.HIST. LONDON SW7, I think and you can line up the numbers with the letters of LONDON and the postcode.



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