Quiet Bank Holiday at Marazion

Well very few people about early at Marazion this morning. And very little activity on the Marsh. A Wheatear was present and Sedge Warblers making lot of noise.  A grey Heron landed on the depth post, which I hadn't seen before.  Apart from that all rather quiet.

Wheatear

Sedge Warbler in full song

Followed by a flying disply

Grey Heron

Hoopoe at Windmill Farm

Windmill farm is located on the Lizard and covers quite a wide area, with this in mind I thought I would be lucky to see the Hoopoe. Well I did, people reported its whereabouts from two days ago, a quick scan with the bino's and it was located. Shots are distant as the bird was a bit skittish. The plumage is rather striking and this can be seen in some of the images.  I may have another look this afternoon or tomorrow see if I can get it feeding!!! (may be pushing my luck) The first image is worth enlarging.

A whithe throat to finish with.

Early morning on the Beach

Well popped to Marazion to look for the Purple Heron again but visited the beach first.  Some ideal lighting for photography but subjects to often harrassed by bloody dog walkers.  It is hard enough stalking the birds only for some idiot and there dog to time it perfectly to spoil the photo, this they do with great success, t---ts!!! Anyhow perserverance always pays off, well mostly.  So I did manage some pictures from the beach in the end.  Did look for the Purple Heron for a while but no joy on that today. Headed to Croft after lunch to look for the Montagu Harrier but nothing doing there after two hours. I thought that was far to long but Monty had been there a whole lot longer without sucess! Well onto todays images:

Whimbrel

Lets fight it out for breakfast

The winner, with his booty.

Waders in flight

And again more waders

Ringed Plover

Last one a Wheatear from the marsh

Well Chuffed

Set off early today along the coast to see if I could find and photograph  Choughs. Well it didn't take to long so a brilliant start to the day and yes you have guessed it bugger all after that. So I will get staight onto the images of the majestic Cornish Chough as I am rather pushed for time tonight:

Calling for the other half



The second bird joins the first



Time for a quick--- preen

And off again to find food

Two is better than none!

Well that is how many images I got today, two! A visit to Croft Pool could of produced some nice swallow images but I got there just to late and the sun direction messed it up. So the only image from there is a Willow Warbler. On to Marazion, welll the unco-operative Purple Heron was still being just that so one shot of a Buzzard from there. Hopefully tomorrow will bring in a larger amount of pictures, as today I averaged one every two hours, pretty poor. Well hope you all enjoy todays images which are best englarged.

Buzzard

Willow Warbler

Another Purple Day

After yesterdays flight shots of the Purple Heron were not to good I decided to give it another go today.  Luckily the bird was still there although invisible most of the time!!! Did catch it in flight twice best image below. A Grey Heron helped himself to a duckiling but necked it straight down so no images of that. Day ended with a few wWhimbrel flying along the beach.  Todays Images:

Purple Heron

Purple Heron (Longrock Pool yesterday)

Stonechat

Grey Heron "Duckling Thief"

Whimbrel pitch up at the end of the day

More from Marazion Yesterday

Just a quick post of some images that didn't go up last night. Some Sanderlings on the beach early morning in quite good light.

Purple Heron at Longrock Pool

Ok all these shot were distant to start with as when I arrived the bird was well hidden in the reeds and didn't appear for some time.  When it flew I had snags with the AF likely tripod on unsteady ground (still I will double check that tomorrow) Sods law the one time you don't nail a flight shot is when a rariety comes along!!! It flew East down the far end of Marazion Marsh, then at 10am I seen it fly west again but didn't see it go down.  Anyhow onto the pictures of the bird:

Nothing New to Report

Fresh images seem to be a bit hard to come by of late a combination of bad luck and work I suppose. However now I have two weeks off and true to form the sun goes in tomorrow for the foreseeable future and it rains bucket loads!!!!! A chance to catch up on the blog posts etc. So for todays post I just have the resident birds doing nothing spectacular from Marazion and Stithians:

Grey Heron at Marazion

Sand Martin perform aerobatics at Marazion

Little Grebe in summer plumage at Stithians

Coot at Stithians

Cormorant flew by the Southern Cut Off hide

Ring Necked Duck at Stithians

First of all apologies for the lack off posts off late, work, DIY and bad luck to blame. Still mid April wil see two weeks off work and hopefully an increase in posts. Well the Ring Necked duck was the only thing that got within camera range this weekend. About 30yards off the hide!! Light was a problem with sun going in and out, but a glimpse of sunlight when the bird was close to the hide was welcome.

Ring Necked Duck

Bit off preening to be done.

Bit of a stretch.

The sun came out briefly on this one so we can observe the plumage more clearly.