WENT TO SEE RED AGAIN.

Sorry about this but on Wednesday afternoon I went on the short trip to see Red again (The Netherwood Redstart). I'd been out shopping most of the morning and after lunch I needed to get out there even for a short time and with nothing been reported locally Red was the obvious choice.

Got there at 1.30 PM and true to form Red soon showed up.As I've mentioned before he favours a private paddock that's about 40m wide and 120m long that is surrounded by a 2m high hedge with a barbed wire fence inside.The only viewing point is a gate on the S side in the SE corner.Red sits on the fencing on the W side near the SW corner approx. 30m from the gate.Hence the struggle to get decent shots.

Red was in his usual spot on Wednesday so I had to use the SX50 to get some shots.

After about 40 minutes Red caught me out and instead of going back to his usual perch after one of his fleeting visits to the grass he flew right past me and landed on the fence on the E side very near the gate.Hells Teeth this is what I'd been waiting for all these visits.He was well in range of my 400 lens.Got some great shots then? Afraid not. Disaster struck ! !

When Red landed I was in the open leaning on the gate so I had to get to cover smartish else he'd be off.A couple of steps to the left was needed to get behind the hedge.Easy then? No.The hedge here is a combination of Holly and Brambles and I got too close and got snared up.Two Bramble hooks in the back of my hand and four in the sleeve of my new woolen jumper.Lots of heavy duty swearing took place as I struggled to free myself which took ages.When I was free and tried to focus on Red a Robin disturbed him and this is the shot I got as he flew off. Damnation ! !

The good news was that Red did come back to the E fence but not as close as before.Did get some better shots but missed out on some stunners thanks to the hedge. 

This last one is taken with the SX50 rather than the 7D with the 400 lens.Not bad but a bit soft.

Red has given me great entertainment over the last few weeks and did again today despite the hedge incident.The jumper by the way did not come off too well.

A DECENT WADER TO PHOTOGRAPH.

After some early morning shopping on Tuesday morning I popped over to Marsh Lane hoping to beat the showers forecast for later.When I got there I was surprised it was still so breezy and pretty chilly.Surely Autumn wasn't here yet.

Joined some friends in the CP hide and after we had watched 500+ Geese all take off at the same time Jeff spotted a Godwit in the open water.None of us had seen it drop in.Annoyingly for quite a while it fed in deep water and it was hard to get a shot of it with it's head above water.

After a while it flapped it's wings and showed it was a Black-tailed Godwit.

After it had flown to the back of one of the islands I checked out the other hides and found from the Oak hide one of the four Common Sandpipers reported to be on site.

I then popped back to the CP hide to see if the Godwit was showing any better.Luckily I just got there when it was on the nearest island and I managed some shots before it raced off.

Whilst in the CP hide I had another go at getting some Sand Martin flight shots.I managed a couple but could not managed last week's effort.Good fun though.

THE NETHERWOOD REDSTART.

I checked on the cracking male Common Redstart I found down Netherwood Lane again this morning and as he has done for every visit very soon appeared on the fencing that runs along a paddock on private land.

He has been there now for a least 18 days since I first spotted it.I have checked on him 12 times during that time and he has showed every time but he will disappear for long periods.The bad news for me is that you cannot get close to him to get a really good shot.

The land owner who has become a friend since I gave him some photographs of his Redstart has given me permission to enter the paddock but because there is no cover in there the bird would be scared off so I have not taken up his offer.

One of my better shots with the 7D/400 prime lens is this one which shows how far the bird is away (approx 25m at best).

This morning I had another go with the Canon SX50 bridge camera on full optical zoom with the 2X converter switched on.You get closer shots but the quality suffers a lot.These are the best of the morning's shots which are not too bad.

Whilst waiting for the Redstart to show over the last few days I've managed to see other birds from the same spot.A very nice Yellowhammer showed the other day but the SX50 is so slow to focus I missed it.It's a good spot for raptors because I've seen Kestrels and Sparrowhawks but both not close.Common Buzzards sometimes drift over and I managed a few shots last week.

MARSH LANE.

Popped over to Marsh Lane Wednesday lunchtime for a quick look round.

In very pleasant weather I had a good look round and found a pair of Green Sandpipers and a Little Ringed Plover both on the CP pool.A Sparrowhawk showed but was a long way off.

There were a fair amount of House Martins and Sand Martins flashing around the CP pool and like a fool I had a go at getting a Sand Martin flight shot.An hour later amongst the 200+ blurred blob shots was this pretty decent shot.Very pleased to fluke this which is my best ever flight shot of one.Note that this is the same shot one cropped more than the other.

TWO OLD FRIENDS RE-VISITED.

On Monday morning I thought I'd visit a couple of old friends which I have become very fond of this last couple of weeks.

The first one I went to see was the local Common Redstart which true to form came out to see me very soon after I arrived and perched on the paddock fencing.This time in an effort to get some decent shots at long last I used the Canon SX50 bridge camera on full optical zoom with the 2X converter on giving 100X magnification.Much better reach than my 400 lens but the quality suffers but very good for such a cheap little camera.

After lunch I went over to Seeswood Pools to see my very good friend  the Night Heron.Whilst waiting for Kath  to arrive I found a very nice Grey Wagtail on the causeway.

Kath and I had walked only about 50m down the path to the Night Heron viewing point when a chap appeared from nowhere and said "Do you know that this is private land and you are trespassing and will have to leave".This was the angling club bailiff who had giving Kath a problem the week before.Oh Dear ! !

I was a bit worried Kath might give him a "Nuneaton Kiss" (far worse than a Glasgow Kiss) and we both would find ourselves in Nuneaton nick but she just told him only the landowner could ask her to leave and walked on down the path.I stayed with the bailiff and thought about going into aggressive mode but you need lots of energy for that mode and I need what little I've got to keep me alive.I soon dismissed grovelling mode as that is very demeaning and finally settled on charm offensive mode.

To cut a long story short this mode worked a treat and by the time we had reached the viewing point we were almost friends.He even told me where and when was the best time to see a visiting Osprey later in the year.

I joined Kath and 3 other birders at the viewing point but not only had the Heron not been seen by these birders no reports had gone on out on Birdguides of it being seen today.However 10 minutes later I made these birders very pleased because I spotted skulking deep in the undergrowth.

It then flew into a tree and settled down for a while about a couple of metres above the water.It was just visible.

It then flew about 20m to the left and as I had come to try for some flight shots this was my moment.However I was caught unawares (I was chatting) and ended up with some not so good shots.

It then landed on some twigs and gave some cracking views but not till after we had to race down the path to the next gap in the reeds.What a cracking bird.Magical.

It the flew again another 30m to the left.Unbelievably I was caught unawares again and missed out on some flight shots completely this time.It then skulked low down in the undergrowth for ages and was often hard to see.

THE COMMON REDSTART RE-VISITED.

In in an earlier blog I reported about a cracking male Common Redstart I'd found locally last Friday afternoon.

Since then I've been over to check on it five times including yesterday morning and each time I've had good views.It has turned up each time and perches on the fence posts that run round a paddock. I've been very lucky because it has turned up very soon after I have arrived.

It's not all good news because the nearest it has come to me is 30m away which is tough ask for my lens to get a great shot but close enough to enjoy watching it catching insects.Tried using a converter on the lens but the shots have been rubbish.here is my best one with the Canon 7D/400 prime lens.

On one visit I had a go with the Canon SX50 bridge camera and the results were OK.

Here are a few other shots taken this week mainly at Marsh Lane.The first two taken with the SX50 which can get very good results.