Bataleur eagle

A superb eagle from Africa, my final entry in my non wild raptors section

Hawk fest

These pictures are of captive birds at the local bird of prey centre and too impressive to omit from my blog, top left is a red tailed hawk, top right is a gray hawk (I think) and bottom right is a harris hawk, I never tire of looking at raptors

Golden eagle

Not a wild bird, this was taken at the local bird of prey centre adjacent to the Shuttleworth collection, I feel compelled to add it to my blog just because it is so magnificent

Little stint

One of our smallest visiting waders and usually very approachable, however whilst they are nesting along the coast of N.Norway / Russia etc, if you approach the nest the male will hover in front of you and if you get too near he will hit you on the nose with his beak which can be quite painful. this one was at Titchwell.

Greenshank

Shot captured soon after dawn on St Marys

Bar headed goose

A walk along the river at Sutton Gault in Cambs' on a very gloomy afternoon was rewarded with this goose flying past

S.O.E.

A walk through a disused airfield in Bedfordshire brought us to an old barn and inside we found these thought provoking pictures..................

Golden pheasant

Not a native species but...................what a myriad of colours, pictured at Sculthorpe hawk and owl trust woodland

song thrush

I have never seen as many song thrushes as I did on St Marys, they were simply everywhere and very tame, this one sat singing whilst we walked past him and was quite unconcerned by us

snipe feeding

another denizen of 'lower moor' St Marys this bird allowed me to take pictures from only about twenty feet away, the beautiful cryptic plumage was a sight to behold, when standing still at the side of the reeds it becomes nearly invisible

snipe alarmed

all that was showing of this little chap was his head, they can duck down so that only the top of their head is on show to watch for danger, he relaxed after a few minutes and allowed me to capture him feeding as seen in the next posting

Starling

if you add another 't' to this birds name you get startling which goes some way to describe how colourful they can be in the right light.

House sparrow

the birds in the Scillies are remarkably tame, the house sparrows would eat from the hand, this one at least was foraging for 'proper food'

Sanderling

I had to lay on the beach at Culkein for some time before these birds decided that I was not a threat, very cold and uncomfortable but the picture was worth the discomfort

Lapwing chick

This little chick was foraging high up on the moors in Yorkshire on a very wet day quite close to the Tann hill inn the highest in England at 1732 ft ASL. (the one used for the Everest double glazing ads).

He appeared to be look dry despite the rain and had been ringed too.

Curlew

This parent and offspring were high up, near the moors in Yorkshire, curlew chicks look very comical with their feet which seem to be about three sizes too big

Razorbill

Another inhabitant of Handa island and happy to pose at close quarters for a picture, very smart looking little birds

Swallow fledgeling

This little bird, fresh from the nest was patiently waiting in the rain for it's parents to return with insects. he sat on a wire fence ten feet from the car quite unperturbed by our presence

Red Grouse

By using the car as a hide we were able to get close to lots of grouse but rarely was the weather good enough to get a decent picture. There were a lot of chicks with most pairs of adults so it must have been a very good year for them. sadly of course many will not live longer than the 'Glorious twlefth'...... the chick below walked right up to the car.

Dipper

We were sheltering from the rain near Inchnadamph when this bird appeared in front of us and posed beautifully, obviously a bit of a show off.

White fronted goose

This singleton had perhaps been left behind by the flock that went North to the Arctic circle to breed, perhaps injured in some way but appeared to look healthy enough. this was another bird were were able to view from the conservatory at Culkein.

Great skua, AKA Bonxie

These birds were amazingly unafraid of humans and could be approached to within a few feet, the flight shot is from Clashnessie bay and the sitting bird from Handa island.

Puffin

This little fellow posed for me on Handa island, the weather was terrible but the birds were great.

Peregrine

The youngsters having feasted on this pigeon, the adult then finished it and then flew around in circles carrying the remains behind it

Peregrine juvenile

Having just eaten a pigeon that its parents had brought in this young peregrine preened and showed himself off to us a Malham tarn in Yorks

Carrion crow

This very old looking bird is the tamest crow I have encountered, it would come within six feet for food to return to its offspring on top of Malham tarn.

Little owl

I cannot resist taking pictures of owls, these were seen on a drive in the dales

Grey heron

This juvenile heron was captured from the car window in the Yorkshire dales, normally a shy species this one posed happily in the sun, possibly not old enough to know any better

Fulmar

These fulmars are the aerial masters of the windy North, seen here near culkein

Oystercatcher

These noisy 'Oiks' were just along the coast from our cottage at Culkein

Eider and her chicks

This was another Culkein beach picture, the bird and her chicks was not at all alarmed by my presence and her six chicks bobbed around her like little furry corks

Dunlin

This very tame bird was on the beach at Culkein, it was quite unconcerned by my close proximityand carried on feeding unconcernedly

Herring gull

This was the 'bully' at Culkein

Common gull

This was a regular in our holiday cottage at Culkein, high on the West coast of Scotland

Lesser black backed gull

A search for red footed falcons resulted in this picture as the falcons were too high for photography

Common tern

Seen hunting in the Stewartby area

Pied wagtail

Taken in an old friends garden in Upper Stondon, a regular visitor to his pond and a probable breeder in his garden

Greenfinch

Another image from the hide at Summer Leys