A day at Marazion marsh

I recently took a trip to Marazion marsh to attempt some photography. Amid all the snow storms and flash floods it was a surprisingly good day in terms of weather. We didnt have many hours of daylight to use but we still managed to see plenty of wildlife.

When we first arrived we spotted this pretty dirty looking herring gull. It looked like it had been in the wars, I’m hoping im wrong but it did look a lot like oil on his feathers.

The common snipe, which are normally a speck in the distance, are much more obliging at marazion, wandering close to the perimeter wall for photo opportunities.

Whilst there we also saw plenty of bittern activity, most people around here believe there to be around 6 or more in the area during this cold spell. Catching their speedy flights across the marsh wasnt an easy task however. I plan to spend a little longer there at some point to try and get some better shots.

We also saw a kingfisher getting some lunch, in the form of a small fish The photo is a crop as he was sitting some way away.

With the sun starting to set we moved to the beach area where we found a black redstart. Unfortunately I’d previously been photographing the kingfisher so still had the teleconverter fitted. Due to this the focusing was seriously limited. I did manage a shot as it flew away, showing the characteristic red on its tail as shown here.

On the way back to the car we stopped for a last look at the marsh and were glad we did. We had long views of the water rail running from bush to bush. With light now fading the ISO had to be pushed right up just to get a sharp shot but it was a great experience to see him out of water and running around.

Comments appreciated as always, thanks for looking. Tom.

Interesting birds seen on my travels

Whilst out photographing the cornish wildlife I also get to see some fairly special birdlife. Recently Ive been lucky enough to see a few birds I’d never seen before.

I went to visit the green heron at the lost gardens of heligan a while ago. Its a  very rare bird and it had people coming from a long way to see it. It was a ten minute drive from the house so I thought I should make the trip

Whilst wandering the shoreline looking for waders to photograph, we found the snow bunting we hoped to bump into whilst there. He stayed around for a long time that day but he was still difficult to photograph with the many dog walkers wandering through!

The purple sandpipers were seen in a similar way, with a walk to find waders in mind. After finding them we got increasing better views allowing us to get fairly close for this photo.

The last picture is not the greatest of quality but it is an exciting bird for me anyway. It was the first firecrest I had seen, it was also found in my garden!

Thanks for taking a look, as always I welcome comments and ideas to improve!
Tom.

Deer, deer everywhere…

I took a trip recently to north norfolk to see the fallow deer. Although they are situated within a deer park theyre anything but easy to photograph. Couple that with gloomy conditions on the day that I visited and it turned into a challenging day.

 

 

 

 

 

With a lot of slow walking, manouvering and generally creeping around like a madman I was able to get progressively closer. These two pictures were taken later when I was using trees within woodland for cover. Obviously from their alert expressions that they noticed me there, but they didnt feel the need to move away & after a few moments they carried on with their foraging.

 

 

 

 

 

Then at the end of the day I managed to capture this guy with a leaf in his mouth

As always I love to hear feedback. Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions on how my photos or site can be improved!