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This afternoon I decided to have a few hours this at Ladywalk. They have erected a brand new hide by the bird garden and I thought that it would be a good opportunity to use my new sun shade.
Arriving there I found the garden fairly buzzing with birds and settling down in this new hide I set about putting my equipment together.
To be honest there isn’t too much I can tell you regarding birding there today because by the time I went home (some near 4 hours later) I had realised that I had been totally consumed by trying to do nothing but take photos all afternoon. What I can tell you is that for most of the duration of the afternoon I had two very welcome birds stay fairly close to the bottom of the bird tables. Two Water Rails continually drifted in & out of the bushes and tree roots and that in itself kept my attention for ages. I must have gotten at least 20 good shots of these two birds. Also a Great Spotted Woodpecker made one long appearance on a post in the garden, but for the most part played hide and seek with me from behind the pole. However I have got some fairly decent shots of this bird as well. A bit later on he returned and I got a very close up head shot but it is a little blurred. I have tried cleaning it up but it still isn’t good enough to put into the gallery.
The garden played host to huge numbers of Reed Bunting as well as Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blue, Great, Long tail & one lone Willow Tit. The odd Moorhen would stroll in for a few minutes, as did a superb male Pheasant and 3 female Pheasants.
Out on the pool and flashes were large numbers of Cormorants (well over 100 by the time I went home) plus Wigeon, Teal, Tufted, Mallard, Shoveller, Shelduck, Goosander (about a dozen), Mute Swan and a small gathering of Grey Heron, all too far away to get a decent image of. If there was anything else about I didn't notice due to the fact that my mind was continually on trying to get some decent shots from the garden.
The one thing I was disappointed with was the non-showing of any of the Bitterns there today. That was one of the reasons I went to Ladywalk. Oh well, I gave the sun shade a good test, although we didn’t have any sun shine today, and it passed with flying colours. The one thing it gives you is contact with the birds as you use the sunshade viewfinder as if you were using the camera viewfinder. What this does is allow you the chance of keeping in touch with any moving bird quite easily. I would recommend to any one this extenda view sun shade as the magnification this gives you also helps you to see what is going on.
Tomorrow, if Ros is feeling better, we are going to Rhayder to see the Red Kites, via the Wyre Forest. 7 Hawfinches have been reported at Wyre Forest today and hopefully I can find them prior to continuing to Rhayder. Hopefully if the sun shines tomorrow I might get some good Red Kite shots.
Below is an attachment of a head shot of one of the water Rails at Ladywalk.
Arriving there I found the garden fairly buzzing with birds and settling down in this new hide I set about putting my equipment together.
To be honest there isn’t too much I can tell you regarding birding there today because by the time I went home (some near 4 hours later) I had realised that I had been totally consumed by trying to do nothing but take photos all afternoon. What I can tell you is that for most of the duration of the afternoon I had two very welcome birds stay fairly close to the bottom of the bird tables. Two Water Rails continually drifted in & out of the bushes and tree roots and that in itself kept my attention for ages. I must have gotten at least 20 good shots of these two birds. Also a Great Spotted Woodpecker made one long appearance on a post in the garden, but for the most part played hide and seek with me from behind the pole. However I have got some fairly decent shots of this bird as well. A bit later on he returned and I got a very close up head shot but it is a little blurred. I have tried cleaning it up but it still isn’t good enough to put into the gallery.
The garden played host to huge numbers of Reed Bunting as well as Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blue, Great, Long tail & one lone Willow Tit. The odd Moorhen would stroll in for a few minutes, as did a superb male Pheasant and 3 female Pheasants.
Out on the pool and flashes were large numbers of Cormorants (well over 100 by the time I went home) plus Wigeon, Teal, Tufted, Mallard, Shoveller, Shelduck, Goosander (about a dozen), Mute Swan and a small gathering of Grey Heron, all too far away to get a decent image of. If there was anything else about I didn't notice due to the fact that my mind was continually on trying to get some decent shots from the garden.
The one thing I was disappointed with was the non-showing of any of the Bitterns there today. That was one of the reasons I went to Ladywalk. Oh well, I gave the sun shade a good test, although we didn’t have any sun shine today, and it passed with flying colours. The one thing it gives you is contact with the birds as you use the sunshade viewfinder as if you were using the camera viewfinder. What this does is allow you the chance of keeping in touch with any moving bird quite easily. I would recommend to any one this extenda view sun shade as the magnification this gives you also helps you to see what is going on.
Tomorrow, if Ros is feeling better, we are going to Rhayder to see the Red Kites, via the Wyre Forest. 7 Hawfinches have been reported at Wyre Forest today and hopefully I can find them prior to continuing to Rhayder. Hopefully if the sun shines tomorrow I might get some good Red Kite shots.
Below is an attachment of a head shot of one of the water Rails at Ladywalk.