Cream coloured Courser in Herefordshire.

It was the Isles of Scilly where I saw my first Cream-coloured Courser in 2004. So Just 2 hours away on a warm sunny evening was too tempting to ignore.
Finished work and Myself, Nige Addecott and Phil Bristow made our way up -to arrive about 6.00pm.
As we were within a few miles Mike Powell and Jake Gilmore told us that it was still present and feeding around their feet!! We now got really excited! Well that was very disappointing, they were having a sick joke. We learned that it hadn`t come closer than about 60 yds.
The bird flew from there eventually to another part of the golf course where it came a lot closer but not close enough.

A day out in mid Wales.

Had a fantastic day out in mid Wales with Nige Addecott and Cliff the taxi Woodhead. I phoned the day before to check if there would be any mealworms available and if it would be ok to go. The weather was the real bonus, not too bright! Hopefully in the next month we will try again, but with a 2 hour drive it will have to be a full day.

Pied Flycatcher

             Redstart

            Lesser Redpoll

Siskin

Female Pied Flycatcher

A trip to Powys a few weeks ago to photograph those species seen this time of year turned out to be a mistake.
We struggled to find any Redstarts and Pied Flys were thin on the ground. The light was awful, especially when some brightness had been forecasted!
This fem appeared out of the blue with nesting material! Eventually I noticed a nest box nearby and left her to it.

Black-necked Grebe at Cosmeston

A late morning call from Alex Bevan to say he had just found 2 summer plumage B n Grebes at Cosmeston got me wanting to dash down straight away. ( just a 20 min drive)
Cosmeston gets very busy and the light for photography can be awkward, especially in the afternoon so I gave it an hour. The rain would keep visitor numbers down and with the odd brief spell of sunlight I decided to give it a go.
B n grebes are incredible birds to see anyway! As I reached the boardwalk M Powell and Jake were just leaving but they said they had been showing very well.
Bob Mitchell had arrived before me and was waiting for shots, we both moved along to the wooded edge and waited and bingo! they played ball! After waiting for over 2 hours for the rain to ease the light improved for 20 mins and another brief session.
No sign of them the following day!