Garden nature

The garden over the last few days has been swarming with Fieldfares, Redwings and the occasional song thrush which is great as it means i can just open the upstairs window and use one of the rooms as a portable hide, Having said that they are still very fickle and flighty so there is an element of luck still when it comes to photographing these species form 15 feet away.

Not much photography this month

As the title suggests it's been all work and no play this month. I did manage to get over to RSPB Minsmere and have a play with some of our smaller avian friends and also managed to get my first coal tit shots of the year. I never have much luck with these so was quite happy to say the least.
On the way to Minsmere we also encountered what i thought was a pair golden pheasant just standing in the road. Anyway we got some photos and showed them to Mr Evans almighty who informed us they were Reeve's pheasants so excellent stuff there. We also managed to get the Hen reedbeds barn owl though it was in near dark conditions (aren't they always)  :( Afterwards we called it a day and retired for tea and medals.

Goldfinch

Bluetits

Barn owl

Reeve's pheasant

Coal tit

Lowestoft

Went down to Lowestoft yesterday to photography more Turnstone and Purple sandpiper shots. I love Turnstones, They have so much character. It was also a chance to re familiarise myself with my 1D mk4 before some serious stuff next week. The Great grey shrike has put an appearance in on one of my sites and i will be trying for that tomorrow.

New camera and Crossbills

Finally decided the 5D mk2 was not really for me this time round as i need quicker autofocus and frames per second so have gone for the 1D mk4 which i stupidly sold last year, Still at least it's a nice shiny new one.
Was at Hollesley photographing Crossbills the other week and had a great time and met some nice people along the way. I was very pleased as this was the first time i had ever seen Crossbills and i wasn't disappointed, They really are lovely looking things with a serious beak on them.

Black Redstart at Minsmere

Truth is i have not knowingly seen a Black Redstart so this was a very nice end of day surprise.
Minsmere can be a lovely place to visit even with the busy crowds that the weekend brings however there are always lots of interesting friendly people to meet while there.
Sometimes the birds are just a bonus.

Minsmere 23rd Oct 2011

Spent the day at Minsmere with my Girlfriend Judith and bumped into a couple of friends, Ian Clarke and Jon Evans who told us that the Spotted Redshank was showing around the Konic fields. Grabbed a couple of half decent shots using my Canon 600mm F4 IS and trying out a friends 7D.

There were also 2 Ruff which came amazingly close despite a couple of noisy people walking past, One in a nice bright red Man U football shirt. Oh the joys of Minsmere some days!!!!