Well I gave myself so much to do today that I’m way behind now with writing my Blogs so I’m going to come back to this one which is an interesting one as I got back in the water today for the first time and spent a little time with Hermit crabs and the Underwater Camera.
Here’s a taster with video to come..

Hermit on the prowl

Have shell will travel

Another bitter cold Northerly wind today so we decided to stay close to home and wandered over to Drift to see if the Whooper swan and Barnacle Geese were still around.
On the way through the village we noticed hundreds of Curlew were in the farm fields so I stopped and set up to shoot a couple of shots with them..

Curlew in the field on our way to Drift

We Pulled into Drift Reservoir and parked at the top by the sign and could already see the Whooper was by the boathouse.

It was definitely a wrap up warm day as the wind was ripping through the valley, but I knew once we got down on the side and around the bottom it would be more sheltered than up here on top by the rocking van ..
I donned my Jacket Hat and scarf and covered with a camo waterproof just in case.. and my nice new neoprene lined Jack Pyke wellies which keep yer toes toasty and away I went… Leanne stayed to make some Tea &  lunch and would wander down when it was ready
First stop was a sit down visit with the Whooper and a host of Mute swans, Tufted Ducks Scaup Mallards and Coots at the boathouse.. I was going to drop the video under the water to catch the whooper feeding from the bottom but unfortunately today my legs wouldn’t let me get down low enough to do it so maybe next time
The whooper was very curious as to why I was sat on the steps and almost licked the lens at 50mm lol

A rather Curious, to say the least, Whooper Swan

Scaup and Tufted Ducks with a few Coots thrown in for good measure all started to come back in after a few minutes of me sitting there.. they were obviously feeling less threatened by the fact I was more on their level..

Female Scaup

Tufted Duck looking extremely tufty from the wind

The nice thing about a situation like this is the proximity of the birds.. almost in touching distance, its probably the closest I’ve been to a coot who was busily trying to sort his place in the pecking order just incase I was going to be throwing some barley in.. which I wasn’t btw..

Coot

One mute by this time had climbed on the ramp beside me and was now looking down on me so we had a little chat and he agreed not to pull my hair and I’d give him a little barley when I stood up.. so he left me alone to photograph the whooper and the ducks..

F Tufted Duck

Curious Whooper swan

A Buzzard was circling above and was difficult for me to shoot from the position I was in so I stood back up and put the camera back on the tripod, whacked it up to 500mm and got some nice shots of the buzzard as he soared higher and higher..

Nicely Side Lit Buzzard

Lofty hadn’t forgotten I’d promised him some barley in return for him not sucking my hair and was now making his way closer and nudging my wellies..  I took a small handful of Barley and scattered it  and moved off before I got mobbed..

Back out onto the side of the reservoir the wind was cutting, so I hurried my way down to the bottom corner where it was much more sheltered and hoped I may be able to see the Barnacle Geese again… those and the Brents are my favourite Geese..
My luck was in as I crept up on the field I could see all three up near the top of the field, for all my creeping they were fully aware of my presence as this shot shows..

A watchful barnacle Goose, aware of my presence..

All three Barnacle Geese among the Canada's

Something spooked the canada’s and within seconds they were in flight and heading across the reservoir and of course the Barnacles went with them so that was the last I’d see of them for a while..

Several Swans that were also in the field decided to take off too and fly off overhead, this made me think it must have been me that spooked them as one swan looked directly down at me as he flew over

Mute Swan in Flight

Leanne caught up with me and we headed to the Hide for some late Lunch and then I wandered round the bottom in vain as everything was moving away as fast as I approached so as the hail started to bounce off the end of my nose I decided to call it a day and head off back to the hide..

Aidan had joined Leanne at the Hide and we took the opportunity to grasp the break in the clouds to make our way back to the van for tea, especially in light of the fact that almost everything had headed up the water anyhow…

Leanne went on ahead to put the kettle on and we sauntered on behind..

I arrived back at the boathouse and sat once again on the steps and the whooper and about 35 Mute swans crowded in..so I decided to grab a bit of Video footage of the Whooper anyhow before going home.

Thanks for reading

Mel^

Durham Durham, durham durham durham, duruddle durrrrrrm did didl dee dum

Sorry couldn’t help it.. that walk just creased me up this afternoon.. you won’t believe it when I tell you I simply stopped at the wall and nipped over to look through the binoculars and there he was stood standing right on the edge of the reeds in the lovely sun.. but By Jeeze it was Frikkin windy..

I grabbed the video out of my pocket and shouted for Leanne to get my camera on the tripod..   A chap came up and said ‘seen anything of the Bitterns today? I pointed and he nearly fell over and left his scope to get his camera lol..

Bittern standing in the afternoon sun

Obviously by this time Leanne had set up the Camera and joined me.. together we shot the stills and the Video (which is on the website HERE.. ) until Leanne couldn’t stand the cold wind any more and ran back to the van.

He’d started to walk along the edge of the reeds and I tried to hold the video still by resting it on the wall but every time the wind Gusted it shook so much I didn’t think I’d get anything so I was really pleased when I did..

Finally he made his way back into the reeds and they closed behind him like a grand finalé curtain..
I contemplated heading straight off but the water pipit and a water rail were ducking and diving down in the adge of the reeds but unfortunately I couldn’t get on them to shoot.. but this meadow Pipit made up for it by coming right up to the wall to say hello…

Meadow Pipit just over the wall

The wind was so strong and Icy that I decided to head down to the back of the marsh to get out of it for a while so I packed up and moved the van to the charity car park entrance and grabbing some hot tea set off across the bog to walk up the marsh..

It was nice to get out of the wind but the light fell away rapidly making it impossible to get any clear shots.. another bittern showed himself out of the reeds by the bench on the footpath but very briefly and was gone before i could get him.. still, I could’t better the earlier shots.. here’s where they’ve cleared the reeds with the reed cutter last week and where the 2nd bittern came out.

Still from the camcorder of the marsh after cutting

The light was bad where I was so I took these couple of shots with the camcorder which deals quite well with low light..

The Bullrush Pool by the bench reflections of the sky

I finally decided I’d had enough of the strong Icy wind and headed back to the van… the sun came out for a final show as I reached the bottom field and a little egret flew over the marsh so I’ll leave you with a couple of shots of him…

Enjoy the photo’s and check out the vid on the website

Egret over the marsh

Little Egret

Well that wraps up the Blog and the shoot for another day… hope you enjoyed everything.. don’t forget you can leave comments if you like but please keep it clean as Children do visit this site..

Thanks and Bye…..
Mel^

Decided to have a couple of hours on the Marsh at Marazion this morning before shooting the surfers for the day job as it were..

I arrived to find as per usual the crowd of Bittern hunters all around again and noticed most were coming to the flooded field and turning back which prompted me to don my wellies and go off up the back away from the crowd that had gathered at the front of the marsh.. I’m sure they’d get better results in wider spread lesser numbered groups, but hey thats just My opinion and I don’t like crowds so I’m biasséd..:) At least I was able to wander away from them all thanks to the flooding …

I walked up the path and struggled to pass the broken Tree on the path just before the flood.. I can’t help but wonder if this hasn’t been done deliberately to stop people using the footpath because its flooded.. it was certainly the same technique used when the hide was moved to prevent people passing up the permissive path to where the hide was.. Now as a Naturalist who values Plant life equally as much as bird life I strongly object to these tactics.. murdering a tree or even part of it just to save a bit of work on a path…. well to put it politely Pisses me off.

Anyway enough Grumbling.. I sat on the bench and enjoyed the sun while listening to the chaffinches calling to each other on the trees behind me…

One male settled by the side of me and afforded me this shot of him.. Thanking you kindly

I wandered on and across the railway to the boardwalk.. now I’d seen the bittern there a few days earlier and had on several occasions seen him fly across the marsh in that direction, so I wasn’t surprised to see him wading about in the reeds fishing.. He was very difficult to see at times but I got myself into a good position and just sat and watched quietly.. even muffled the shutter so as not to disturb him/her.. and it wasn’t long before whack!! he struck and got himself a nice tasty fish about 8-10 inches long so a decent meal for any bittern..

Bittern caught a fish in the reeds

Now I know he’s really hard to see but I’d been watching him through the lens as he waded around and saw him strike so I knew where he was.. but the fish you can see is in his Beak and was a tasty size.. he had 2 more of these but equally difficult to photograph as he was so far in the reeds..

he was constantly on the move just as the herons do and often appeared in the gaps in the reeds to give me a better shot..

I decided to radio through to Leanne who was in the van and let her know where I was and that I had not one now but two bitterns with me as another one had landed further in behind the first..

She mentioned Sue, most know as Perran lady who writes the ‘ around perranuthnoe blog‘ , had stopped for a chat and that she’d love to see the bittern as she had only caught a glimpse of one on a flyby before.. so leanne lent her some wellies and they came over quietly and joined me..
Sue had difficulty spotting him at first but then he kindly came out and gave a good show for her and she even managed to get herself a nice photo of him on the edge of the water.. hope it turned out well for you sue

He certainly was a splendid creature and we had the pleasure of his company for a good half hour by which time Aidan had also arrived and managed also to see him really well..

A good display of his splendour

having a stretch

Well around this point I was beginning to get a little concerned that I had now swollen from one person  to four people and didn’t want more seeing us and wondering why we were congregating,  so we decided at that point to leave the bitterns in Peace where they’d escaped the crowds at the front of the marsh and head off back to the van and go off to Perranuthnoe to shoot the surfers.. oh and have Tea of Course

Met Bob on the walk back who was perched on the Dyke intent on getting a low flying bittern shot for his collection.. I told him where two were that we’d been with and went off to the van..

All in all I was really pleased to have had the privilege to have watched a Bittern fishing for over an hour and to have walked away and left him undisturbed and happy by the side of the water enjoying the sun…

I’ll leave you with my favourite shot of the day of him..

Bittern by the edge of the water at Marazion Marsh

Thats it for today folks.. we’ll see what tommorrow brings..

Mel^

A Miserable day as days go weather wise but if you’re a positive kind of person like I try to be most of the time then you get out in the rain and shoot the windsurfers and kitesurfers off the beach at marazion, and then when it gets too rainy you go over to hayle and sit in the hide at Ryan’s field have a cuppa and see what comes along and if there’s nothing happening after an hour and its still raining and the lights fading you can always go to Lidl’s as on thursdays rather than rainy days they have new goodies.. Today was photo paper so that was £50 gone.. ah well we sell lots of prints so it was needed..

So what did come along at Ryan’s field you may ask?  well one twitcher who didn’t seem to have the gift of speech came in looked at the board and left again.. maybe we were too well camouflaged that he didn’t see us lol … but out on the water there was a Redshank, a possible 30 Widgeons I spotted 2 Curlew 8 shelduck a robin and 3 blackheaded gulls

Redshank wading at Ryan's field

Black headed gull

The weather and visibility was terrible really, even with my posh new roof prism zoom Binoculars (10×50 – 30×50) I had difficulty making out whether these were whimbrel or Curlew but the lack of the eye stripe tells me curlew in the end..

Curlew in the reeds

More visible now

The widgeons started to move a little closer which made it possible to grab a shot of them albeit a simple record shot, as were most if not all today.. I was really struggling to get anything good.

Widgeons on the Move

almost identifiable

back to the water the redshank was flying across from the other side towards us again and there was almost enough light to catch a flight shot..

Redshank in flight

He stepped out of the water and back onto the island which took us almost full circle back to where we’d started from.. So I grabbed a final shot of Him and the Black head and decided it was time to move and call at Lidl’s on my way home.. better luck tomorrow…

Back on the island

Saying Goodbye

Bye for now

Mel^

Back on the day job again today with a couple of the Windsurfers and a few kites at marazion.. Andy King out doing his usual flips forwards reverses and generally flying and Ian Blackie Black and I couldn’t quite make out who the third was.. a few lady Kiters added to the shoot and all in all was some good action about..

The wind was truly bitter though and I stood the beach for a round an hour and a half and then had a walk across to the mount over the causeway to shoot a commission, just in time to get back across as the waves were lapping at the causeway..

Not much Birldlife around in the cold wind, no doubt there would have been more over the marsh but I’ll leave that to Bob who seems to have taken up residence there over the last few days lol

I was chased up and down the beach while shooting the surfers by a pack of Sanderlings.. probably 50-60 of them so here’s a few shots I grabbed of those

and here again in flight, I just loved the one with the seaweed, he wasn’t letting go

Back at home this Morning I grabbed this fellow out on the Bird house at 20th sec hand held at 800iso so I don’t reckon thats bad.. he’s our regular song thrush..

And so over the Causeway to view and shoot some architecture for a client.. its only when you do these kind of things you realise the beauty and skill of some of our old stonemasons and sculptors.. like these for example..

The Celtic Cross that adorns the entrance to the churchyard and the statue of St Michael with spear in the serpent, his shield bearing the MS inscription.. Michael Spencer hence st Michael brand of clothes in Marks and Spencer
The church on the summit was built by the French Abbot, Bernard le Bec for the monks of Mont St Michel in the 1800′s

Nuff said

Thats the blog for today so don’t say you don’t learn things

Mel^

As many of you Know, for my day Job I shoot Surfers for my website Splashography , and thats exactly what I’d been doing over on Marazion Beach, albeit small and uncrowded.. it was worthwhile as Images sold within hours of arriving home making it all possible to go out and do it all over again..
The same couldn’t be said crossing the road to the marsh where there was the usual weekend influx of birders and dog walkers but most were crowding Bob up at the lookout section in the wall.. So I decided to wade the pool and head up the back of the marsh to get away from all those who thought a sunday stroll and chat about birds would be suitable in shoes .. I’ve lived here too long now and know the marsh well

It was still quite cold even in the sun but there was a few things about, and being I’m NOT a birder but a photographer there would always be something to catch my eye and so to shutter..

Though the first thing to do that was in fact a bird, a chaffinch which joined me as I sat on the bench in the sunshine chillaxing away from the crowd.. he joined me in the tree by the side of me and sat singing away for quite a while to me.

A snort and whinny to get my attention and I soon realised I wasn’t alone.. this lovely Chestnut Mare was in the field behind me watching me with a couple of friends.. the sun lit its face so well I turned the camera and took a few shots.

On with the walk up to the railway and along to where the Kingfisher Hide used to be didn’t really present an awful lot of inspiration photography wise but did wonders to chill the soul.. I walked back down to the pool by the stone and stood a while with a solitary mute swan..

He sat and preened for a long time then my eyes were drawn to nearby fluttering where a male stonechat was busily plucking flies out of the air and re-landing backon his branch, well twig to pose nicely in the sunshine..

I switched camera’s to a faster lens to see if I could perhaps catch him as he flew up to snatch a few flies from the air, but the best I got was this one which I think is a nice shot but his wings closed makes it look more of a jump than a flight

Still always nice to catch something moving so fast you can barely see it but the camera stops it in its tracks..

On down the path back to where the floods had closed off that side of the marsh to most people (thankfully) and there was a Blackbird busily foraging for worms at the edge of the flood water..

A meadow Pipit watched on from the other side no doubt awaiting his turn to visit the spot where the juicy worms were coming from..

and then the Stonechat, I think it was the same one, arrived again by the side of me to pose once more which made the image of the day for natural Cornwall which I’ll leave you with.. but this chap met me on the way up to the Men an Tol and I thought he was quite a spectacular Beast…

I waded across the pool again and made a decision to perhaps head up to the men an tol.. unaware that there’d be hundreds of birders there trying for a glimpse of the ringed hen harriers, however thankfully they were further up so I was undisturbed photographing the landscape and stones..

However I’ll leave you with this shot of the Stonechat which I chose as the pick of the day..

Thanks for Dropping in… please call back for regular updates and don’t forget to check out the galleries

Mel^

Was looking reasonable in the Morning but as the day went on the weather got worse with rain and mist, and by did it rain..
We started out at Sandy cove checking out the possible surf with a couple of the surfers but it didn’t happen so we headed across the bay to Marazion. Of course as we pulled into the car park it started raining and never really stopped..
In the hedge by the van a wren made his appearance in the rain  and sat there watching the weather with us so I set up the camera on the tripod and managed to grab a few nice shots of him.

He seemed rather unperturbed by the camera or me so I shot a few more images before the rain eased enough to make the decision to walk along the bay at Little London Beach.

I set off down the slip and round by the mount causeway and came across a solitary Dunlin standing in a rock pool who graciously allowed a few portraits of him..

It was around this time when it started to rain again, thankfully Aidan brought me a brolly across so I was able to at least shelter from the Thick of it.. which was quite a good job because it rained and I mean really rained. The Dunlin unperturbed simply carried omn his search for food but alol the time checking where I was and what I was doing.. which of course was photographing him.

There was no let up in the rain so keeping the camera under the brolly,(Although the professional camera’s are all weather sealed anyhow) I walked across Little London beach and up onto the ferry landing.
There were many Oystercatchers out on the rocks and the odd Redshank feeding on the seaweed.

Out in the bay I counted 6 Great Northern Divers, but with the poor light and distance they weren’t really worth photographing, but just for record purposes here’s three of them by the mount…

There was a couple of unidentified flitters across the beach or by the waters edge but too quick for me to focus on and get a good shot in the low light.. one I missed completely was a small bird around the size of a wagtail but looked all black with a whiteish  patch on the rump as it flew.. I thought possibly black redstart but couldn’t see any red…
The second was this one but again low light no speed and not quick enough into position makes it little more than a record shot.. it had strange tail feathers lik long black & white striped tassels and red legs.. if anyone know what it is I’d appreciate an email..

I stood on the landing for a while but it didn’t look as though the rain was going to stop anytime soon so I decided as the tide was coming in quite fast I’d head off back to the van for a nice cuppa and home.

Just time to shoot a wave over the black rocks in this low light I thought there’d be more movement in the shot but it was surprisingly sharp..for a change

Well that just about rounded the window in the weather up except that when I came back across the causeway of the mount I realised there actually were other people as mad as myself who were not only out on the beach in this ‘orrible wevver’ but were taking their Horses for a swim too

One thing I love about Marazion… there’s always something to photograph… whatever the weather…

Later folks!

Mel^

Yes its already looking like the tempting is beginning, it was evident today in the Teals starting their dance to attract the females.. maybe they’re just getting a little confused with this winter sun we’ve been having..
Teals are small dabbling ducks. Males have chestnut coloured heads with broad green eye-patches, a spotted chest, grey flanks and a black edged yellow tail. Females are mottled brown. Both show bright green wing patches (speculum) in flight. They are thinly distributed as a breeding species with a preference for northern moors and mires. In winter birds congregate in low-lying wetlands in the south and west of the UK. Of these, many are continental birds from around the Baltic and Siberia. At this time, the UK is home to a significant percentage of the NW European wintering population making it an Amber List species.
However there are many on the marsh at the moment and their spectacular Head banging Dance is well worth seeing.

Unfortunately its not spring yet, and as one found out while taking a brief walk across a part of the swamp which was still frozen the sun had in fact been a little warmer than expected and he promptly fell through the ice at a thinner part.

This little fellow weaved his way through the bramble and reeds keeping himself almost always well hidded behind parts of the bramble.. but for a brief second he stood on the fence planning the flight across to the next bramble patch and i was ready to catch him

There was also some flirting going on between the shoveler ducks this afternoon as they were doing a bobbing up and down routine whilst swimming round each other in a circle.. I loved this shot as its almost as if the female has a massive grin on her face.

Meanwhile away from the water there was a lot of  ferreting for food going on in the field from Thrush Redwings Snipes, oystercatchers  and pipits, not to mention lots of moorhen.

Common Snipe searching the field for food

Meadow Pipit also looking for food in the field above the marsh

There was also a lot of Thrush’s in attendance on the marsh today coming very close to the wall and affording some nice shots..

It was nice to see the Heron back out on the front fishing again today, He’s also looking rather dandy in his breeding plumage and made a few nice passes for me to photograph.

Well once again that just about wraps up todays shoot at marazion.. We did see 2 possibly 3 bitterns again today but only brief ups and down again giving us no time to focus and catch the shot.. still it was nice to see them..
Thanks for dropping by and checking out the site and images.. hopefully you’ve enjoyed some.. I’ll leave you with a shot of the lovely sunset over Paul village and Mounts Bay

Mel^

Finally, the Bitterns were showing well at Marazion marsh yesterday.. I counted three but it was confirmed there were at least four..
For those unaware of the Bird, its a thickset heron with all-over bright, pale, buffy-brown plumage covered with dark streaks and bars. It flies on broad, rounded, bowed wings. A secretive bird, very difficult to see, as it moves silently through reeds at water’s edge, looking for fish. The males make a remarkable far-carrying, booming sound in spring. Its dependence on reedbeds and very small population make it a Red List species – one of the most threatened in the UK.
Here he is flying over the marsh yesterday.

Not the prettiest of birds in my opinion but its nice to have actually caught one on camera .
There was lots of activity yesterday as the weather warmed and became almost like a spring morning in contrast to the wintery Icy snap we’d had last week.. however I fear that was not the last we’ll see of the snow and ice for this winter.

Back to our friends on the marsh.. the first thing to greet me was a female blackbird who became very curious if i had any food for her as I stood by the wall.
At least there was food around for them today, the sun and wet from the day befores rain had brought lots of insects and grubs out and it was nice to see everything feeding again..
The Shoveler ducks are still attending the area with several at Drift resrvoir and hayle estuary and a nice pair down here on the marsh.

Also many snipes are still around the marsh getting braver and less skittish about people as i’ve seen them coming closer and closer to the wall whilst feeding..

This one being closely watched by a magpie who’s no doubt waiting to steal his prey given the chance.

Not as many Redwings or fieldfares around as there had been, which is quite surprising considering the size of the flocks that were around the day before. However still lots of  Thrushes and chats.. here’s a nice song thrush who was enjoying the false spring afternoon.

Thrush on the marsh

Male Stonechat on the fence

The Robins were also out flitting amongst the Bramble and feeding wherever they could.. this chap came fairly close up for a portrait.
The Swans mallards Teals and the rest of the waterfowl family were at last able to reach their food supplies which had been frozen under thick ice for the past few days, so all in all it was rosy on the marsh once again..

and finally a last look over the marsh and the lovely reflections as evening drew in…

I hope you’ve enjoyed the journal, we’ll be doing our very best to bring you similar features from each day as we progress through the seasons..

Mel^