Wild Birds of Europe

[DorsetWildlife]

Egret in flight with fish

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

Don't think we have a tick for spotted redshank yet?

 

[Jan1977]

Didn't know the spotted redshank , only know the common redshank:

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

Didn't know the spotted redshank , only know the common redshank:

Truth be told, I had never heard of it, either. I was coming back from a walk at Aberlady Nature Reserve, trying to photograph butterflies, and had a seat to have a drink and a bite to eat before heading home. A guy with binoculars came over, having seen the camera. He asked me how I had got on. I told him I had been butterfly hunting. The mudflats bordering the estuary bay were full of greylag geese, which I wasn't bothered about. He said there was a spotted redshank in among the geese. This was the first I knew of its existence. I had to get him to point out exactly where it was. It was so distant, and small, compared to the geese. Eventually, I got it. I managed to get a bit closer, but not much, so massive crops at 560 mm.

Darker than common redshank, with an eye stripe and a longer bill, which has a characteristic slight downturn at the tip...

I don't know if it only has one leg, but every shot I took only has one leg visible.

It was difficult to spot among the geese, due to the difference in size and the vast number of geese...

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

I now feel I should make a gesture with the greylags - didn't mean to dis them...

 

[Jan1977]

Truth be told, I had never heard of it, either. I was coming back from a walk at Aberlady Nature Reserve, trying to photograph butterflies, and had a seat to have a drink and a bite to eat before heading home. A guy with binoculars came over, having seen the camera. He asked me how I had got on. I told him I had been butterfly hunting. The mudflats bordering the estuary bay were full of greylag geese, which I wasn't bothered about. He said there was a spotted redshank in among the geese. This was the first I knew of its existence. I had to get him to point out exactly where it was. It was so distant, and small, compared to the geese. Eventually, I got it. I managed to get a bit closer, but not much, so massive crops at 560 mm.

Darker than common redshank, with an eye stripe and a longer bill, which has a characteristic slight downturn at the tip...

I don't know if it only has one leg, but every shot I took only has one leg visible.

It was difficult to spot among the geese, due to the difference in size and the vast number of geese...

I'm not much of a birder, more a photographer. When I go out I like to take my camera as it is more fun than just walking around and also because shooting different subjects helps to improve skill in general (birding/ wildlife is nice to train your aiming and tracking skills with long glass). So I do not miss out on rare species as I'm not aware. Sometimes there are groups of photographers, so I know there must be some rare species hanging around, but don't feel the need to join in and get a shot. I shoot opportunistic and just see what I come across and behind the computer try to identify which species I saw.

 

[DorsetWildlife]

Grey Heron in flight

 

[biggles2002]

 

[Lester Wareham]

Coal tit (Periparus ater)
birds coal tit A03_20-08-22_008 by Lester W, on Flickr

 

[DorsetWildlife]

Grebe at Blashford Lakes

 

[DorsetWildlife]

Grebe family at our local pond

 

[biggles2002]

 

[PietZA]

We recently visited my daughter, who’s living in Amsterdam—and I can now join the Wild Birds of Europe club (albeit a bit tongue-in-cheek). But before you judge my photos too harshly, please note: I only had an 18-135mm lens with me!

 

[Lester Wareham]

Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata)
birds Dartford W A03_007_15-05-23 by Lester W, on Flickr

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

Fieldfares - away across a field...

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

Bearded reedlings (aka bearded tits), Firth of Tay, Scotland...

 

[Lester Wareham]

Bearded reedlings (aka bearded tits), Firth of Tay, Scotland...

Wonderful, you had a really good session there.

 

[Lester Wareham]

birds Long Tailed tit E01_000_28-01-23 by Lester W, on Flickr

 

[Cap'n Fishy]

On the Firth of Forth this afternoon...

Male goldeneye...

Female goldeneye...

Wigeon...

 

[biggles2002]