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Tuesday 20 December 2016

SOME OF MY FAVOURITES.

May I first take to opportunity to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR.


This post is a bit of a mixture of self indulgence and also the case of not having any decent images to post, the weather last Thursday was so poor, Richard and myself managed very little of use to put on a post, we found we were shooting at high ISO and still only attaining very slow speeds. The only good thing to come out of our afternoon out was revisiting a site I had found previously and finding fifteen Red Kites all flying and circling together, it was worth the afternoon out just to see them.

We managed to see some Little Owls at Sites 4, 8 & 9, looking back through my records, this is the first sighting at Site 4 since 11th August 2015.

I hope we get some decent weather this Thursday so I have some images for a post.




Short Eared Owl. 21st March 2016. Cossington Meadows.

Last Winter was enhanced for me with the visit by three Shorties. They were reasonably accessible all through the Winter. So far this Winter we have the occasional sighting of a single bird. 



Robin 18th February 2016. Cossington Meadows.

This little beauty visited me most of the Winter, in fact I would say I was feeding it with biscuits most visits. Eventually it decided to feed out of my hand and another gent took my camera and got the image for me. 




Male Osprey 51/11. Lagoon 4, Dunlin Hide.

This bird and a female took up the nest platform on Lagoon 4 and eventually laid a single egg, only to have the egg destroyed by Egyptian Geese the following day. The Male moved onto another site within the Reservoir and the female moved to Dyfi in Wales. I have already had next years duties mailed to me so it will not be that long before these wonderful birds return. 




Large Red Damselfly, Female, Pond Outside the Lyndon Centre
.
A very small pond was constructed some years ago outside the centre and for the last two years we have seen these Damselflies.



Pair of Juvenile Kestrels, Our Garden after adults Ousted Our Barn Owls.

Wonderful to watch and take images but we would still have loved for the Barn Owls to return and be in residence.





Common Blue Butterfly, Barnack Hills and Holes.

Such a beautiful butterfly, which we had gone to see and as it happened were lucky. 



Emperor Dragonfly, Lake to Rear of Garden.

This was not a five minute job to get the image, luckily it was a little windy so caught on the upwind pass which slowed it down. 



Brown Hawker Dragonfly, Female Oviposting, Alvecote Woods. 

I only managed the one visit to this site, site found by Richard, but plan some more visits next year.  



Marbled White Butterfly, Ketton Quarry.

Another stunning Butterfly that we saw in reasonable numbers on this visit. We will be visiting this site again as well next Year, 



Great White Egret, Shoveler Hide, Lagoon 3.

We appear to have a resident three birds at the Reservoir at the moment. Have seen them several times, in fact during most visits. 



 Hare, Near Eyebrook Reservoir.

This taken on a Saturday evening after going for a picnic tea to get some images of the Ospreys. Saw this Hare on my way home.





Glossy Ibis, Cossington Meadows.

It took a few visits to get this bird with the Glossy feathers showing, its a case of getting the bird in the correct position in relation to the sun, a really stunning bird .




VISIT OUT.
15th December.





Little Owl Site No. 8.



The only reasonable image got in the whole afternoon, we were both amazed that we even managed to get this.




Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed my selection of images. 

16 comments:

  1. Oh brilliant, I loved them. It is hard the best, so I won't bother. Thanks John for those pictures.

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    1. Hi Bob and thanks for the visit, glad you liked my selection, sad however that the weather has been so dull, hopefully we will all be able to get out with some sun soon. Look after yourself and have a wonderful Christmas. Regards John

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  2. Unas imágenes realmente bellas, con mucha calidad. Un abrazo desde España. Feliz Navidad!!!

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    1. Hi German, Glad you enjoyed the images, hopefully you are having better weather in Spain. Have a wonderful Christmas and please send us some of your sun. All the best from England. Regards John

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  3. Wow, John, what a wonderful set of images! You've certainly had some great results in 2016.

    Looks like we're going to get plenty of sunshine tomorrow - sadly with strong winds! It might make photographing Red Kites more interesting.

    See you soon - - - Richard

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    Replies
    1. Hi Richard, bit of a cheat using old images but all I had available after last weeks weather. Glad you like the post. Lets hope the forecasters are for once correct and we get the sunshine, the wind we can hopefully deal with, catch the beggars as they are going up wind. See you in the morning. John

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  4. such wonderful sightings and images!
    A joy to see each one!

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    1. Hi Tammie and thank you for your visit, so glad you have enjoyed the post, all the best and have a good Christmas. Regards John

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  5. Super selection of past images! Enjoyable to view again. Best wishes for Christmas and New Year. M.

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  6. Hi Margaret, glad you have enjoyed the visit, almost a copy of your calendar so you will see them through the year. You both have a good Christmas and don't worry, you will soon be playing golf again. Regards John

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  7. If these images are not decent, I don't what is!!
    I might as well resign from photography, then! LOL!
    This Short-eared owl is a real winner!
    How rewarding to have this Robin befriend you like this and eat out of your hand!

    Lovely set of photos, a recap of this year, I believe!
    I had thought of doing something along those lines too, but the flue made me very lazy...!
    I wish you a great new year, may 2017 bring you what you really wish for and good health for you and your loved ones!
    Thanks for your very kind words John, much appreciated :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Noushka, so glad you have managed a visit and hopefully feeling a lot better. The flue is a horrible bug that comes around every Winter, luckily for us older citizens we get the flue jab and hopefully miss the bug. The Shorties really were a bonus last Winter, you could almost be certain of seeing them on a visit and the Robin was another wonderful little thing, in the end I could call it and it was with me. It loved Hobnob biscuits. All the best to you and hope you have a better year in 2017 and thank you for your visits and useful comments and advice. Regards John

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  8. FELIZ 2017!!! Que todos tus sueños se cumplan en el año nuevo John. Un fuerte abrazo desde España.

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  9. Hi German and thanks for the visit. Lets hope we can both fulfil our image wishes in 2017. All the best from England to you. Regards John

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  10. That Short-eared Owl is superb! You have really captured the essence of the bird. Great job, John!

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  11. HI Both, the Shorties were wonderful last year, we had three all Winter at Cossington Meadows that is resonably close to us, spent many a happy hour with them getting images. All the best John

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About Me;


Titus White:
Hi I am Richard Peglers friend Titus White, and those who follow Richards posts will understand the name and reason for it. I have been birding with Richard for 3 years and a volunteer at Rutland Water on the Osprey Project for 2 years. My early images were taken on a Nikon D80 with a 70 - 200mm lens. I updated the lens to a 70 - 300mm VR lens but still was not happy with the results. Eventually when Nikon announced the D7100 I decided to change so upgraded the camera and also invested in a Sigma 50 - 500mm lens.
I first met Richard through Arthur Costello as I was having the occasional visit from Little Owls on our land. We eventually found the Little Owls through another contact about 100 metres away. Photo's will follow on future posts.
I have recently upgraded my camera to full frame, this is a challenge I am at the moment enjoying trying to get the best out of the beast.
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