AA Birdpix, Birds, Travel and More

 Yesterday I ventured out for the first time since returning from Sri Lanka, as I'm contemplating the processing of a huge number of photos, and there's normal life in there somewhere!  I went to photograph the Lesser Yellowlegs at Frampton. Although I saw the bird in October, constant messages indicating the bird was in the car park opposite the visitor centre warranted investigation, and I had seen the species at Frampton before but not managed a decent photo. My plan was to arrive at first light and return home for breakfast. There was one other birder in the car park and we set out to look for the bird. The light wasn't quite good enough yet to see the leg colour well, and as there were a number of Redshanks around it made for an interesting search. However as it was one of the closest birds it didn't take long, and I called the other chap back as he had wandered in the wrong direction. This is one of the reasons I find Frampton the best reserve in the country, ther...

Eight Owls a Week   Just got back from Sri Lanka where I was too busy birding to write anything. I went on an organised tour with Rockjumper and found my old friend Stu Elsom was one of the leaders. From a young, ultra-keen twitcher he has become head of his own Independent Ecological Consultancy, and is a very busy man. Thankfully most businesses are now saying "what do we need to do?" rather than "how can we get round the environmental regulations" which is a step forward, and I can only applaud people like Stu for the work he is doing. As if running his business weren't enough, Stu still twitches, and has led tours for many years, first for Sunbird and now Rockjumper, quite honestly the Sri Lanka tour was the best I have been on, although most of my travels have been expedition cruises or self-organised. The main reason was a team of local guides, led by Ashoka Jayarathne, who were looking for certain species in advance of our going to the sites. One morning ...

I had intended something different for my second post, but when "announcing" my blogging prescence on Facebook I added a photo of a Slender-billed Curlew, which attracted a few comments, so, with apologies to the "haven't seens" of this world, I'll continue. I've been looking on the web and it seems that there are very few photos of Slender-billed Curlew, and only one video of Merja Zerga birds. This is understandable as most birders back in the 80's and early 90's didn't have cameras, and those that did, like myself, could rarely get close enough for good shots. I know there are others, I digitised one for Vaughan Ashby, but most will be distant record shots blown up. When using film (remember that?) this results in much loss of quality, in fact I didn't put mine on my website for years because I didn't consider it good enough, I still don't but because of the paucity of shots I've reversed that  decision.                    ...

 I was 70 when I bought my first smartphone, at 73 this is my first blog. Many out there will know us, Ann and I used to sell rarity photos back in the 1990s. We have a great lifestyle travelling the world to view and photograph birds and other wildlife, although unfortunately Ann now suffers from arthritic knees which has curtailed activities somewhat. I don't get out in the field so much now either, but have recently returned from Shetland.  People were getting excited about a Veery and a White-crowned Sparrow, but I was over the moon to get my first photo of a White's Thrush. None of the birds were ticks, the ticks turned up just before (Blackburnian Warbler) and just after (Yellow Warbler) my trip. It didn't matter in the slightest, the main thing to me was the experience on Shetland. I obviously passed on my enthusiasm, Ann's coming next year. Apart from it being a mini-version of birding in the 1990's I have friends who live there, in a later blog I'll tel...