Tdgraves big(gest?) year 2017

[Tdgraves]

@xelas thanks for the invitation. As it happens our Christmas plans have fallen through, due to the very early arrival of my nephew, so i’ll run it past the OH...

[Tdgraves]

@Towlersonsafari we used to live in the chilterns, so were really spoilt with red kites - I miss hearing them call every day....

[Dave Williams]

You have been flying along in my absence. Some great birds!

 

[Tdgraves]

Now I am really scraping the barrel as the year draws to a close...

 

iPhone 8, M4 motorway service station, 8/12/17

 

 

348) Rook

Edited December 16, 2017 by Tdgraves

[Tdgraves]

iPhone 8, NT Cotehele, Cornwall, 7/12/17 (as they are refusing to come to the garden at present...)

 

 

349) Coal tit

Edited December 16, 2017 by Tdgraves

[Tdgraves]

We went to cornwall for a few days last week and the weather wasn't very kind, but we did get out one day to the coast and saw a couple of birds, including a new species for me!

 

 

Rame Head Heritage Coast, Cornwall, 5/12/17

 

Canon 7D mark II, 100-400 mark II, ISO 800, f 5.6, 1/320

 

 

350) Meadow pipit

[Tdgraves]

Rame Head Heritage Coast, Cornwall, 5/12/17

 

Canon 7D mark II, 100-400 mark II, ISO 1600, f 7.1, 1/250

 

 

351) Eurasian stonechat

[Tdgraves]

Rame Head Heritage Coast, Cornwall, 5/12/17

 

Canon 7D mark II, 100-400 mark II, ISO 1600, f 5.6, 1/250

 

 

Canon 7D mark II, 100-400 mark II, ISO 1600, f 5.6, 1/640

 

 

352) Winter wren

[Tdgraves]

iPhone 8, NT Cotehele, Cornwall, 7/12/17Rame Head Heritage Coast, Cornwall, 5/12/17

 

 

353) Rock dove

Edited December 16, 2017 by Tdgraves

[Tdgraves]

I also saw my first ever nuthatch at NT Cothele, posing nicely on top of a wall, but no time to grab my phone to get a shot

 

I still walked around with a grin for the rest of the afternoon though!

[Tdgraves]

There is other wildlife at Rame head....

 

 

you can't just fire off shots in the dark UK winter conditions though....1/640 nowhere near enough to freeze this

 

 

And we later flushed a stage about 1.5 metres away from us, which is the closest I have got to a deer in the wild and that includes my garden!

[Tdgraves]

Unlikely to get any more this year, unless the weather is conducive to a festive walk, leading to some unusual geese, so here's one for Christmas that we found in the wild (not a garden) in Cornwall, seemed very keen to pose

 

[TonyQ]

Some nice additions, and passing 350 is a fine achievement! I was also thinking I am unlikely to get any new birds this year - but you have a lovely Robin as a possible final shot.

 

well done on your Nuthatch. It is interesting to see what birds are common or uncommon in different parts of the country.

[Peter Connan]

Well done on exceeding 350! Some more great photos.

[Tdgraves]

There were also large flocks of black birds at Rame Head, that I had just assumed were crows. I paid no more attention to them, not looking with bins or taking any proof shots. It was only when I got home and looked at my book, that I discovered that ravens occur there and could easily have been the black birds that we saw 

 

today’s lesson - always take a proof shot. To that end, I am annoyed that I can find no such proof shot of the spur-winged geese that we saw in matusadona or a myna bird from South Africa...

[Galana]

Congratulations on the 350. A useful step up. Rock Doves??

[Tdgraves]

@Galana well, that’s what they are derived from. Told you, scraping the barrel!

 

I was due to go to Suffolk for Christmas, so figured I could get to minsmere and the beach in the hope of bagging a few more, but that’s been scuppered by my sister having a baby 3 months before it was due....

 

I even scanned through my recent Zim pics last night tying to find a yellow-billed oxpecker,  but to no avail.

[Galana]

 

On 21/12/2017 at 7:47 PM, Tdgraves said:

 

@Galana well, that’s what they are derived f

 

True enough but..........would you tick a Rhode Island Red for Red Jungle fowl?Back to @xelas and his farm yard ducks!!!

Unexpected babies . Is that not what caused Christmas in the first place?

[Tdgraves]

Hwange National Park, 6/9/17

 

Canon 7D mark II, 100-400 mark II, ISO 160, f8, 1/500

 

Finally managed to find a picture out of the thousands!!

 

 

354) Yellow-billed oxpecker

[Tdgraves]

too lazy to go out this weekend and the very slim chances of finding anything new were not enough to encourage me to do so. Therefore, 2017 ends on 354, which I am very pleased with. Over a 100 more than least year and definitely my biggest year yet, as suggested in the title. If only i’d caught a couple of the new ones from Zim, or managed a snap of a myna, I might have stood more chance of giving @Dave Williams and @xelas a run for their money.....

 

Anyway, I am very happy with my total, as there is no way i’ll be able to get even close to it next year, as both safaris are booked for South Africa, so we will have less diversity. So, what to call my 2018 big year???

[Dave Williams]

350+  is a great figure and it's harder than you imagine it will be to achieve it. 

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations on concluding your third year - many great shots along the way! Where in South Africa are you going? 

[Tdgraves]

Thanks @michael-ibk off to the annual Kruger pilgrimage in 26 days and Kgalagadi in September 

[Peter Connan]

Very well done! Just 11 short of averaging one a day is a stunning achievement.

[Tdgraves]

11 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Very well done! Just 11 short of averaging one a day is a stunning achievement.

 

And one not to be repeated for a while I fear @Peter Connan