Zim Girl's 5th Big Year 2022

[Zim Girl]

@Soukous, @PeterHG, @Galana and @TonyQ.  

Thank you for your lovely comments.

[Zim Girl]

RSPB Leighton Moss sits in the middle of the Arnside & Silverdale AONB (Area of outstanding natural beauty).  There are lots of smaller nature reserves, woodlands, wetlands and coastline that sit within the AONB that can be linked together to make a good day's walking.  Two areas of note are Gait Barrows NNR and Coldwell Parrock which is where Hawfinches are present.  Not easy to find though, we have tried 4 times already this year and still no luck.  Another lovely little area of woodland is called Yealand Hall Allotment (nothing to do with growing veg ).  

This cute little wren was hopping about in the undergrowth.  The first picture shows where I found it and then luckily it came a bit closer.

 

62.  Wren

 

Yealand Hall Allotment  -  02/04/22

 

[Zim Girl]

After having had a long walk around the area we drove the couple of minutes to the north of Leighton Moss and parked by the 'blue gate' entrance which takes you on a ten minute walk through woodland before reaching one of the outlying hides.  We were actually hoping to get one of the Garganeys that are currently residing on the reserve.  We found one but it was long way off so I will try again another time for that.  Instead we had nesting lapwings in front of us.

 

63.  Northern Lapwing

 

RSPB Leighton Moss  -  02/04/22

 

[Zim Girl]

On the walk back through the woods we came across the next few birds.  

 

64.  Common Pheasant

Leighton Moss  -  02/04/22

 

[Zim Girl]

65.  Coal Tit

 

Leighton Moss  -  02/04/22

[Zim Girl]

66.  Marsh Tit

 

Leighton Moss  -  02/04/22

 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful Godwit photos, love the reflections.

[Galana]

Another worthwhile excursion.

[xelas]

Beautiful birds, excellent photos!

[Kitsafari]

super shots. you caught the light beautifully on them.

[Zim Girl]

@michael-ibk, @Galana, @xelasand @Kitsafari

Thank you very much.

[Dave Williams]

Some excellent photographs in your BY. You have me thinking I might drop in to Leighton Moss on my way to Scotland at the end of June.

[Zim Girl]

On 4/8/2022 at 4:41 PM, Dave Williams said:

Some excellent photographs in your BY. You have me thinking I might drop in to Leighton Moss on my way to Scotland at the end of June.

Thank you very much Dave, and yes you should, LM is always a lovely place to walk round.

 

We dropped back in there on our way home on Saturday to have another try for the Garganey and this time we were lucky to find it a bit closer.  It is only the second time I have ever seen this duck so it gets three pics, the last one nowhere in the same league as @PeterHG's stunning example but the only time I have ever got a duck in flight!!

 

67.  Garganey

 

 

RSPB Leighton Moss  -  09/04/22

 

[Galana]

Persistence pays off. Well done.

[PeterHG]

Any (flight and non-flight) shot of a Garganey is something special and you did very well in that respect! 

[Zim Girl]

21 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Any (flight and non-flight) shot of a Garganey is something special and you did very well in that respect! 

Thank you, Peter.

[xelas]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:13 AM, Zim Girl said:

the last one nowhere in the same league as @PeterHG's stunning example

There is plenty of IQ in your Garganey photo. Just a quick basic processing has shown the potential, and I am sure @PeterHGwould be able to improve it further.

 

[Zim Girl]

Interesting @xelas.  Have you just lightened up the picture or done something else as well?  I am trying to learn a bit more about PP.  

[xelas]

I have lifted the shadows and added saturation and put it through SharpenAI (but this last step was not really needed).

 

[Zim Girl]

23 hours ago, xelas said:

I have lifted the shadows and added saturation and put it through SharpenAI (but this last step was not really needed).

 

Thank you Alex, it looks a lot better!

[Zim Girl]

Finally, I have my first lifer of the year.  This is a bird that I hear all the time at my local nature reserve but I have never seen it, let alone get close to taking a picture of it.

I was wandering around there on Monday looking for any of the summer migrants.  The day had been forecasted to be sunny but it was cloudy and threatening rain and I wasn't having much luck.  I was on the way back when I saw a bird fly low into the middle of a tree off the path.  It was well hidden but I watched it for a bit and then it sung.  OMG, a Cetti's!!

 

(Honestly, if you told me a few years ago, I would be this excited over a small LBJ, I would have thought you were bonkers), but here we are and now I was frantically trying to focus the camera beyond all the branches.  Then the damn bird dropped down out of view.  I waited, thinking I had lost my chance but it popped back up again, thankfully in a slightly better place.  A couple more photos and then it was gone.

 

A know that was a lot of narrative for a wonky picture of a small brown bird, but it is a CETTI'S 

 

68.  Cetti's Warbler

Marton Mere  -  25/04/22

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Zim Girl

[PeterHG]

A photo of a Cetti's is a major achievement and a lifer at that!

[TonyQ]

Brilliant! Well done with the Cetti’s!

It is surprising how one can slowly become a birder - we have undergone that journey as well

[Galana]

11 hours ago, Zim Girl said:

a lot of narrative for a wonky picture of a small brown bird, but it is a CETTI'S 

I think you have behaved with remarkable restraint. Congratulations on a very fine photo..

[michael-ibk]

That is a dastardly difficult bird - congratulations on the Cetti´s and on acknowledging the bonkers birder you have turned into.