Foxy has a cunning plan onwards and upwards.

[PeterHG]

Well, perhaps no additions for the BY, but a great set of photos! You must have enjoyed spending time there. Would the gull be able to kill a healthy adult or was the puffin already injured? Made for some spectacular shots either way!

[Dave Williams]

59 minutes ago, PeterHG said:

Well, perhaps no additions for the BY, but a great set of photos! You must have enjoyed spending time there. Would the gull be able to kill a healthy adult or was the puffin already injured? Made for some spectacular shots either way!

 

Well, I keep on going back Peter although I usually tell Claire I probably won't next year. This time was an exception though. I had one of, if not the most enjoyable visits. The weather was exceptional, perhaps too good. The birding wasn't quite as good as there were no Terns to photograph and a lack of wind, particularly at the right time of day meant finding places to shoot flying and landing birds were few and far between BUT I laughed more than I have done in a long while. Laughed so much it brought tears to my eyes on occasion! Superb therapy and proof I'd chosen my travelling companions well. It was the first time I had total control on the other residents!! I hope to return next year!

 

With reference to the Puffin kill, there is no doubt a Great Black-backed Gull will predate a healthy Puffin. I have even seen them swallowed whole in the past. The Puffin is a strong flyer but they are not that agile. A Gull will take one out with ease it seems. On this trip I witnessed three such kills. 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Dave Williams

[PeterHG]

Thanks for the info, Dave and it’s good to hear you had a good time. Having a good laugh with friends is therapeutic indeed!

[Ginny]

@Dave WilliamsThese are great photos!  I look forward to more. Where were you standing?  It appears to be a precipitous place!

[Dave Williams]

14 hours ago, Ginny said:

@Dave WilliamsThese are great photos!  I look forward to more. Where were you standing?  It appears to be a precipitous place!

Thanks for the comment . The Isle of May is a small island off the east coast of Scotland in the Firth of Forth .it's only small, a mile or so long by about a quarter wide. Over the years it has been used as a Lighthouse site to warn shipping heading towards Edinburgh and the Forsyth Naval Dockyards. It has once been home to an Abbey, indeed the rabbits are all descended from the ones the Monks brought to the island for food and without them there wouldn't be the ready made homes for 45,000 pairs of Puffins. Nowadays it's a seabird and seal research centre but also welcomes daily visitors who come to admire the resident species which also is a stopping off for migrant species in Spring and Autumn. There are some flatter areas but also some fairy precipitous cliffs too and that's where many birds make their nests.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Dave Williams

[Galana]

Nice shots indeed. Good to hear you had such a good time of it too.

[Peter Connan]

Thet Razorbill shot is incredible Dave!

[xelas]

Excellent photos! They brought tears to my eyes ... for the missed opportunity.

[pedro maia]

More photos, please!

[Dave Williams]

18 hours ago, pedro maia said:

More photos, please!

 

You might like my Puffin video Pedro. It's slightly long but it replicates what it' like to sit on the cliff top watching the Puffin behaviour. There a few more still shots from the Isle of May on my Flickr site too.

 

[pedro maia]

Brilliant Dave, the video and the pictures!

[Zim Girl]

Fantastic set of pictures!

[Dave Williams]

Foxy has at least tempted me to the bedroom window even if I haven't ventured out much further of late as the weather hasn't always been the best and I have a backlog of jobs to do in the garden. It's fast becoming that quiet time of the year.

When not outside I have been going through old shots and culling many to make the files more manageable. In the process I remembered I had a rather poor shot of a 619)Lesser Grey Shrike taken in Lesvos in the peak heat of the day.

I have already included Southern Grey Shrike from a trip to Spain last year but that is now classified as a different species. Lucky I found it because in the process of updating my spread sheet I found a duplicated Yellow-legged Gull so this replaces it at No 619 

[Galana]

Good shrike.

Your Guide must be even older than mine (2009) as I have them already split.

[PeterHG]

Great photo of the fox through your bedroom window!

[Dave Williams]

On 7/20/2023 at 12:00 PM, Galana said:

Good shrike.

Your Guide must be even older than mine (2009) as I have them already split.

Guide book is up to date, I'd just forgotten to add this one.

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful fox shot!

[xelas]

What a lovely foxy!

[michael-ibk]

Agree, very cool sighting and photo!

[Dave Williams]

With nothing better to do on a typical wet summer day I started to cull my overloaded South African shots from last year and look what I found! Taken near Berg-en-Dal in KNP.

621)Pale Flycatcher

Pale Flycatcher.  BY621     South Africa 2022 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Galana]

Out of time.

Oh, OK then.

[Dave Williams]

I have just got back yesterday from a week staying near Minsmere where a week ago I added some new additions including a few "lifers",he first being @Soukous who met me at 6.30 am despite having a fair drive to get there . A pleasure it was to meet you too Martin taking my ST list to 3 "live" meet ups.

A walk around the reserve for my first visit since 2009,was not that productive photographically and frustratingly for Martin made worse by the fact that later in the day this American vagrant arrived on site and stayed for 4 days. It took me 5 visits to the best hide for viewing before I got to see it and my lack of trips out in recent months showed when I messed up badly on some settings for what could have been a good flight shot but there you go. I , for reasons not needed had halved my ISO from 1600 to 800 which halved  my shutter speed down to 1/1250sec just seconds before it took off. 

 

BY 622)Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper.     BY622 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

 

 I was using a 2x TC on my 500mm lens as well as the 1.6 in body crop which I had set earlier in the day and forgotten about. Grr! Still, it was my birthday and what a session I had too, by far the best of the week.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

What Martin and I did see though were two Sandpipers that didn't seem to be getting on too well with one chasing off the other. It was only later I realised one was a Common, the other a Green. A couple of days later I got some better views and photo opportunities and added what is only my sixth new UK addition to my ongoing Big Years list. 

623)Green Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper.      BY's 623 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

Edited September 18, 2023 by Dave Williams

[Dave Williams]

My UK mammals list has shot up this year with two new lifers in recent weeks. My first outing with my camera since a June visit to the Isle of May was in search of Risso's Dolphins off the coast of Anglesey, North Wales. It was so enjoyable I went a second time a week later and hardly saw one. A shame as I had picked up some ideas I wanted to put in to practice to improve my shots.

I'll stick with this one for now then!

Risso's Dolphin  Wales by Dave Williams, on Flickr

In Minsmere last week I saw my first ever Water Vole too, kneeling on chicken wire that acts as a non slip cover for the board walk is painful in itself but leaning through a gap in the wooden rail to try and get an angle without the reeds in the way was worse. Still, I'm almost happy with the result but I'm not sure how long I can carry on physically trying to get shots like this at my age. Another year clocked up last week!

Water Vole by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[PeterHG]

A very good birthday session with a beautiful lifer! I’ve never seen one either and the same goes for your mammals.