Beardies - A Target Bird

My number one target bird for 2020 is the Bearded Tit.

So I really didn't think it would be so soon in the year that I achieved that.

However, here it is which I photographed on the 10th of January.

There were two males and two females and they remained at the same location for at least 20 minutes feeding on the seeds. 

So I shot over 1400 images, well I wanted to make sure.:))

Male

Female

Single Image Post - In Shelter

38 miles per hour winds at Ferrybridge - Weymouth is no fun sometimes especially when you have long flowing feathers.

This Little Egret found shelter tucked away in a tall bush at the edge of the tidal water that protrudes into the rear of chesel beach.

Turnstone -Amongst the Seaweed

Apart from the odd half day over the last few weeks the weather has been quite atrocious and not conducive to observing nature.

The first opportunity to go out with the camera in 2020 found me at Ferrybridge walking along the receding tide and observing a small flock of Turnstone. 

Searching amongst the seaweed for food they were difficult to keep up with and the light was poor, when it wasn't raining that is.

There were still quite a number of Brent Geese at the same location.

As I was shooting images of the Turnstone a man and woman stopped nearby and asked me if the Brent were Artic Terns!!......

.....and I thought my bird identification skills were poor.

A Senior Shelduck

I spent a while observing these two Common Shelduck while they where feeding on part of the Radipole waterways recently. In respect of the photographs here I was showing that shooting through reeds provides an alternative view of interest to a clear unobstructed view.

During this time I was able to take some shots that showed leg rings on one of the ducks. It revealed the letters 'NV' on a yellow ring on the left leg. There was also a gold ring on the right leg which I was unable to identify.

I searched the Euring website and discovered that the duck had been ringed at  Seaton Marshes Devon by the Axe Estuary Ringing Group. I made contact with the group. I was informed that the duck I had photographed had been ringed at Seaton Marshes on 23 March 2013 at which time it was assessed at being 3 years old. This of course revealed that this duck was now approximately 10 years old. This is the average life span of a Common Shelduck. This duck appeared in good health and was feeding well and appeared to have no difficulty in feeding by upending and searching below the water surface. 

Apparently it continues to be sighted at Seaton during winter.

The oldest recording ringed Common Shelduck is 19 years, 7 months, 27 days. 

An Afternoon Walk at Radipole

With a pleasant sunny afternoon happening, another brief interlude from new home preparations was in order.
So a walk around Radipole Lake seemed like a good idea.

iPhone Image

The star of the day was this Shelduck that was observed feeding on a patch of water.

Along several of the waterways there were small groups of Teal Duck.

This female Reed Bunting below was not an easy target, but the images were good enough to show.

I also found a pair of Stonechat that moved about some distant reeds. 

They came into clear view on a few occasions.

This is a favourite spot for the Grey Heron.

Male House Sparrows

Spot the Marsh Harrier

This male was a long way away from my position and these are heavily cropped shots.

It was all too soon that the sun soon moved low in the sky and it was only minutes away from setting when I left.

iPhone Image