Hengistbury Head

I visited Hengistbury Head over the Christmas period with the intention of photographing the purple sandpipers I'd seen there in the past.  Luckily about 12 sandpipers were in their usual place on the beach groynes  and the light was good for photography.  There were also a lot of turnstones and a rock pipit feeding along the harbour shore.

Purple sandpiper

Purple sandpiper

Purple sandpiper

Purple sandpiper

Turnstone

Turnstone

Rock pipit

Rock pipit

Owls

There have been up to five short-eared owls at Papercourt Meadows in Surrey recently.  I love short-eared owls so I've been down there a coupe of times with my camera gear hoping to get some decent shots.  So far nothing great but I'm starting to learn their behaviour at this site so hopefully I'll get some decent shots next time I visit. 

The owls haven't failed to entertain.  At around 15:00 at least two or three seem to appear from nowhere and then continue to quarter the fields looking for voles.  They often have disputes when they meet each other and this results in a short chase, accompanied by lots of barking.  A barn owl has also been showing nicely at dusk.   

Short-eared owl

Short-eared owl being photographed

Short-eared owl

Barn owl

  

Otters on the Stour

An early start paid off on Sunday when I was rewarded with some great sightings of otters on the River Stour, Dorset.  The torrential rain and terrible light prevented any meaningful photography but I managed to get some interesting behavioural shots of a female leaving the holt. 

Coastal Birds of North Berwick

I've been working on the east coast of Scotland a lot this summer and have managed to get out and about a few times with the camera.  Here are some images of the coastal scenery and breeding sea birds near North Berwick.

Gannet taking flight

Gannets at Bass Rock Colony

Male Eider

The sunset at Dunbar

Male Eider

Kittiwake colony

Evening light

Kitiwake pair

Lichen on old harbour wall

Bass Rock

Red Deer Rut

I headed down to Bushy Park at the weekend to watch the red deer rut.  Luckily, two males were locking horns at sunrise, but it didn't last long.  They'd stopped by about 8:30 and headed for the shade.

Kent's Chalk Grassland

I recently visited Burham Down and Queendown Warren to look for early flowering orchids.  Both sites are SSSIs managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.  They represent excellent examples of unimproved chalk downland and have some amazing plants.  I was lucky enough to find both lady and man orchid while other species of interest included ground pine and the adonis blue butterfly.  A few of the best shots below:

Lady Orchid Orchis Purpurea



Man Orchid Aceras anthropophorum



Lady Orchid

Marden Meadows SSSI

I visited Marden Meadows SSSI this weekend for some flower photography.  I've cycle past this site several times and never stopped but last weekend the floral display was pretty amazing.  It's managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust and is one of the few traditionally managed hay meadows remaining in Kent.  The site supports thousands of green-winged orchids, meadow saxifrage and adder's-tongue in addition to numerous other less common grassland species.  Below are a few of the best shots.

Marden Meadows SSSI



Adder's-tongue Ophioglossum vulgatum

Green-winged orchid Orchis morio