A great day in London

When someone offered to show me where I could see a Tawny Owl in London I jumped at the chance. I met Wendy and Sue at Kensington Gardens and they very kindly spent the day giving me a tour of the birds of London.
As well as the Tawny Owl we saw a mumber of other lovely birds at Kensington Gardens and Wendy even fed some from her hand they were that tame!
My pics from Kensington Gardens:
25:Tawny Owl

26:Jay

27: Mallard

28:Lesser Black Backed Gull

Ok not a bird but this little chap is worthy of having his picture taken!

After Kensington Gardens we headed off to the WWT centre at Barnes. By now the weather had brightened up (slightly!). I was still trying to get used to the Ring-necked parakeets that were so common in London and yet I've never seen them anywhere else. Unable to get a photo as it was rather distant but it was lovely to see a Bittern. My pics from Barnes are below:

29. Ring Necked Parakeet

30. Tufted Duck

31. Egyptian Goose

32. Grey Heron

33. Little Grebe

34. Moorhen

35. Mute Swan

After the WWT centre we then headed off to Charring cross hospital where we saw 2 lovely peregrines. Unfortunately the light was fading badly at this point and I didn't manage any good pictures. I did see a Redwing that stayed still long enough to get a semi decent picture.

36. Redwing

All in all a fantastic day and 12 new bird species photographed. Many thanks once again to Wendy and Sue for showing me around and for their great company.

Drive home was interesting due to a sudden very intense storm but I did get to listen to Brighton progressing to the next round of the FA cup on the radio so all was good :)

A Morning at Feathers

I spent the morning over at Feathers Wild Bird Care yesterday and managed to add a few birds to the total. The light wasn't great for a lot of the morning although the sun did come out toward the end. Also really need to get a camera that doen't keep thinking I'm trying to take photos of branches and focussing on them perfectly while leaving the bird out of focus!
Anyway I managed 8 more species and was particularly pleased that the lesser redpoll turned up as it is not a common visitor there.
17. Buzzard (if a bit distant!)

18. Goldfinch

19. Great Tit

20. Greenfinch

21. Long Tailed Tit

22.Lesser Redpoll

23. Robin

24. Collared Dove

24 down - 126 to go!

Can't believe I have a Grey Phalarope before a house sparrow!

Went down to the coast today and spent an hour or 2 getting some photos prior to my son's football game in Brighton. I can't believe I have photos of a Grey Phalarope but not yet a house sparrow! Unfortunately the lightng wasn't geat (very cloudy on the coast) but got a few good shots. Also managed to add a cormorant to my list of photographed birds.
15. Grey Phalarope

16. Cormorant

Also managed to get a few more pictures of red-breasted mergansers. I particularly like the first pic as the males are trying so hard but the female looks particularly unimpressed!!

5 new birds, a new place to go photograph birds and an Albion win!

Thanks to Warren (http://pittswoodpatch.blogspot.co.uk/) I had a great morning. He showed me round his patch at Pittswood and showed me where to see a little owl - my first for over 20 years! I even managed a picture (even if it is rather blocked by branches!)
10.

Saw a number of bullfinches which was nice and generally enjoyed the great company. Saw a lot of other birds too some of which I managed to photograph.

11. Goldcrest

12. Canada Goose

13. Barnacle Goose

14. Siskin

A good afternoon as well - a 1-0 win for Brighton including the resident peregrine flying round at half time!

A morning on the coast.

Had a good morning but sadly the best photo opportunities occurred when the sun went in so the pics aren't as good as I'd like (still pleased with them though!). 141 to go :)

 

(Tried to enlarge all the pics but it only gave me the option for 2 of them for some reason - still trying to get to grips with this blogging lark!!)

 

 

6. Greater Black Backed Gull



7. Little Egret

8. Purple Sandpipers

 

 

 

 

9. Red Breasted Mergansers

 

 

 

and not a new bird but a few more turnstone pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Slow Start

So my original plan of going out on New Years Day went out of the window due to the weather. Managed to get out today and the weather was good - sadly my photography was not so good! Still the aim of this challenge is to improve my photography so hopefully by the end of the year I will be seeing some better quality pictures. I managed a few semi-decent pics which are posted below. I also got pics of Little Egret, Mute Swan and Lapwing but think I will get better pictures of them during the year so am not counting these yet. 5 down - 145 to go!!
1. Marsh Harrier

2. Dunlin

3. Grey Plover

4. Red Legged Partridge

5. Turnstone