Full Moon

Seen this evening here in East Cheshire UK

 

apeture F11

shutter speed 1\125S

iso 200

 

Skua Cruise 2012 pt1

This years North Sea Skua Cruise off Bridlington Harbour almost came and went without as much as a ripple ..... just like the sea that we sailed upon.

Warm, clear skies and a mill pond for a sea as we left the harbour.

 

The usual Northern Gannets were in good numbers, some followed the boat while others plunge dived at shoals of fish further out of the bay..... that was a good direction for us to head out to.

 

 

plenty of juveniles had already left the cliffs

 

Fantastic numbers of Guillimots.

 

 

the adults moult their flight feathers and become sea bound for a short period so with the inability to fly they take evasive paddling actions to avoid the swell from the boat

 

the odd Puffin and Razorbills aswell

 

 

Of course it isnt called the Skua cruise for nothing and we were soon onto a dark Phase Arctic Skua, this bird wasnt in the mood for a fight so flew in and out without showing any aggression

 

 

The daddy of the Skuas made a few appearances and again without too much fuss they mostly flew alongside for only a moment or two...

 

Great Skua

 

 

however the best was saved for last....

 

a life bird for me, prolonged stunning views, Skua attacks and a magical 10 minutes

Pomerine Skua

 

I have put up a dedicated post to this bird a few days ago but here are a few images of this brute of a bird

 

 

there were some other fine birds on view

 

Great Black Backed Gull

 

 

Arctic Tern (also Common and Sandwich Terns)

 

 

Northern Fulmar

 

 

of those that didnt make it onto film were Little Gull, Red Throated Diver and Common Scoter

 

However the RNLI did make an appearance as they rescued a stranded jet skier

 

 

Flamborough Headland

 

Wild Bird Wednesday

 

 

 

Pomerine Skua

A new life bird this morning - Pomerine Skua

 

This really is a brute of a bird

It came from what seemed like nowhere and straight into the flock of mixed gulls at the back of the boat, it attacked a few birds that may have had food and seemed to leave and keep a little distance away.... possibly with its stolen catch.

Click on any image for a more detailed view and to access the slideshow

 

 

it came back along side the boat giving unbelievable views

 

 

 

 

 

coming around for another attack

 

even warriors need to rest

 

No apologies for the amount of images of the same bird, it really was a special few minutes

 

Patara - SW Turkey

as part of the family holiday we drove the hour or so to Patara  Here is its history, It was an ancient Lycian city and not a roman as I initially thought Lycians. Of course I hoped for a few species of bird while we visited but I conclude that the intense heat made birding nigh-on impossible and of the few species seen only Woodchat Shrike and White Stork stood out.

Amphitheatre at Patara

 it is hard to believe that this whole stadium was hidden under sand and not discovered until the 1980s, that must have been some dune!



Matty climbs to the top of the Amphitheatre



                 and takes his seat



this must have been one of the posh seats as it has a back rest although the gentry of the time may have had silk cushions.

I wonder what this says....

Patara Bouleuterion (Counsel head quarters)

This is a replica of the origianl building that is now on show at the site, it has been rebuilt using alot of the original stone that had been preserved underneath the sand, however new stone made to match has been used to fill in the gaps

an Inside view

and looking from the outside in

Where columns once stood

and then rebuilt from fragments

part of the ancient city

and of course the White Storks

 

Inner Marsh Farm rspb

Just had  time on Sunday for a couple of hours across the county at Inner Marsh Farm (IMF)

The weather was miserable but a bit of fresh air never did any harm....

Only a couple of images and as the weather wasnt condusive to light and anyhow it was fairly quiet on the species count but a large flock of 200 Greylag geese greeted me at the reserve entrance

Black Tailed Godwits are usually in good numbers here, but even today only 80 or so were willing to put up with the, for the most part driving rain....

feeding, resting and preening

the Avocets have done well this year and here shows a juvenile with a parent

Other species on show were Little Egrets, Grey Heron, Teal, Mallard, Snipe, Greenshank and Redshank.

The Greenshank are a wonderful Wader species, unfortunatly today they were just out of photo range but here is one from another visit last year ..... even if it isnt quite showing off its green shanks.

just before leaving for home and close to IMF at Burton Marsh I saw this fella

At first I thought Little Egret but turns out to be a Great White Egret

and just to round off the mornings trip how about a couple of Marsh Harriers

a superb end to the morning