Mike's Natural Musings: Snow Bunting

Showing posts with label Snow Bunting. Show all posts

Monday, 22 February 2016

Shore Lark and Snow Buntings at Cleethorpes.

I was up early this morning to do the rounds of the feeding stations to top up the feeders. As it was a cracking morning I decided to have a trip down to Cleethorpes to attempt to find the shore lark that has been showing well recently. I had no difficulty locating the bird when I parked up; all I had to do was look for the photographers. By the time I had squidged through the mud of the salt marsh the bird had flown off. Undeterred I wandered down the beach to see if I could find any snow buntings. It didn't take me long to find a group of four that were extremely confiding; in fact I nearly trod on them!!! Having spent some time watching and photographing these delightful birds I walked back to see if the shore lark had returned. By now the other photographers had left so when I found the bird I had it to myself. If I thought that the buntings were confiding this was remarkably so and as well as photographing it I had wonderfully close views with the naked eye.

To view large, please click on an image

Little Egret

Shore Lark

Snow Bunting

Shore Lark

Snow Bunting

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Plenty of Snow Buntings at a Freezing Cleethorpes

As a good bright day was forecast I decided on a trip down to Cleethorpes to see if the snow buntings were still around. On the way I called in at the country park to see if anything was happening there. There was nothing of note on the lake and no sign of the kingfisher or any other photographers so I headed back to the car. From the car park though a sparrowhawk flew in to perch in a tree on the edge of the island so I quickly got the camera out and mounted it to the monopod. Before I could get near, however, it was disturbed by another hawk and there was a brief mid air tussle before they both flew off. A pair??

From the park it was but a couple of minutes before I was parking up by Buck Beck and making my way across the frozen saltmarsh and creeks to the beech. There was a very cold northerly wind and the beech and creeks were frozen. Straight away the flock of snow buntings were easily found but before I could reach them they were disturbed by dog walkers, a regular problem when photographing down here. The birds flew north so I followed along the edge of the dunes. It wasn't long before I spotted another photographer intent on getting close to the birds and then ensued a game of cat and mouse with them for the next couple of hours; enjoyable, but very frustrating. The birds feed on seeds and vegetation on the ground, either beach, dunes or saltmarsh and are constantly on the move; very awkward to get shots. As soon as the photographer works his way carefully to get close enough for pictures they whirl up like a blizzard and settle in another spot, often at the other end of the marsh. During the morning there were other birds around: plenty of pipits and reed buntings and the odd yellowhammer and crow.

Once I had filled my memory card I opted to pay a visit to the boating lake to secure some pictures of pochard, coot and tufted duck.

A very successful and enjoyable morning.

To view large, please click on an image.

Brent Goose

Crow

Reed Bunting, female

Snow bunting

Yellowhammer

Coot

Pochard

Tufted Duck

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Failure with the Long-Tailed Duck but Success with the Snow Buntings.

Although I was successful in photographing the long-tailed duck at Humberston yesterday, and pleased with the images, the light was rather poor. In view of this I decided to return this morning in bright sun. Unfortunately before I arrived an aquatic dog had frightened it away and all I found were one or two disconsolate photographers. Not to be defeated I drove the shot distance to Buck Beck car park and set off across the marsh to the outer dunes. The first bird I came across was a very tame turnstone which was so intent on feeding underneath a clump of seaweed it let me walk right up to it. Getting into position was a different matter but eventually I managed to get between it and the dunes to get a clear shot. Further along were two of the photographers I had met up with at the Fitties and they seemed to have their eyes on the snow buntings. They had found one of two flocks of about 30 birds but they were becoming increasingly skittish and difficult to photograph. Once settled though they proved particularly confiding but difficult to find in long grass.

To see the image large, click on a thumbnail.

All taken with Canon 7D with 500mm lens and 1.4 converter. ISO 800 f5.6

Snow Bunting

Turnstone

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Two more sessions with the Snow Buntings.

Having had a good day with the snow buntings on Sunday 3rd November, I decided to have an early start down at the Fitties on Monday morning and then move on to see if the snow buntings were still there. I arrived at The Fitties yacht club before sunrise and just as the tide was beginning to recede. It had been a big tide and had brought large numbers of waders high up the beach. It was beautiful down there and I had the world to myself; the only sounds being the sea, wind and slightly bad tempered mutterings of the wader flocks as they jostled for position. I was delighted above this to hear the very distinctive sound of two whooper swans as they flew in from the sea, a majestic sight. Sadly it was still nearly dark and so I took no pictures. As the waders began to move I was delighted to get a shot of them against the sky which was painted orange by the rising sun.
Moving on to the dunes, it was good to see that the snow buntings were still there. I was also pleased to capture photographs a sanderling running in and out of the tide.
I thought that was going to be it for the buntings but last night I received a message from two friends who had not yet been to see them to see if I was up for another session. Not one to refuse I was down at the car park early to meet Roger and Dave. The tide was still up and had brought a good number of little egrets into the near marsh. As I waited the large numbers of waders began to leave their roost sites. The sight of then wheeling in the sky like smoke is amazing. When they turn to show their undersides they gleam silver for a while before turning again to become grey, smokey and ethereal. Once we had waded out to the dunes we soon came upon the snow buntings. Their numbers had increased to about thirty and when they flew and tumbled over the beach as they moved from one feeding spot to another they became a blizzard of snow flakes. Wonderful! Now their numbers have increased they seem more skittish, however.