30th June 2012

With the weather again uncertain I decided to head back to Napton Churchyard,Warks for another crack at the Spot Flys!! On arrival was met by Ken,Stu & Andy with Kath etc a little later on & we were not let down with the birds giving cracking views!! A few below with plenty more on my website

28th June 2012

With a day off & the weather looking not so good i decided on a trip to Napton-on-the-Hill graveyard for a go at the Spotted Flycatchers! With this bird now at best very scarce in Warks the chance of getting some nice shots & getting wet were worth taking!! Arrived on site at 09:40 & within an hour the birds were occasionally coming down onto 1 particular gravestone,I set up & spent the next 4hrs having the birds at times to close to photograph!!! at around 2pm with thunder all around i decided to head off home!! I got off without getting wet but all around Napton had had a huge amount of rain with flash floods so very lucky!! also had 1 Red Kite & 5 Raven over!!

23rd June 2012

Took the trip up north this morning to New Brighton,Cheshire for the Little Swift..... A cracking bird but quite elusive compared to the Fri when it was found only managed a cpl of poor shots using my 300f4 handheld as the 800 was just to heavy!! Looks like my 300 needs a repair as the signals it was sending to the camera body regarding exposure were way off making it near impossible! But still a British tick so not complaining!!!

19th June 2012

Trip down to Paxton Pits looking for Dragonflies & Damsels in particular Variable Damselfly & Red-eyed Damselfly!! A good few hrs with both the intended species photographed.........

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly (female)

 Common Blue Damselfly

Variable Damselfly

 Variable Damselfly (female)

 Black-tailed Skimmer (Imm)

Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

17th June 2012

With the chance of a British Tick in the form of a female Little Bittern the alarm clock was set arrived on site at Stocker's Lake,Herts  about 08:30 & walked along the river till i reached the gathered crowd!! The bird showed well but with the crowd size on a small footpath & with not many good available vantage points it was always gonna be difficult!! After about 5hrs i came away with a few reasonable images but will go back if the bird stays!!

3rd & 4th June 2012

Made the trip upto E.Yorks on Sunday picking Rich Dawkins & co on route!! The weather being bloody awful    but the bird an European Roller showed well if a little distant! my 1st since the New Forest bird in 1989! after a cpl of hrs we gave up, well & truly beaten by the good British weather! With the weather being better for Monday i decided to make the trip north again! weather great but the bird stayed distant all day!!
A few record shots from the 2 visits below!!

29th May 2012

Decided to stay local today & headed upto nearby Windmill Hill CNR  & the nearby River Anker at Caldecote to look for Dragonflies & Damsels! 1st stop Windmill Hill where i was soon watching a freshly emerged Four-spotted Chaser & Broad-bodied Chaser (Should of got there an Hr earlier!!) also White-legged Damselfly,Azure & Lrg Red Damselfly before heading to Caldecote where they're was about 50 Banded Demoiselle in the riverside vegetation!!

White-legged Damselfly (Imm)

Azure Damselfly

 Large Red Damselfly

Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

 Banded Demoiselle (male)

 Banded Demoiselle (female)