Great Northern Junior

Firstly big apologies for the lack of recent blog updates, it has been a very busy time for me with all kinds of things going on in the background.

The winter weather continues to be very poor. This is certainly proving to be one of the worst winters for weather and light that I can remember. The weekends when I tend to do most of my photography have either been plagues with dark grey skies or strong winds or both. As I look out the window now this is exactly what I am seeing. My shutter finger is getting very itchy.

A couple of weeks back I did manage to catch a few moments of rare sunlight at the end of the afternoon and headed up to the local marine lake before the sun disappeared to have a quick session with the long-staying young Great Northern Diver. I love photographing all divers and still have one on the list to do which is the Black-throated variety, which is a stunningly beautiful bird. Something I hope to try rectify in the not so distant future but will probably require a summer trip up to Scandinavia.

The young Great Northern Diver has been resident on the marine lake for many weeks, happily munching its way through the crab population. As with many long staying birds in very public places this one has become very accustomed to people, however has developed a tendency when surfacing or feeding to always be facing away from the perimeter footpath. So you always have to wait for it to turn before taking any photographs after which it usually shortly disappears underwater again. This is not the easiest lake to photograph birds as it covers a large area. However, it does have the benefit that around the majority of the lake it is easy to get close to water level on the surrounding path. Fortunately during my visit the bird decided to go foraging close to the footpath on the right side of the lake for the light direction.

Since visiting the bird its colouration has changed and it seems to be starting to develop a dark collar as it starts to slip towards the conversion into summer plumage. No doubt it will have long since departed before the conversion is complete. Unfortunately during my brief visit it was proving very unsuccessful in capturing crabs as I was hoping to get some feeding photos. However, the soft low winter light was wonderful and some very close encounters with the bird were had. Always such a joy to be in close proximity to one of these birds.

As a bit of extra news, I have recently booked this year's overseas trip and will be returning to the Varanger Peninsula in Arctic Norway at the beginning of June. Excited by the prospects of getting some ruff in breeding plumage back in front of the camera.

Winter Wanderings

This has probably been one of the worst winters to date for photography that I can remember. A constant stream of storms and wet weather have rolled in on the Atlantic 'conveyor belt' and an unusual jet stream alignment has resulted in unseasonably warm temperatures. Some trees are even in blossom in December! Many places just a short distance to the north of here have suffered the brunt of this weather and my thoughts go out to those communities who have been subject to repeated flooding which must be a dreadful experience.

I don't mind photographing wildlife in bad weather as it can produce some very atmospheric images but there needs to be some light and that is where this winter has really failed. There has been a almost constant presence of thick grey cloud above. The few moments of brightness seem to have coincided with when I have been otherwise occupied. I have managed a couple of moments to coordinate having the camera in hand with those rare moments when the sun has broke through and thought I would share a few photos from these sessions with you.

The first of these are from my long running corvid flight project. Being close to home it means I can respond quickly to getting there when the sun appears. The low winter sun means that there is a very limited window of light at the location, due to long shadows cast by trees. Always fun to photograph these birds. The challenge with the magpies is to try and catch the back view of the tail in the right light such that it shows off the full rainbow range of colours. The photographs below are a small selection taken from this project since September.

The jay are as difficult as ever with their erratic flight, particularly as these birds come in to land.

I have a couple of marine lakes close to home on the Wirral. The most reliable for turning up an interesting bird is the large lake at West Kirby on the north-west corner of the peninsula. It has been a few years since a Great Northern Diver took up temporary residence on the lake and this winter saw a juvenile bird arrive. A brief moment of sun saw me out next to the lake which is always a challenge for photography merely as a result of its large size. It was good to catch up with this young diver having spent some time with the adults in Iceland this year. After some patient waiting and moving while the bird was submerged, I was eventually rewarded with a close encounter and just in time before the sun disappeared below a bank of clouds gathering over the hills in North Wales.

The very last rays of the day.

Of course you always get a few extras along the way including a group of Redshank at first light and a Little Egret whilst waiting for the final species of this post, the Short-eared Owl.

This winter has seen a big influx of Short-eared owls into the UK. I assume this is a reflection of a poor year for voles, their main prey, or very successful breeding year in Europe. Its always a pleasure to photograph these daylight hunting owls and watching them quarter the fields in search of prey. They usually stay until around March when they start heading back up to high altitudes to breed. So hopefully if the weather is kind there is still plenty of time to photograph them in the New Year.

This will be my last blog post for this year. Thanks for all your support through 2015  and I will wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Wildlife filled 2016.

Immersed in Iceland: Day 7 - Southbound for Sunshine

We were woken early on the morning of the 7th day to the rhythmic percussion of hammers on metal. Outside the bedroom window the workmen had made an early start on the hotel building extension. We watched one for a while who was wrapped up like an Eskimo and just seemed to be hammering a girder with no real purpose, possibly just making some noise to sound busy. After breakfast we loaded up the happy bus and hit the road. Today was going to be mainly spent travelling, so there will not be many bird photos on this post, and the plan was to get from Husavik and back down to Borgarnes.  We needed to head southwards to try and keep with some good weather which look fairly settled in the SW corner of Iceland for the next couple of days.

So with the grind of snow tires on tarmac once more we drove through the strange scenery of the volcanic landscape.. Over mountains, through valleys with deep snow, past tumbling waterfalls, alongside fast flowing gravel rivers, the landscapes of Iceland passed at a steady 56 km per hour. Somewhere en route, but don't ask me where as I couldn't tell you, we where passing this lake and two large black birds close to the margin just caught the corner of my eye.

Two Great Northern Divers were cruising the margins and it seemed too good an opportunity to let pass by. The lighting was tricky as it was coming from behind the birds creating some awkward shooting conditions for these  predominantly 'black and white' birds. On their next dive we covered the distance from the road to the lake margin in one move and were lying down by the edge by the time they surfaced.

It was was freezing with a harsh breeze cutting across the lake.We managed a few photos of the birds as they tracked along the margins. This included a photo I was wanting to get of the lines of water beads which form on the birds heads when they surface.

The birds were steadily moving to the far side of the lake shown in the photograph above, so we followed and figured if they hit the far bank then we could get some more favourable light on them. However, they never made it that far and dived around the couple of small islands before heading off back up the long lake. We obviously did not know it at the time but these would be our last Great Northern Diver photographs of the trip. It has been such a pleasure over the previous few days to occasionally be in the presence of these magnificent birds.

The kilometers passed as did the hours. Periodically we would stop to have a break and stretch the legs and take in a view or two.

We pulled into one lay-by for a break opposite an attractive waterfall tumbling down into a fast flowing river. There was a sign there explaining the view but it was all about the small bridge rather than the cascade, describing  it to be the first concrete bridge built in Iceland. I suppose in a country that has so many waterfalls its first concrete bridge is more of a novelty.

As you can see as we were heading south the weather was improving. At least it was until around 70kms north of Borgarnes where there was a tiny roadside lake in the mountains with a Great Northern Diver which we had spotted on our journey north a few days early. This was unusual given the birds preference for large bodies of water and potentially offered a good photo opportunity. The bird was still there and so we stopped. Unfortunately the weather had other plans and dark skies poured in on the strong upland winds accompanied by lashing rain, sleet and hail. In the distance down in the valleys it was clear and sunny, the weather was forming over the mountains. We waited a while to see if it would clear but the nasty weather just kept developing over the summits and in the end we gave up.

We finally arrived in Borgarnes in the late afternoon when we pulled once more into the car park of the Hotel Bru. The birch scrub surrounding the car park alive with the song of Redpoll and Redwing and the calls of  Snipe. It would appear that familiarity gives discount as we got the the same sized room for the night for about 25% less than our visit a few days earlier. Having settled in to our room we pulled out the maps to see if there was anywhere to head with the cameras that evening. A short distance to the North-West was the Myrar peninsula which was reportedly  a good area for Red-Throated Diver so we thought we would try that, making the circuit around road 533.  Well we did see divers, in fact we saw a pair mating, but all rather distant. It was in fact very quiet along the road in terms of birds but the wind was very strong and bitterly cold and I expect a lot were lying low.

It struck me after we had just photographed a Golden Plover to the side of the gravel track that despite being so common I had not really got any really good photos of Golden Plover.

This often happens when you are overseas and with the very common birds that you think you will have plenty of opportunities to photograph them at some point in the trip and then you suddenly realise you are running out of days rapidly and still haven't really photographed them.  We came across a Golden Plover and so I asked Steve to stop the 'campervan' and I was going to try and creep up on it on foot. This went well and I got some frame filling images I was happy with in the soft evening sun.

A slight shift in position to change the background.

While I was creeping up on the bird, there was suddenly the alarm call of a Black-tailed Godwit which had become upset by a hunting Arctic Skua. Steve, who had stayed in the van, managed to get some photographs of both of these birds in flight. Mind you I was more than content with the 'GP' photos. My view is the only competition there should be in wildlife photography should be with yourself.

We picked up the Skua again further down the road but it refused to come over to the side where it would be nicely lit and so had to make do with some photos in some tricky back light.

The gravel road seemed to go on for ever and with the lack of birds and the amount of time we had been on the road that day our enthusiasm was waning rapidly, so we decided to pack it in and head for some food in Borgarnes before returning to the hotel.

Checking the weather forecast for the next day, we decided we would stay in the area and head north and west along the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (we called it 'Snaffles' for ease). This was an area neither of us had intended to head to or had really done any background research on, so we would just have to head up there and see what we could find on our travels.

Immersed in Iceland: Day 6 - Northward to 'Whale Town'

We had a slower start on Day 6 to recharge our batteries a little after two long days at Myvatn. The forecast was correct and a thick layer of lead coloured skies stretched out across the area.  It looked like it would be clearer to the north and it certainly looked clearer in that direction as we sat eating breakfast from our elevated location overlooking the lake. Steve was disappointed by the lack of cod liver oil put out for breakfast. We decided to head northwards with Husavik as our destination. Husavik is probably one of the best places in the world for watching whales but our minds where firmly fixed on the bird life.

Having checked out of our hotel on the shore of Myvatn, we headed northwards. Our first stop was back at Lake Masvatn, just to the north of Myvatn as one of the Great Northern Divers was still in the unfrozen strip of lake at the southern end. We stopped as a temporary thinning in the clouds let some decent light through which was definitely lacking on our first attempt. We went through the same procedure of creeping down and laying down behind the low embankment and ended up with some photographs that were much better looking than those taken in the previous gloom. The 'Great Northern Loonacy' withdraw symptoms temporarily fed we hit the road once more.

Before our visit to Iceland we both did quite a lot of internet research. One useful information source was the North East Birding Trail which gave maps and descriptions about all the areas in the north east of Iceland. This guide is mainly aimed at bird watching but does make mention of a couple of sites which can be good for photography. Photographers always need to be much closer to the birds than bird watchers. So we decided we would check out a couple of these on our travels up to Husavik. The first of these sites were some farm ponds at Hraun. As we followed the loop off the main road out to the ponds, Steve who was driving at the time brought the 'campervan' to stop. There by the side of the road, at close range, was a Gyr Falcon feeding on the very last remnants of a goose carcass. An impressively large and powerful looking bird. I was in the front passenger seat so could not photograph the bird which was on driver's side. So Steve said he would take a couple of photos and then we would quietly back up (well at least as quietly as we could on our noisy tyres), rearrange ourselves in the 'camper', and then have another go. When we returned a couple of minutes later the bird had unfortunately departed and we spotted it way off in the distance perched on a post. There was virtually nothing left on the carcass so there did not seem much point hanging around to see if it would return, and with our target ponds relatively lifeless, we continued onward and northwards to 'Whale Town'.

The other birding trail site we decided to try were a couple of 'small' lakes to the south of Husavik where there was reported to usually be a pair of 'friendly' Great Northern Diver. On arrival the lakes were not particularly small at around 4 and 8 hectares each. We spotted a solitary bird splashing around in the middle of the larger southern lake and followed our way around to the south side, stopping briefly to photograph a Golden Plover in some by now fairly harsh sunlight accompanied by a strong but icy wind.

We pulled in to a small parking area and had a sandwich, washed down with a cup of Yorkshire's finest brew. By the time we had finished this there was no sign of the diver. I decided I was going to make my way out to the end of a peninsula off the southern bank of the lake to try as it seemed to offer the best chance of close encounter. Steve took the 'campervan' and headed back around the lake. He had just reached the north side when the bird appeared from the left and in front of me. It must have been tucked out of sight down in the bay to the west of the peninsula.

It was very active and diving constantly looking for fish, each time it dived it would cover a large distance underwater and it was difficult to know where it would appear next. Its general direction seemed to be towards the bay to the east of the peninsula and so on its next dive I quickly ran over and got down on the ground in a place where I thought it might appear. It seems my guess was too good and it surfaced at point blank range right in front of me. Lovely to see the bird so close but all I could fit in frame was its head before it dived down once more and reappeared back in the middle of the lake and out of camera range.

On our drive away from the lakes, we stopped briefly for a Snipe which we did not managed to photograph and found ourselves both distracted by a low grunting call from a copse of trees  that for a few moments had us both perplexed. It then dawned on us that what we had heard was a Woodcock but we were unable to see this bird with its excellent cryptic camouflage.

After a very short drive we finally reached Husavik and headed straight to its small harbour which was quiet in terms of birds. A whale watching boat pulled in with a deck full of people who had been out looking for the ocean's leviathans. They all looked half-frozen which was hardly surprising given the raw wind that was blowing in off the sea.

There was a small beach to the the south of the harbour and at its northern end the black sands gave way to a narrow channel of flowing water. Packed into the channel were large numbers of Fulmars and white-winged gulls together with the occasional Kittiwake. The source of the water was a discharge pipe from a fish processing factory and every remnant of appearing fish waste would send the birds into a frenzy.  Typically as we walked over all the gulls scattered long before we were anywhere near them. They are such nervous birds in Iceland compared to the UK.  We stayed by the channel for a while with Steve mainly opting for taking some water level photographs of the Fulmars at close range while I tried to capture the birds taking off and in flight.

Fulmars need quite a lot of effort to get airborne with a long run across the surface but once in the air their flight is effortless and graceful on their long stiffly held wings. The occasional Kittiwake also found its way on to the camera memory card, together with a passing adult Iceland Gull.

We left the fish waste channel and took a coffee break in the small town and checked out some maps on where to head next. We opted for a likely looking beach in a bay about 6 kms further north to see if we could find some waders to photograph. On the gravel track down to beach our journey was interrupted  by a male Ptarmigan, Golden Plover and a well camouflaged Snipe

The beach looked promising, a gently arcing, steeply shelving bay of black sand being pounded by a turmoil of blue-green waves been whipped up by the biting wind.  At the south end of the beach a tumbling stream flowed down into the sea which Arctic Terns and a variety of waders were bathing in. Just back from the wash of the waves a line of Eider. Well all I can say is we tried but generally failed on that beach. The stream was to deep to cross and the birds incredibly twitchy. In the end we decided the best plan would be to lie by the stream and hope the birds would come back to use it. A few did and even though we were lying down the very slightest movement saw them walking away. However, the main problem was the heat haze. I stuck my hand into the black sand next to me and it felt strangely very warm which seemed at odds with the very cold air blowing in off the sea. The meeting of warm and cold is the perfect recipe for heat haze and it was really bad. You could see it shimmering around the birds in the viewfinder and there was just no chance of getting a sharp image. We were just wasting our time there. The few photos we did get of Knot, Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher all went straight in the desktop trash. The only photo I kept was of a male Eider taking off into the strong onshore breeze and some Greylag geese flying overhead.

We worked our way back up the gravel track, and picked up a Whimbrel, a preening Snipe and found two Ptarmigan including the one we had seen previously but this time accompanied by the female in her summer colours. The camouflage of these birds is superb and we were there for a while before we spotted the female bird sitting close by.

On arrival back in Husavik we found a room in the FossHotel for the night. Our room was slightly odd in that the carpet was a photo-reproduction of grey pebbles which gave a very odd look to room and matched nothing else in it. By the time we left the hotel to find something to eat it was too late. Generally the restaurant kitchens seem to close at 9pm and so that is last orders for food. After enquiring at a couple without success, the only remaining option was a fast food cafe in the petrol station and what was served would definitely be classed more as fuel than food.

An interesting day but fairly tough in that icy wind. For me the highlight was the time spent with the two Great Northern Diver which are such superb looking birds. We checked the forecast and the plan for the next day was to hit the road again and head back towards the south-east as that is where the weather forecast looked most promising for the next few days.