Snettisham in winter - a cold, early start...

Back in February, I made the trip to the RSPB nature reserve at Snettisham, Norfolk, to see the wader spectacular.  This is when a spring tide forces the many thousands of waders, here on migration, towards the shoreline, offering twichers and photographers alike unprecedented views of their morning flights.

Leaving my bed at 5am was not my favourite part of the day by a long shot and, when we arrived, it was still very much dawn and was very cold to boot, at around -11.

Arriving early ensures you see the birds waking up, including the flocks of pink-footed geese flying from their night-time roosts in the Wash, to their sugar beet feeding grounds inland.  It also rewards you with, if you're luck's in, some gorgeous views of the sun rising.

As always, the pink-footed geese put on a spectacle...

... and on this particular day, there were plenty of other like-minded folk to watch.

Once the sun was well on its way, the waders awoke and began to perform for the crowds.  It's always such an amazing sight to see so many birds flying in formation, changing their shape in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, after only a couple of hours, fog began to roll in off the sea which essentially put an end to any landscape photography involving flying waders.  There were, however, snow buntings flitting around, which began to feed on the shoreline.  The change in subject prompted me to begin thinking more about the composition of the photo, rather than just focussing on the subject and snapping away.  I began experimenting by lying on the floor (in the snow) to be at their level, as well as using shallow depth of field.  I'm very pleased with the results and I will definitely continue to play around with this.

My wildlife spotter (aka, my girlfriend) managed to spot this red knot lying quietly next to the path.  I think it must have thought that it was well blended in to its background which, if it wasn't for the snow, it probably would have been.  I sat perfectly still, allowing me to take some shots.

On our way back to the car, by this stage dreaming of the warmth it offered, I spotted this female blackbird rooting around in the undergrowth.  Again, she was very calm and posed nicely for this photo.

After finishing at Snettisham, we drove to North Creake on the hunt for barn owls, as I'd kind of promised my girlfriend that we would find some.  Unfortunately, that didn't work out as planned, but we did see a few buzzards soaring overhead.

And finally we spotted a mistle thrush sitting quietly on a telephone line, a first time spot for me.

Les Petits Moulins, St Estephe, France - Absolute heaven!

My girlfriend and I have just returned from a great week in France. We were staying with Kelly's aunt and uncle, Tracy and Don Neal, at their house and holiday gite, Les Petits Moulins, the latter being available to rent. Set in the heart of Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin, Les Petit Moulins is a little hamlet, just outside the village of Saint Estephe, about a 1 hour journey from Limoges, where the nearest airport is situated.



The hamlet of Les Petits Moulins is a collection of four water mills which, in their day, milled flour and walnut oil. From the garden there is a great view of the St. Estephe and yes, that is a swimming pool in the photo below, which is yours when you book the gite. For me, this place was absolute heaven; in the middle of a national park, surrounded by animals and more photographic opportunities than one could ever wish for.



Without even mentioning the wild fauna, which I cover in subsequent posts, Tracy and Don have a menagerie of animals, all very friendly, all milling (no pun intended) about the property.

First are their three dogs which will no doubt welcome you to the property. If you do ever stay here, and have a few spare hours, you might want to think about playing fetch with Thornton, one of their Dachshunds. Once you start, he will expect you to continue until he's ready to stop, with him regularly prompting you to throw his ball again.



Next up are the chickens. I should probably have researched the different breeds but, well, I didn't. I was too distracted by everything else going on, sorry.





Then there are the ducks and geese you will see wandering around the garden.





This is Antoinette. She's a gorgeous young duck saved from a French market and is to be found messing around in the garden, enjoying the tubs of water she finds, making everyone chuckle at her drinking technique.





A couple of the other stand out characters are Blush and her surrogate child, whose name escapes me. Blush's own brood unfortunately died whilst very young so she became the surrogate to another and they are inseparable. Not withstanding the fact that her child is a completely different breed, they still go everywhere together and love to laze around the pool, much to Don's dismay.



This is Blush...



... and this is her child.



And this is what Don doesn't want to see; those two enjoying the pool (notably only with the cover on, which I found a bit strange for a pair of ducks).



You might also get welcomed by two of the geese, Lou-Lou and Bow. Born and bred at the house, they are very much part of the family and sometimes, when the gate isn't shut, they even manage to sneak into the house when no one's watching.



Tracy and Don's latest addition to the flock are two pigs, Bakewell and Buxton. Full of character, these two can be hand fed and even made to sit before they take their food.









There are also cats; two domesticated, Merlot and Frank, and one semi-wild cat. Soon after Tracy and Don moved into the property a cat appeared in the garden which, as they later found out, was sleeping in the roof of one of the barns. Having now become accustomed to Tracy and Don, she will come into the house to have some food and warmth. This is very much on her terms, however, and she is definitely not a cuddly cat; hence her name, Hissy!



Tracy is heavily involved in wildlife rescue and regularly takes in sick and injured animals, helping them back to health and re-releasing them into the wild wherever possible. One of the current animals is a hedgehog which is thought to have been hit by a car and lost its sight.  Unfortunately it will never be able to be released. Still, he looked very happy when he was in the kitchen munching on some leftover chicken he was given.  Previous tenants have included two Tawny Owls and a Little Owl, all now successfully re-released into the wild.



Personally, I think I've saved the best for last. This is the one animal I knew Tracy had and the one I was most keen to meet; a Barn Owl called Lunar. Orphaned and raised by Tracy since a chick, Lunar now lives in an aviary in the garden as she would be unlikely to survive if released. She seems very happy about it too, especially at feeding time.

Kelly was also pretty pleased to meet her as well.

Each evening we were able to sit out in the garden and watch a couple of Lunar's wild Barn Owl friends coming to say hello. You will definitely hear them coming and hopefully, when we go back, there will be a breeding pair in the barn they were checking out.



The property backs onto protected woods, with a myriad of pathways, wooden bridges and granite boulders, including Roc Branlant which, although weighing many tonnes, can be rocked by a persons hand.



With south and west facing aspects to the garden, we were treated to sunny days and beautiful, constantly changing sunsets.

London Zoo - Penguins and Tigers

As the weather was so good last Sunday, my girlfriend Kelly and I decided we should do something to enjoy it so opted for a trip to London Zoo to see the new penguin enclosure.

We managed to get a 2 for 1 offer, using a National Rail deal. I'd strongly recommend you use this, even if you have a travel-card, as adult entry is not cheap. Even buying two single tickets, that we knew we were not going to use, we still ended up saving around £14.

We arrived just as the penguins were about to be fed, so headed straight there. The new enclosure looked great, and a heck of a lot more like a natural habitat than the old one. A great example of modernist architecture it might have been but it was certainly not the best environment for penguins.



As well as the rock and the sandy beach for the different subspecies of penguins they have, there is also a great concave window to see the penguins swimming under the water.  The children we saw enjoying this were absolutely fascinated being able to watch the penguins swimming.



Granted the entire exhibit smelled of fish but then what did I really expect when the penguins were being fed with, well fish.

We then took a wander over to the tiger exhibit. As I suspected, due to the heat (and boy was it hot on Sunday!), the tiger we could see, which I believe was Lumpur the male, was dozing in the shade.



The tigers at London Zoo are Sumatran tigers, a critically endangered subspecies, from Sumatra in Indonesia, with an estimated 300 wild tigers believed to exist in March 2008. Unfortunately numbers continue to decline as a result of a loss in habitat.

After a short time, he woke up, had a stretch and proceeded to have a wander around his territory.



It was great to see him roaming around the enclosure and patrolling up and down the fence, as all other visits to the zoo found him exactly as we had at first, asleep. I couldn't help thinking he was eyeing us up as lunch though.



We were then able to have a sit down on the display lawn and watch the predatory birds display. I opted for the shade for this one, whereas Kelly opted for the sun. The first photo I managed to take was of the black vulture, which seemed to enjoy scaring a couple of girls by skimming their heads by mere millimetres.



The display I enjoyed most though was that of the lesser Kestrel. We were treated to an amazing display of fast flying, diving and swooping. It was amazing to watch. Unfortunately I had a slight issue with my camera and managed to switch from the setting it was meant to be on, so was unable to capture the wings in sharp focus as I would have liked. However, I think the next photo shows nicely the speed it beats its wings when in a hover.



Then it was a trip over to the other side to visit the giraffes. They were out enjoying the sun, seemingly trying to work out which trees they could reach.

As we were heading back to the entrance, we had a wander past the owls, including this tawny frogmouth owl.



And finally, as we were leaving, we had a quick walk past the penguin enclosure again, this time without the crowds watching them being fed. Luckily for the penguins, there were a couple of herring gulls helping clean up what they couldn't manage.