Ring-necked Duck at Par today

I went to Par beach pool today and stumbled across this drake Ring-necked Duck. It's the first time I've seen this species here. Whether or not this individual is the same bird from St Gothians, I'm not sure? It remained quite close to the island at the back of the pool, so was always distant.  The images below are 50% crops taken with an 840mm lens.

Some favourite images of 2011

Below are some of my favourite images of 2011.  Several have already appeared here and some are new showings.  They are not in any particular order but there is a brief summary of each shot below the image.  Let's hope 2012 is as good as this year...

First year Curlew Sandpiper at Achna Dam, Cyprus in September.

Adult male Lapland Bunting in May, Varanger Fjord, Norway.

Steller's Eider at Vardo, Arctic Norway, May. One of a flock of 100 or so birds.

Puffins on Hornoy Island, Norway. A fantastic place with photo opportunities around every corner.

Bar-tailed Godwit at Marazion beach in February.  This site is one of the best for natural light.

Bewick's Swan at Par beach pool in March.  A scarce bird in Cornwall offering stunning views.

Goosander at St Andrew's Pool. The cold weather brought scores of this species to the county.

Red-throated Diver at St Andrew's in March.

 Paired up Waxwings berry-passing in courtship, previously unrecorded in Cornwall. Penzance. 

The same pair of Waxwings preening together.

Winter plumage Sanderling at Gwithian.

Pair of Cream-coloured Coursers at Cape Verde in March.  This desert species breeds in healthy numbers here.

Adult female Kentish Plover near the nest, Cape Verde in March

Ad male Black-crowned Finch Lark with a juvenile, Cape Verde.

Bridled Guillemot, Hornoy, Norway coming in to land in a blizzard

First year Kentish Plover on Larnaca beach, Cyprus. September.

European Bee Eater in September in Cyprus.  Just one of thousands seen this September.

Happy New Year!

Little Gull at Par

This adult Little Gull performed well today at Par beach pool.  The low winter sunshine provided a decent amount of light this morning, just long enough to capture behaviour common of Little Gull.  This species likes to wing-stretch and lower its neck parallel with the water. as shown below.  This adult has been present here for several weeks and is occasionally joined by a second winter bird. 

Black-headed Gulls in flight

Adult Black-headed Gulls at Swanpool

Something different

Wild animal images seldom appear on this blog but I took these two at the weekend.  The fox was seen at the cut-off hide at Stithians and the rat was taken at Swanpool yesterday.  They are fairly small subjects in a wide scenery setting.  The are once again taken at F2 with the focus directly on the eyes.

Drake Gadwall on Helston boating lake

This drake Gadwall was very confiding as it dabbled close to the perimeter path.  The shots were taken with the 200mm F2 wide open at F2.  They have been cropped approx 33%.

Nikon 200mm F2 wide open

I went to Par beach pool today with a new lens.  It's one which I have been waiting a while for to come my way.  The 200 F2 is world renowned as a sports lens but I have also wanted to try it on wildlife.  I wasn't disappointed.  In good light today, I used it at F2 (ie. aperture wide open at the maximum) ensuring fastest possible shutter speed and lowest depth of field.  The first results are below and I am pleased.  The main downside is the lack of reach though coupled to a 2x teleconverter, I'm not anticipating any real headaches.  Shutter speed by the way, was 1/5000s !

Gulls give above Par performance

Two Little Gulls have been present at Par Beach pool for several days.  I managed to catch up with them today and also saw a very obliging adult Med Gull.  All were seen at close quarters as they rested and preened on the grass in front of the car park.