Scotland May 2023 - North Uist and Mull

I show a small selection of the photos from this trip below, but for more of them go to my gallery of photos:

Photo Gallery

For larger versions of each of the photos below, click on the captions.

In May, we spent a couple of weeks on islands off the west coast of Scotland, with a week each on North Uist and then Mull. 

North Uist

Overall it was a better than expected trip photographically, especially on North Uist, where we were blessed by reasonable weather. In addition, there was an amazing rough road side field a few hundred metres from our rented house on the west coast, which had daily Short-eared Owls and, even better, the odd hunting male Hen Harrier. 

Almost daily morning visits to this field led to some memorable close encounters, as shown below. The best conditions were sunny, with the wind blowing from the east - so that the birds tended to be flying towards me.

Short-eared Owl close up. © Stephen Burch

Hen Harrier © Stephen Burch

Elsewhere on North Uist and its adjacent islands also produced some photo opportunities, including the machair of Berneray. Here I managed to use the car as a hide to photo waders that were feeding in a very wary flock just by the road.

Dunlin © Stephen Burch

Ringed Plover © Stephen Burch

There was another unexpected bonus in the form of some very confiding Twite at the end of the minor road along the south shore of Loch Euphort. A hunting male Hen Harrier also flew past, but not nearly as close as the one shown above!

Male Twite © Stephen Burch

More expected was a close encounter with a White-tailed Eagle from the Lady Anne boat trip that sails from a small harbour off Grimsay. Apparently last year, the birds weren't performing at all, but this year one was more obliging. This is the highlight of the boat trip which those running the trip seem to be surprisingly coy about, only announcing it to the other passengers just before it happened! Unlike on the Mull boat trip (see below), there were no other photographers on this tour. 

White-tailed Eagle © Stephen Burch

Mull

Well satisfied with the photo opportunities on North Uist, Mull turned out to be less productive. We did however have another great boat trip, on the Mull Charters Lady Jayne for White-tailed Eagle. Despite some camera issues, which caused me to miss several of the dives with a full buffer, I still got a fair selection of shots to process, including this one. See the gallery for more shots.

White-tailed Eagle © Stephen Burch

Shortly after we arrived on Mull, news of an American Wigeon on Loch na Keal came through. By using the car as a hide, I was again able to get some close shots as the bird came ashore and proceeded to walk towards us. 

American Wigeon © Stephen Burch

Elsewhere on Mull, I didn't find a great deal of note to photo, other than the odd snap shot such as this Oystercatcher on the southern shore of Loch Spelve at Croggan. This bird posed nicely in great late afternoon light.

Oystercatcher © Stephen Burch

We spent some time somewhat casually looking for Otters. Although we spotted a few, they were all distant and elusive. Indeed we encountered more otter watchers than otters! Many seemed disappointed and there were some suggestions the otters were being less obliging than previously.

It was very good to get back to Scotland after an absence of  several years, due to Covid and other issues. It is however a long way to drive, with our house on North Uist being 600 miles from southern Oxfordshire! 

Photo Gallery

Gallery of photos - click here to access

Hobby close encounters in Oxon - April 2023

One late morning last week, these birds were coming very very close, almost within touching distance at times! These photos are a remarkable testament to the auto-focus capabilities of modern mirrorless cameras,  in particular the Canon R5 with the RF 100-500 lens.

To see larger versions of all these images, click on the captions. 

For a gallery of all these photos and more, click here.

Crop of the photo below. © Stephen Burch

Almost frame filling! © Stephen Burch

Turning this way. © Stephen Burch

Approaching.... The next shot was the photo at the top of the page © Stephen Burch

Cruising past. © Stephen Burch

Zeroing in on an insect. © Stephen Burch

Marlborough Downs, 9 February 2023

Here are some photos from a memorable visit to David White's winter Buzzard hide, high on the Marlborough Downs near Berwick Bassett. Since my previous two visits, the hide had been relocated and fitted with a fully glass front window. This gave much more freedom when photographing the action but at the slight expense of always shooting through the glass. This was however specially imported from Spain and designed to give minimal loss of image quality. Note at this hide, you have to be installed well before dawn, and then wait inside until dusk. It was however a very comfortable hide, with a small kitchen and even a WC (the first hide I have ever found with one of these!).

Unlike previously at this location, this visit benefitted from intermittent sunlight from about midday, with glorious "golden hour" conditions in the late afternoon. With the on-line booking, I found I was able to wait until the forecast for a week hence was favourable. In the event, forecasts at that range are not very reliable and the morning was very dull and misty before it burnt off later.

From mid/late morning onwards, multiple Buzzards were present, which gave some opportunities for photos of them fighting over the food. The supporting cast included fly over Red Kites that were difficult to get onto despite the unrestricted window. There was also a confiding pair of Ravens present on and off almost all day.

To see links to more photos, go to this page on my website. Also click on any of the captions below to enlarge the photos.

A couple of Buzzards in a tussle, before the sun came out

Buzzard confrontation in the late afternoon sun

Buzzard fly past in great light

Another flight shot in the late afternoon

Perched Buzzard 

Buzzard on the ground in lovely light

Buzzard on the ground without sunshine

Buzzard close-up

Red Kite cruising past late on

Raven 

Letcombe Valley BBOWT reserve - 2 March & 26 February 2023

On Sunday late morning, there was a good amount of frog action, in the cool sunny conditions, on the small pool near the north entrance to the reserve. Perhaps because of the NE wind however they were mostly keeping to the far side and were usually obscured by vegetation.

On Thursday afternoon, there was less activity but several were still present, but again mostly keeping to the vegetation.  It was again sunny but with a cool N wind. 

Plenty of frogspawn seen on both visits!

Here are a few photos of ones that were briefly clear of vegetation and other frogs.

Frogs at Letcombe Valley BBOWT © Stephen Burch

Otterbourne, nr Winchester - 25 July

Pete Whieldon was offering a Tawny Owl evening workshop that sounded really good back in May/June. However my session was unfortunately abruptly cancelled as the bird had suddenly gone AWOL Fortunately it started showing again a month or so later, so I got this rearranged session. This is the first time I've photographed Tawny Owl at his hides and the setup was excellent.

Even though the bird didn't quite live up to expectations, there was a busy 45mins or so after dusk when the bird showed repeatedly, with very brief visits each time. After that, it suddenly went very quiet. Pete speculated that the female had taken the young off into the fields for a hunting lesson. Whatever the reason, there was only one further visit at around 23:00, which I missed completely having setup on the wrong perch! 

Pete provided all the flash equipment needed for the three photographers at this session. Note that the flash didn't appear to bother the birds at all. 

As usual, click on any of the captions for larger images.

Tawny Owl perched momentarily on a mossy post © Stephen Burch

Tawny Owl incoming © Stephen Burch

Tawny Owl about to land © Stephen Burch

Tawny Owl departing with food © Stephen Burch

Tawny Owl on a higher perch to the side © Stephen Burch

Tawny Owl grabbing a mouse © Stephen Burch

Tawny Owl side view © Stephen Burch

Brine Pit Hides, Droitwich - 21 June

There has been a "Kestrel" hide at Brine Pit, near Droitwich for several years, but sightings were generally so infrequent that a session wasn't worthwhile. That all changed suddenly in mid June, which prompted me to make an immediate booking.

Unlike the Little Owl hide, this one faces north east, so by mid afternoon the sun is directly behind the hide. In fact the light for the whole afternoon and early evening was from a reasonable direction but with full sun all day the light was very harsh for much of the time. Not so good all morning of course,  unless you like backlit shots, which I generally don't. 

For this session, the bird visited numerous times; presumably it had some hungry mouths to feed nearby. Another long day, but more satisfying than my earlier Little Owl session due mainly to the better hide direction, combined with the very frequent visits mostly of a reasonable duration.  

As usual, click on the captions for larger images. 

Kestrel with raised wings © Stephen Burch

Kestrel departing © Stephen Burch

Kestrel in flight © Stephen Burch

Kestrel with mouse © Stephen Burch

Kestrel incoming © Stephen Burch

Kestrel portrait © Stephen Burch

Kestrel stare © Stephen Burch

Red Kites and a Buzzard at Gigrin Farm, nr Rhayader - 30 May

An afternoon trying to photograph the Red Kites from the Large Tower Hide at the Gigrin Farm feeding station, near Rhayder in deepest mid-Wales.  

There were many birds, even at this time of year, but getting photos of them is not as easy at it might seem. Much depends on the light and the wind direction, as the birds always fly into the wind. I always prefer sun for Red Kite photos but unfortunately there was very little of that during this session. 

We found this hide was better than the lower hides we used last year for getting shots either level with the birds or looking down on them. 

As usual, click on any caption for a larger image. For a gallery of all my recent Red Kite photos, click here.

Red Kite passing quite close against a plain green background

Approaching head-on with the sky the background

Red Kite coming up at me! 

Red Kite zeroing in on a snack!

Red Kite close up

Red Kite diving down at speed

Red Kite almost frame filling

Red Kite on a food run

Looking down on a Buzzard! One of a few around.

Brine Pit Hides, Droitwich - 18 May

 A long day out for a nesting Little Owl. As the hides (there are now two, side-by-side) face south or south-east, the light was difficult during the day but better first thing in the morning and in the late afternoon/evening. 

There were plenty of visits by the Owl, but many were very fleeting. Trying for action shots was tricky, but I did think two were worth processing, as shown below.

As usual, click on the captions for larger images. 

Little Owl in flight with mouse & green background © Stephen Burch

Little Owl in flight from one perch to another © Stephen Burch

Little Owl early on in the day © Stephen Burch

Little Owl in middle of day © Stephen Burch

Little Owl in the afternoon © Stephen Burch