Crossbills At Mere Sands Wood, Oh yes and a Kingfisher

[sleipnerofasgard]

Ok, i may be a little fixated on this bird, but it is on my local patch, and they are very difficult to get even a half decent picture but after 381 goes today, here is the best i could manage











Frank

[Ollie]

Not a bad effort Frank. Looks as though the light was against you.

Still a great bird to see on your local patch though

[sleipnerofasgard]

Yes, a miserable day and a stiff neck to boot, never mind things are looking up

Frank

[JeffH]

Good effort Frank. In my experience, Crossbills tend to favour the treetops making them difficult birds to photograph. In fact my best ever view was many years ago whilst my son and I were canoeing along a river through Thetford Forest and we silently glided up to a small group of birds drinking from the water's edge. We had great views and the birds seemed completely oblivious to our presence. Unfortunately, no camera!

Glad to see your local Kingfisher is still around

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

[Ruth Daniel]

Well worth a stiff neck Frank........the Crossbill pics are super thanks for sharing!
The Kingfisher pic really shows how small they are against the Bullrush doesn't it?

[Hedge Witch]

It's a pleasure to see these shots, Frank, well done!

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by JeffH

Good effort Frank. In my experience, Crossbills tend to favour the treetops making them difficult birds to photograph. In fact my best ever view was many years ago whilst my son and I were canoeing along a river through Thetford Forest and we silently glided up to a small group of birds drinking from the water's edge. We had great views and the birds seemed completely oblivious to our presence. Unfortunately, no camera!

Glad to see your local Kingfisher is still around

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

That seems to be the best place to photograph them. They seem to drink an awful lot, posssibly due to their diet. We have them in our forest and they are always drinking from puddles on the dirt tracks. Otherwise they are high up in the fir trees.

[denn]

well done getting those shots frank, a bird i have yet to see, hope the neck heals soon.
denn.

[momji1971]

I second that. Well done in even getting an image! Never even seen one let alone shot one!

regards.
Stu.

[sleipnerofasgard]

Thanks everyone for the comments, maybe next time i should take a bit of water and create a puddle neck is better but i played five a side this morning so it is now my legs that are suffering.
Went to Martin Mere this afternoon, only had a couple of hours as i wanted to see the football match at half four, not much around worth noting in that short a time but did get a nice pic of a feeding Sprawk and it's unfortunate meal through the undergrowth, look out for that later

Frank