Calling it quits

A final dawn search for Iberian Lynx once again drew a blank and the realisation that we really should have been here in winter rather than the heat of the summer to look for them, oh well, a good reason to come back I suppose!!

In an effort to salvage something from the trip before we head towards the coast, we headed to the famous Coto Donana wetlands and the anticpated hoardes of waterbirds.  Arriving at the quite bizarre town of El Rocio, it soon became apparent that the lack of any rain since May had all but depleted the water of the area and the big areas of marshland were nothing but dry fields.  Much of the Coto Donana is only accessbile by specially organised tours but there are some areas round the visitor centre with hides that can freely be visited.  Here too, the large lake had been reduced to a few pools, which did hold a few Green Sandpipers and Little Ringed Plovers but not a lot else in the afternoon heat.  Despite Azure-winged Magpies being everywhere around Andujar, they weren't that easy to get close to, but around the car park at Donana, it's a very different story, sit down at the picnic tables and you soon get mobbed, and they really are very attractive birds.

Not a cat in hell's chance

Another frustrating day sat staring at hillsides in the hope of an Iberian Lynx wandering into view, but despite dawn and dusk vigils at the two recommended spots, other than a handful of remarkably confiding Red Deer, not a lot was moving.  Birdlife wasn't much more obvious either, 3 Black Vultures circling distantly, a Rock Bunting and the ubiquitous Azure-winged Magpies were about it.

Needle in a haystack

Well, not so much needle as slightly different coloured piece of hay in a haystack, having been out before light, we made our way to one of the watchpoints, and as the light improved, so the enormity of our task became clear.  The terrain is vast, and with more lynx-shaped boulders and bushes than you can shake a stick at and trying to find an elusive cat in this really is going to take a massive dose of luck.

After a couple of hours scanning and nothing but a few bellowing deer and angry Magpies, we conceded defeat and had a drive around the rest of the Sierra de Andujar.  The weather in the morning was very cloudy which at least kept the temperatures down but also made for very flat uninspiring light so other than to photograph a confiding Red-rumped Swallow sat on a roadside wire, the camera remained pretty much unused.

Wildlife was much in evident throughout the day though, with confiding Red Deer abundant throughout and 3 Mouflon briefly.  A drive down a typically rough track did yield a superb adult Spanish Imperial Eagle, ubiquitous Azure-winged Magpies and many Hoopoes but none very photogenic.  In the evening, we drove to another part of the valley to a bridge near a dam where the Lynx apparently cross the river, but despite staying there all evening until dark, a Black Vulture and some ridicuously confiding Long-tailed Tits were about the highlights.  Lynx 1 Wildlife Photographers 0.

Spain calling...

Having made our way to Gatwick late last night, had a very disturbed sleep in a Travelodge complete with its own train track running about 100 yards away all night, we finally boarded the Easyjet flight to Malaga.  With a sense of disbelief, we weren't even delayed getting on the plane, but once everybody was on board and awaiting final checks, one of the passengers suddenly decided they didn't want to fly after all thus meaning we were sat on the runway for an hour whilst the remarkably patient crew sorted the situation out.  Once that was all sorted we were off and a few hours later touched down in Malaga.  The drive north to Andujar was fairly uninteresting and we arrived at the Villa Matilde just after 10pm to be greeted with the news that our quarry, the Iberian Lynx, hadn't been seen much recently, it's been too hot for them.  Hmmm, not the news we were hoping for, but undaunted we go to bed hopeful of success in the morning...

Wash and Go

As I always say whenever I give a talk about the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), The Wash is the Manchester United of the bird world!!  No other site in the UK comes close to replacing it as the best site for waterbirds in the country with a five year average of over 300,000 birds counted in one month.  At high tide, all the birds which feed out on its extensive mudflats get forced to find somewhere dry to rest and on the Norfolk side of the Wash lies the RSPB's Snettisham reserve where vast flocks roost on the pits there.

Today, as the tide is at its highest this month, I joined forces with fellow WeBS organiser Chas Holt and artist Richard Thewlis to go and visit Snettisham to watch the spectacle.  Arriving at 7am, we set off on the long walk south to the hides with the hope of being able to photograph the waders at close range as they get pushed on to the pits.  Unfortunately, as we entered the first hide, two photographers had already claimed the best spots, inconveniently spreading themselves out so nobody else could get near so I abandoned that plan and headed to the furthest south hide which I had all to myself, though the birds were nowhere near as close, but large numbers of Oystercatchers were present on the shingle bank giving a noisy spectacle of their own.

The light through most of the morning was poor and flat so I wasn't able to do as much photography as I had hoped, and despite the height of the tide, the birds weren't as numerous or as close as when Chas and Richard visited last month.  Having split up to do our own thing, I picked out a Wood Sandpiper amongst the masses, but was soon outclassed by Chas who found a White-rumped Sandpiper, though by the time I had ambled up to where he was, the bird had got lost amongst the throngs of Knot and Godwits, though some compensation came in the form of a flyover young Spoonbill.

As the tide receded, birds started to head back out onto the Wash and so I spent a short bit of time trying to photograph waders on the mudflats as they became exposed, but it is amazing how quickly it empties and before I knew it the mud extended as far as the eye could see and birds soon became too distant once again, though a few Turnstones did stay in close enough for a few shots.

As the year progresses, the number of birds will increase, and although photographic attempts were thwarted on this occasion, a return visit or two will be made this coming winter.

Memories...

I've recently had my first batch of images submitted to Alamy, an online stock photo site accepted.  With the weather far from seasonal, and a new lead to hook up my laptop up to my TV to use as a large monitor (a laptop screen really isn't up to the job), I've spent the weekend working my way through my recently sorted image library and processing a load more photos to submit.  Going through so many images from some fantastic destinations, this really is starting to make me crave another trip somewhere, and with over 500 bird and just short of 100 mammal species in the library, this could take a while....

I've begun going through the mammals, and here's a few of my favourites...

Grizzly Bear, Bella Coola, British Columbia September 2011

Brown Hare, Scotland, March 2010

 Captive Cheetah, Namibia, September 2010

Grey Fox, Red Rocks, California, March 2010

Orca, Vancouver Island, British Columbia September 2011

African Elephants, Etosha NP, Namibia, September 2010

Otter, Thetford, Norfolk, March 2011

Haviside's Dolphin, Lambert's Bay, South Africa September 2010

Burchell's Zebra, Etosha NP, Namibia, September 2010

Rock and Roller!

Today found me heading back north up to the Yorkshire coast to look for one of Europe's most stunning birds, a Roller.  This bird was originally found at Spurn last Tuesday but rather unsociably, chose to vanish before I was able to see it whilst up north earlier in the week.  Thankfully the bird was relocated further north at Aldburgh and has remained for several days feeding on a ploughed field. 

Arriving shortly after 3pm, the Roller was immediately visible, quite distantly at first but eventually came closer though still about 75 yards away, and quite simply, WOW, what a stunning bird, the turquoise body and chesnut mantle make this bird quite amazing to watch.  For the next couple of hours, the bird delighted birders and passing locals alike, though as the weather turned colder it must have been wondering what it was doing so far from the Mediterranean!!