New Zealand: The best of the rest

Ergh. Revision. What a dreadful necessity! Whilst I am tied to my desk, I thought I would just fill up some blog meterage with some of the remaining highlights from my Christmas in NZ. Most of what will follow were shot near the Otago Peninsula (below, thank you Google maps!) or on the West coast in the fjords :)

No text today bar these few lines... Happy browsing!

(All images © Will Bermingham 2012)

Kingfisher: Halcyon sancta

Welcome Swallow: Hirundo tahitica

Cape Pigeon: Daption capense

Black Petrel: Procellaria parkinsoni

Royal Spoonbill: Platalea regia

South Island Takahe: Porphyrio mantelli

Fantail: Rhipidura fuliginosa

The 12 days of May-Time

On the 12th Day of May-time, the Wetlands showed to me...

12 (hundred) swifts a-swifting,
11, Martins a-nesting
10, Geese a-swooping














9, Gadwall floating













8, Bees a-buzzing

7 Wrens a-dancing













6 Herons a- sleeping

5 Shiny lapwing

4 red legged shank




















3 Ringed plovers











2 Distant Dunlin












... and a tern fishing by the tow-er

For the love of mud

It's a fine line between mud and sea.

For the past few weeks, London has been stuck in that very British of paradoxes: A rather rainy drought. Now before you close this page in disgust, the weather is not the focus of this post. There will be no more mention of dought-brellas or drought-ingtons, believe me I am as frustrated by these throw away remarks as you dear reader. 

No, today I want to focus on the devastating effect a fairly insignificant amount of rain can reak when it all decides to come at once. Just a few days ago, I stumbled upon a BBC article which made me feel very sad indeed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17966324

All about the country, it seems that our much needed environmental hydration has tipped the scales to flood in some crucial areas. Those worst affected are the wonderful wanderers of the shoreline, the dippers in the mud, the snipes, shanks, plovers and all other birds that wade.

But I must confess to something. Yes, I am sad that the loods around the country are seriously impeeding the breading of our native waders. They are lovely birds and a joy to watch as they quietly move about the banks, ignoring the hum drum of the other birds. But their plight has also given me an opportunity to pull together a few of my snaps from my Christmas in New Zealand :) So here they are.

Lets start with this chap. Snapped down on the southern coast of the South Island, this is a Variable Oyster catcher. Interestingly, this fairly rare bird is the only oyster catcher that has a pure black variety. The population as a whole, true to their name, vary somewhat between a pied pattern to full black as you head south down the coast.

Im pleased to say that the group we saw seemed to be doing very well indeed, shepherding their clutch of chicks accross the petrified forest that made up the shoreline.

Any just to finish off this post (Ive been terribly busy recently organising events and preparing for exams that words are failing me somewhat), here are a couple of snaps I took of pied stilts up in the Mount Cook region. This delightful little bird introduced itself from Oz around 1800 and is thriving in its new home. Interestingly, I have read that they are masters of distraction when it comes to leading potential preditors away from their nests. Some have even been seen feigning injury to draw a foe over and away from their nests. A nice little account can be found at the link below.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/wading-birds/3

So there you have it. A little expose for the waders. Spare a thought for them during this rainy rainy spring time

All images © William Bermingham 2012

Sniping

Ok, so quick apology first. In the last installment of my blog, I said my next post would be a duck-tacular, and it quite clearly is not. This post is in-fact about just one particular bird, the Snipe.

 

Snipe are a fairly regular siting at the London Wetland Centre - though by no means an easy one! They are lovely little waders, with a long beak and fantastic camoflague. You can often see one or two from the WWF and Wader Scrape hides, but it takes a little while to get your eye in and pick them out between the reeds. Consider the picture below practise!

 So why has this humble little bird caused me to shun my ducks? Well, any regular visitors to the Wetland Centre will have experienced what may as well be called the "Snipe Effect." Sitting in a hide, all will be quiet (well, excusing the periodic firing of my camera shutter... sorry to all those silent binocular users out there...), quiet that is until a Snipe potters around a bank and into view. 

"LOOOOOOK! ITS A SNIPE!" is the frenzied whispering that then spreads from watcher to watcher and all will huddle about to get a view.

What the Snipe think of all this, I dont know. They always seem extremely serene, dipping around in the shallows. Whatever is going on out on the lake, coots beating everyone else up, geese honking or seagulls zipping about, the humble little snipe just bumbles around as if nothing in the world could cause him bother. Im sure there is a lesson for London in there somewhere...

 So here is to the Snipe. A beautiful little bird and a real gem to spot to the London Wetland Centre. They are amber listed too, so it is great to see so many seeming to be so at home in our big city!

 Until next time :)

All images © William Bermingham 2012

Bloggers Block

Many things have happened since I last updated my blog. Christmas came and went, my birthday too. The NHS Bill waxed, waned and got crow-barred through parliament, Syria is still blowing itself to bits, and today MPs have finally realised that Heathrow probably isn't up to dealing with the Olympics.

So I think its about time I popped some photos on here to hopefully provide a little distraction from the fraught world we all live in! I have some treats too - with it being so long since my last post, I have a whole bunch of photos to pick from AND they include some from my Christmas-time trip to New Zealand!

So, lets get the ball rolling with some birds from the other side of the world.

*QUACK* ...okok, so an Albatros may not actually quack, but I think in this picture he is at least thinking it! Taken just outside Dunedin Harbor, S.Island, NZ, we were really lucky that out tour boat left the harbour just as a fishing vessel was returning. The result? A whole bunch of Albatros that swooped around us, wondering if we too had discarded fish to feast on. The light was beautiful and the proximity of the birds meant I managed to get some nice portraits of their incredibly expressive features.

Just round the corner from the relative bustling of Dunedin city is the Otago Peninsula. It is FULL of wildlife and well worth a trip. The albatross I captured were taken just off the peninsula, and indeed there is even an albatross colony up on the headland. But these mighty birds are put in there place by the wonder of the New Zealand yellow eyed penguins. A local farmer called Sam took us to see them in a little secluded cove on his land, via an exciting ride in his long wheel base Landy! They are quite simply a delight to watch. Coming ashore to their nests in the evening, the penguins waddle around the pristine sandy beaches. We were lucky enough to see two of the birds arrive together and dance with each other on the foreshore.

These penguins are not only wonderful, but they hold the unfortunate title as one of the most endangered species of penguin in the world. Lets hope the great work by these chaps continues to help their number rise! http://yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz/

INTERMISSION: Here is a Dolphin.

Ok, enough NZ wildlife. I will post some more highlights from my trip in following posts. Lets come back to London and the WWT centre just to round off.

With such a lovely March, I managed to escape my placement for a couple of odd days and get myself to the WWT hides to unwind and get some snaps. As some of my previous bloggings show, I continue to have a love for water in my pictures, and to indulge this, I've recently spent some time focusing on the diving ducks.

Its a tricky business trying to capture them as the breach the surface of the water after a dive, and i certainly haven't even come close to improving my methods, but here are some results so far.

 More to follow I hope! And a couple may feature in *sneaky spoiler alert* my forthcoming post on a collection of duck portraits! (I am determined to be a more consistent blogger again!)

And finally... I hope this blog has provided a little distraction from the trial and tribulations of the world around us. If it encourages some people to see the nature that survives even in the depths of London too, then I feel I have done a good thing! Here is one of my favorite birds of all time. Taken on the path just outside the WWT centre, this long tailed tit was nest building - but quite frankly, I prefer to think that he always sports such a smashing moustache!

All images © William Bermingham

Brrrrrrr!

What a chilly Winter's day today was! Having just finished another module in my long tour of the UK education system, I thought I was due a nice relaxing reward. Right on cue, I woke up this morning to be greated by a stunningly clear blue sky and a crisp breeze.

Lesson 1 of today: Buy some gloves.

As I strolled along the Thames path towards the wetland centre, Teals were nibbling at the waters edge in the low tide mud. I stopped to take a few snaps trying to capture their vivid colours against the streaked and channels muddy shore, but with little success correlating my limited effort - It must be warmer in the WWT hides!

I must say im one of those undesided people when it comes to the cold. Crisp winter days, beautiful light conditions and supreme clarity are all plus plus plus. But my hands numbing up so i can barely set up my camera let alone open my front door when I get home are big 'blehs.' I think spending some of my formative years in a desert made my developing circulation complacent about things to come.

But lets talk about some photography. Having dodged the crowds around the huskie rides and the stream of people heading off to see santa (located in a hut in the north america section!) I settled in the WWT hide. Much like my last visit, I started with the gulls. Less accrobatics today though, infact, there seemed to be much more discontent between our avian friends out on the lake. Perhaps they were chilly too? Moorhen was picked on by coot. Coot was picked on by black headed gull. Black headed gull was landed on by a passing herring gull. Herring gull sqwarked a bit sheepishly at a greater black backed gull. And the crows were up for a fight with anyone.

Life is easier as a duck I think. Whilst all this guffufull was going on the ducks tended to keep out the way and snooze. Moving over the the wader scrape, the somnolence of the ducks was uninterupted, and the light and colours of the reeds, teals and water plants was lovely to behold.

As I gazed out at this peacefull scene, I was given a real treat. Out from behind a reed bed came the first ever male Pintail that I have seen. Sadly, he never really came close enough for my lens to give him the credit he is due, but I managed to get a few half decent snaps of this truely elegant visitor.

Oh, and here is a snap of a teal showing off his colours....

With thoroughly numbed fingers, I headed home for lunch feeling dead chuffed with my Pintail spot. Lunch today was going to be AWESOME. Having hosted a Christmasy dinner the night before, there was a big bowl of leftovers waiting for me. As if sensing my festive mood, A robin popped out of a bush and settled on a fencce just a meter away from me. Sharing a few quizzical looks while I snapped his portrait, I almost felt like he was showing off just for my lens. A lovely end to the morning :)