How to write a blog post about birds.

I was sitting there and this bird lands by me.  

So I took a photo.

And then it flew off.

So I sat there for a bit more, and another bird lands by me.  

So I took a photo.

And then it flew off.

There.  Your bird blogging masterclass is complete.

No, thank you.

Last week

Last week finished with a Marsh Harrier, and this week begun with the same, although the photos are a bit better.  Clocked this one near Martham.

With the rough weather during the week, seawatching became rewarding for a couple of days.  Lots of Terns, Common Scoter, Gannets, a fair few Whimbrel and a Black-tailed Godwit.  Here is one of the Common Terns in the murk.

This little critter needed reference books initially as I thought it may have been a funny looking Dunlin, but in the end this shot clearly shows the jizz of a Purple Sandpiper, not a patch tick but I do like Purple Sandpipers.

It is July so butterfly pictures have to do when the birds don't show.  This Common Blue was struggling in the wind and if I knew how to operate my phone properly it may have ended up on a selfie when it landed on my face.

Saturday was proving unproductive until this happened!

Common Tern

Bird photography cliche #1

There are plenty of people taking pics of birds and putting them on the web and you may well be one of them.  It is reasonably plain to see that there are common images that it seems that you should have in your 'portfolio'.  Barn Owls over the fields at sunrise, a hungry Robin in the snow, a Kingfisher perched on a NO FISHING sign, Puffins doing anything. Puffins.  Are there not enough Puffin pictures in the world already?  Can anyone take a picture of a Puffin that we haven't already seen (says the man with not one Puffin picture)?  Yes, this may seem disparaging but it isn't meant to be as these are shots that I have yet to get with any success and in all probability I will drag the missus oop north next spring and melt a couple of SD cards full of Puffins and Gannets and plaster them all over the net.  Maybe it is a rite of passage, a test of your skills against what is already out there.  I don't know.  All I'm trying to say, with little success, is that I would like to think that I know when I am showing a picture which I consider to be a bit of a cliche.  So here you have one.  A Common Tern doing that angel wing thing.  Shockingly harsh light at a really poor angle, but here it is nonetheless; cliche #1.

Another day, another Tern photo

Juvenile Common Tern preening

Returned for another go...

Learning and Terning

Kept it on 'M' with quickly changing light, - blown whites, clipped wings, no reflection in the eye, lousy background etc etc etc.   I might catch up with them again tomorrow, when I will learn a bit more...