On Friday I had been out on the East Devon Commons looking for the Great Grey Shrike that has been here since last Tuesday. I went out again this morning after a phone call to tell me that it was there. This was my 3rd visit to try to find it. When there last week I was quite struck with the Stonechats and the photo opportunities that they were presenting. I have to be honest when I say that I wasn't confident of finding the Great Grey Shrike but as it turned out, I did manage a glimpse and a few quick snaps of the bird, right where it had been seen before by local birder Dave Stone. It is a very wary bird and even though I was at least 100 yards away, as soon as I walked carefully nearer and only a few feet, it immediately flew strongly away to trees several hundred yards away. I think this explains why it hasn't been seen by everyone on every visit. At that point, I turned, slipped on the wet ground and tore a muscle in my calf......ouch! Dangerous activity this bird photography. With a bad leg I struggled back to the car park, 400 yards away and came home for dinner and a coffee. I went back later in the afternoon, with my leg heavily strapped. I just knew I could get nice photographs of the Chats and so it turned out. This is a good time of year to photograph birds because the light is so subdued, not strong and hard to deal with like the summertime or, for that matter, in the tropics. I managed to get some nice shots of a male Stonechat today, now in eclipse plumage for the winter, well thats not strictly true. To be exact, what will happen is the tips of the head feathers will wear and by next spring the black feathers will be revealed.
Light is a massive factor in photography, it's interesting to see photos of the same male in different lighting....... the one above and the one below.
I stuck around the area for quite a while waiting in one spot where the track separates in to three, An endless procession of birders came by to search for the Shrike, all unsuccessful this afternoon. I wasn't surprised because the Common is a massive area, I think the last thing that particular bird could tolerate is a crowd! I was surprised when a couple of Reed Buntings put in an appearance and a happily photographed one of them.
It nice to get back to some good photographs again. I am sure there are going to be more from this spot, hopefully a nice Dartford Warbler very soon.
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