The Amazon? No, West London

Ring-necked or Rose-ringed Parakeets (Psittacula krameri) flying to a roost site in west London, 1/5 second exposure while panning.

Dockland Shelducks

In East London, within sight of the Millennium Dome and close to UK's tallest buildings, you can find these Common Shelducks (Tadorna tadorna) sifting through the mud.

More to come at:

www.frasersimpson-birdphotography.com

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Gulls, gulls, gulls

From general observation there seems to more Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) wintering in London at the moment. I haven't made regular counts of this species at the sites I frequent so it may just be that I'm looking for the wider image!

More to come at:

www.frasersimpson-birdphotography.com

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Windhover Alighting

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

More to come at:

www.frasersimpson-birdphotography.com

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Heron maneuvers in the wind

This juvenile Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) was photographed in the Docklands of East London. Flying over at a fair height, it suddenly decided to rapidly descend to the water, while having to contend the strong winds. I've cropped these for blogger but are really best seen large and uncropped with the heron dropping in a open sky.

Smew on a London boating pond

A redhead Smew (Mergellus albellus) was found on the small boating pond in Alexandra Park in North London by Henry Wyn-Jones late yesterday afternoon. His photographs appeared to show that the duck was really close so trying to stick with my resolution to photograph more this year, I dragged myself out early into the gloom on a work day. On arrival it was fairly close but the rain was heavy. When it eased I got set up but it retreated further out and caught several small fish. It was fairly active, even sitting up on the main island (and revealing no rings) and later it was scuttling all over the pond as a pugnacious Little Grebe constantly chased it from its territory around the bamboo. The Little Grebe had no interactions with the Tufted Ducks, Pochards or Mallards, presumably because these species are not competing for it's fish! The light remained poor when I had to leave for work so I only managed a few records shots. Let's hope in hangs on till the weekend. More info on Dominic Mitchell's blog here.

Turnstones

Last weekend saw some respite from the gloomy winter weather so I headed out with Lisa to Essex to try some new subjects. I photographed these Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) with both a 24-105mm and 500mm lens. In the coming months I'll definitely return to this site. Getting out of London on public transport can be a pain but worth the hassle for a subject change like this.

More to come at:

www.frasersimpson-birdphotography.com

No image on this blog or related sites may be used, copied, or re-posted without permission or payment