Wheatear Video

Here's a little footage of the Wheatears I saw on Saturday:

Wheatear

I came upon a pair of migrant Wheatears along Swansea seafront around midday today. It didn't take long for me to get near enough for probably my best Wheatear shots yet, the birds sometimes coming too close for me to focus on:

All shots taken with a Canon 40D and Sigma 500mm lens.

Wheatear

A very windy early afternoon saw me walking along Swansea seafront. Dodging the fallen trees, I saw a half-dozen Swallows flitting overhead, as well as a migrant Wheatear sheltering from the gales on a grass verge. It was quite approachable, but of course I don't have my big lens with me. I returned home to watch some snooker (can't miss Ronnie O'Sullivan!), and came out again later with my camera gear to see if the Wheatear was still around. I eventually located it a few hundred yards along the promenade, on the grass opposite St. Helen's. I tried a few shots with my 500mm lens attached to 1.4x and 1.7x converters, resting my camera on a beanbag on the ground for support:

I got a few strange looks from passing cyclists as I lay face down on the wet grass (but, with a face like mine, I get some strange looks at the best of times, so I'm quite used to it!):

It soon began raining, and got darker still, meaning I was down to a 1/2 second exposure at ISO 1600 (which is pushing it a bit on my 40D) for this shot:

I might head down to see if it's still there tomorrow, but my experience with Wheatears suggests they don't hang around long when passing through on migration, so I don't hold out much hope of it still being around.

Wheatear

I was strolling along Swansea seafront about 5.30 p.m on Saturday. I wasn't specifically going 'birding' (I hardly ever do these days!), but I noticed it was high tide, so got out my binoculars as I noticed an interesting selection of waders quite close in between Blackpill and West Cross. As well as good numbers of Oystercatchers, and the usual Dunlins and Ringed Plovers, there were a few Redshanks scuttling past, plus a handful of Knots, and a single Greenshank - a species I don't think I've seen here before. I decided to head home and get my big lens to try for a few shots of the latter two species. Of course, by the time I got back, the tide had gone out and the birds had disappeared.

Never mind, and I spotted a migrant Wheatear nearby, which proved quite approachable and allowed a few pictures:

First Wheatears

A lovely and sunny, albeit slightly cool and breezy, day here in Swansea today. A walk along the seafront yielded my first Wheatears of the year: two reasonably approachable birds around the 7th green on Blackpill Golf Course. I didn't have my big lens with me, so was unable to obtain any pictures, but here's one I took in the same area on April 27th two years ago to be going on with:

Hopefully, these birds will hang around to enable me to get some more shots this year.