Photographers Wild LifeNotes and pictures from an enthusiastic amateur

Our first full day in the Pyrenees. The weather was passable, not brilliant but bright and crucially not raining. We started the day by having a morning up the Col de Tourmalet to get acquainted with the flora and fauna of the area.

We didn’t actually make it all the way to the top, instead focusing on the lower slopes. Our Pyrenean flower list started with asphodel, Pyrenean snakes-head fritillary, Pyrenean thistle, horned pansy, garland flower, spring gentian, hairy saxifrage (sp. Cespitosa). Birds included tree pipit and yellowhammer.

After

We got up early after a fairly awkward night (three people in a two-person room), had breakfast and managed to get onto the hotel WiFi to download a manual for the satnav. However, this unfortunately didn’t help as it appeared there was a problem with the map rather than the satnav itself, cheers Garmin!

Leaving the hotel (Campanile) at around 9AM we carried on towards Toulouse. There were no major problems and the toll roads weren’t free so we paid up at each péage. En-route birds got a little more interesting; in the hotel grounds we had blackcap, melodious warbler, blackbird, song thrush, wren and dunnock. Then driving down we had purple heron, cattle egret, black kite and a sparrowhawk fly over.

We stopped to buy sandwiches at one of the

This years summer holiday was 17 days in the Pyrenees (11th June – 27th June), our gite was in a little village called Sazos just outside Luz Saint Sauveur (a modest sized town).

I will post each day individually and hopefully have linked image galleries available on the website separately. I apologise in advance of my poor spelling of French words and place names, if I make a mistake please do let me know!!

Lets begin… Day 1 – Setting off

We left home at around 6.15am to catch the 8.43am train through the Channel Tunnel. It just so happened that this also coincided with Le Mans as there were many car clubs and expensive vehicles traveling. Getting to the

Well I took the plunge and bought a Sony Alpha A550 with the new 18-55mm kit lens. I ummed and arghed about which lens to use with it but in the end I have chosen to put the Tamron 200-500mm on it. What a camera! The auto-focus is fast, accurate and much quieter than the A350. It also has a 3″ hi-res tilting LCD which is perfect for viewing pictures on. The new 7fps is great as you can capture movement easily.

I am still learning how to use the new controls and settings (as well as where all the old ones have gone).

28th March 2010 – After taking some photos at Weir Wood Reservoir I noticed that there were spots on the images and this can mean only one thing — dust on the camera CCD Sensor. This is annoying as I haven’t changed lenses since Christmas (and cleaned the sensor just before).

I don’t like cleaning the sensor in my Sony DSLR. Period. The main problem is that in doing the operation it allows yet more contaminants to penetrate into the camera. I always do this operation in somewhere like the kitchen where there is less dust (but don’t do it after someones been cooking!!!).

My favored method is to use a blower around the neck of the lens (where it meets the camera body) and also around the front of the

17th March 2010 – Another trip to the New Forest was planned as the weather was supposed to be reasonable (and they weren’t far out for a change!). This time some others from the ABG were going as well so we agreed to meet up.

We left early, around 7.15am and arrived at the spot at 9.30am. The others were just driving off as we approached so they stopped and we quickly realised that they didn’t actually know where to go! Fortunately we did (as we’d been before) and they followed us to the car park and we all headed out. There was a single male Firecrest singing in the car park, a good start we all thought.

To start with the area was devoid of bird-life. No finches or birds-of-prey to be seen. So we waited around and things

7th March 2010 – It was a cold but bright day when several members of the Ashdown Bird Group arrived in the nature reserve car park at 9.30am at Sidlesham Ferry. The idea being that we’d spend some time looking around the area before moving on to Church Norton. Unfortunately as the tide was out it was pretty quiet with only the usual selection of duck and waders, the highlight being a flock of Red-Legged Partridge seen distantly at the back of the Ferry pool.

We

28th February 2010 – The New Forest is somewhere I very rarely go birdwatching, in fact I have probably only been there 3 or 4 times. Like Ashdown Forest it is an area of lowland heath and birding is difficult unless you know where to go, and that’s where the similarities end. Because of its size the New Forest copes better with people and also has plenty of  non-public areas, so it’s still a viable place to look for Goshawk. I am **NOT** going to reveal the location.

February and March are the best times to go looking for Goshawk as the males come out to display (especially on bright and calm days). They are an impossible bird to find, I’ve been birding for nearly 20 years and have yet

If, like me, you disagree about the expansion Lydd airport or would just like to find out more then you’ll be interested to read the article on the following link: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/specialplaces/archive/2010/03/11/stop-lydd-airport-expansion-how-you-can-help.aspx

Other useful web pages:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/specialplaces/default.aspx

22nd February 2010 – A few of us got together and had a trip over to Bedgebury Pinetum in search of the Hawfinches. Unfortunately we didn’t have any luck, mainly due to the fact we were unceremoniously thrown out at 4.30pm and it didn’t get dark until 5.30pm. Had we remained until 5pm we might have had a better chance but at 4.15pm the finches were only just starting to come in to roost.

We did manage to see Siskin, Brambling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Mistle Thrush. Flocks of Herring Gulls were flying over to the big roost on Bewl Water reservoir.

Another thing about Bedgebury is the price of parking. It used to be £4 and now it is £7 (and due to be £8 by 1st April). This is ridiculous and I’m