Wader Heaven

I thought it was time to dedicate time to my wildlife photography so decided to concentrate on looking at my local waders. I just love waders and this is the time to capture them on the coast before most of them move up to the moors and the high ground to breed. The below images have been taken over a three day period and I had to face extreme wind, sand, cold and very challenging light conditions.

All the above said it was amazing spending many hours in the presence of such beautiful birds. I want to pop back soon to my local wader patch to see if I can manage to photography the Sanderling. This bird is a winter visitor to our shores and a bird I still need to capture with my camera.

Oystercatcher

Bar-tailed Godwit

Ringed Plover

Oystercatcher

Grey Plover

Redshank

Turnstone

Knot (the one on the left)

Yorkshire Coast Crossbills

Whilst photographing Crossbills on my local patch in Wykeham Forest a group of passing ramblers asked what I was photographing. I replied Crossbills in which one of the ramblers replied 'you only get Crossbills in Scotland', in which I replied 'they are resident in areas across the UK and here they are doing very well'.

A couple of them took a peak through my camera and could not believe that they were actually looking at Crossbills in the UK and only minutes from the Yorkshire Coast. I told them this is the reason why I live here, it's an amazing place and so diverse in rich habitats. They went on their way and I could hear them for several minutes talking about seeing Crossbills for the first time and in Yorkshire - just brilliant.

Winter Wheatear

The Desert Wheatear was still present at RSPB Bempton Cliffs and can be very obliging. This is the longest staying Desert Wheatear in the UK with a record 76 days present at Bempton. I thought I would pay another visit on my day off and make the most of the beautiful light conditions and the fall of snow. The bird did not fail to impress and I just hope it can survive the cold spell and manage to hold on until the spring when hopefully it may carry on its journey south.