You should have seen the one that got away!

/featured/you-should-have-seen-the-one-that-got-away-mr-bennett-kent.html”> Nankeen or Rufous Night heron Near Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia[/caption]

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

Click the link below to see photographs from many talented folk around the world and feast your eyes on our fine feathered friends!!

I am not sure how well this title translates globally, but this is a dig at the pub boasting of fisherman using their arms to show just how big the fish they ALMOST caught was!!!

Taken near Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia, this is the Nankeen or Rufous Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) coming in to land.

I seem to have gained the confidence of this beautiful specimen and I spent the best part of an hour, just sitting in his company and it really was an honor.
It is one of those experiences which can make wildlife photography so much more than simply pressing the button :0)

The Sad Sentinel becomes a Happy Heron and says cheerio!

Mull wildlife. Heron in flight over a Loch

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

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My Blogmate, M-R, felt I was being hard on the cold and wet Heron in my recent post, so I revisit him today in a better light!
Suitably chastised and humbled, I am revisiting and show you the old man turn into a prince, and what a transformation it was :0)
Here is a link to the original where I showed you the grey Heron hunched up against the cold and rain, feeling much like I did. The sun came out and we parted company, with him flapping lazily across the Loch with the most delicate of breezes creating subtle lines of ripples on the water and the worst of the mist burning off to leave just a hint of grey to the scene. I love these birds!!

The Mother of all Geese

Greylag Geese on the Isle of Mull Scotland

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

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The Greylag Goose (Anser anser) is believed to be the ancestor of most modern day domestic Geese. It is the largest of the native UK and European native Geese and, to my eye, it is very similar in size to a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis).
This beautiful bird is officially classed as amber status in the UK, meaning moderate cause for concern for the population numbers.
In the South of England release of birds has been on going for a number of years to help re-establish their population with some success, but the population found in Scotland are from the original native stock and retain more of the natural behaviors of true wild birds.
This was taken on the Isle of Mull, the second largest of the “Inner Hebrides” off the West Coast of Scotland.
Another first for me on a really rather wonderful trip to magical Mull :0)

Shot with the my trusty Canon 100-400mm f/4.8-5.6 L lens wide open on the Canon 7D to get the shallow depth of field to give the soft focus bokeh of the 2 Geese in the background

The Sad Sentinel on the Isle of Mull, Scotland

Heron on a loch on Mull, Scotland

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

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More from my trip to Magical Mull, one of the small Inner Hebrides Islands off the West Coast of Scotland.
At the start of this amazing holiday, I reached dry(ish!) land at Tobermory and found a B&B for the next few nights. Nice and early, so set off in search of the Otters I had travelled so far to see.
The weather was awful, so I decided to drive around the island making notes of where to visit if and when the rain stopped. A small Island, so after one circuit, I did stake myself out in the rain for a few hours to find these elusive creatures, but no luck.
I was joined by this Grey Heron. I am a huge fan of these guys and they always remind me of rather comical, grumpy old men all hunched up.
There is no denying that the surroundings were beautiful, with the Kelp covered Granite and the calm, Loch water, even in the misty rain, and I enjoyed his company very much
I have broken the rules by placing him centrally, but I have never been a great one for rules and for this shot I think it works and I am happy to break them :0)
I do adore the hugely therapeutic time, just me and wildlife, and on this occasion I felt particularly at one with the heron – cold, wet and bloody miserable!!!

An encounter with the magnificent White Tailed Eagle on Mull

The magnificent White Tailed Eagle on Mull by MBK Wildlife Photography

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

Click the link below to see photographs from many talented folk around the world and feast your eyes on our fine feathered friends!!

My apologies for many weeks without a post. Normal posting will be resumed from today, but I have been struggling with health issues.

A few weeks ago I drove from Kent to the Isle of Mull, one of the “Inner Hebrides” islands off the west coast of Scotland in search of Otters!

Mull is a wildlife enthusiast’s dream as (notwithstanding Seals, Dolphins, Otters and Minke Whales), it is one of the very few places in the UK where you can see the White – Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)

This is the largest bird in the UK and less than 100 can be found in the UK

It has a wingspan of more than 8 feet and is similar in size the the American Bald Eagle. They are also known as the Sea Eagle and primarily feed on fish, but will take lambs, otters and any other creature unfortunate to be spotted by these huge predators!

The sheer cliffs of Granite, interspersed with Grass and Heather provide the rugged natural background
A truly awe inspiring example of wildlife to encounter!!

I have been fortunate to have been able to travel to some remarkable parts of the world in my time, to see magnificent wildlife, but this really does rank pretty much at the top of all these amazing experiences :0)

Avocets crossing bills

Avocets crossing bills

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

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A square format photograph of a pair of Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) at Elmley Marshes in Kent, England. Very similar in appearance to the American Avocet (Recurvirostra Americana), but lacking the apricot coloration. Delightful nonetheless. I had one of those moments which sometimes happens to wildlife photographers, when everything works in your favour and caught these two in perfect crossed beak symmetry. These beautiful birds are something of a rarity in England, officially Amber Status with 1,500 breeding pairs in the UK, confined largely to the East cost in Summer (where these were) and in the South West over winter. They are a huge success story and had been absent for many years until a few pairs arrived in East Anglia in the 1940s and began to breed. The importance of this successful breeding gave rise to the Avocet being used as the emblem of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (The RSPB).

Taken on the Canon 7D with my trusty canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L lens

Black Headed Gull, Rye Harbour, Kent, England

Black Headed Gull Rye Harbour Kent

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

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I have barely been out with my camera for the last few months but have been looking through some of my archives. I stumbled across this one from my first proper day out just after I got my first DSLR in June 2012. Here we have a Black Headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) a small gull with amber status, but common on the Kent Coast in England, where I took this in Rye Harbour. I do like this shot (especially as it was on my first “proper” day out with a DSLR (!) and was surprised not to have shared it before. I love the bokeh backdrop of waves and breakers and the position of the wings in gliding/hovering mode and the angle of the head with the drop of water on the tip of the beak.

Taken with the wonderful Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens on my Canon 7D. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival, if the rumours are well founded, of the canon 7D mark ii. I appreciate there are advantages with Full frame DSLRs, but the extra reach afforded by cropped frame for wildlife is something I see as an advantage with a cropped frame (1.6X on the Canons). though some say cropping from a full frame is at least as good image quality wise. The 7D has served me well and I have shots which I am very proud of, but I have many buried on my hard drive never to see the light of day. My main gripes are the noise above 800 ISO and the focus which is a trifle hit and miss. Sometimes it deals with tricky shots perfectly but fails miserably on static objects!!

There are more rumours about a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM mark ii. To be honest, I think I have not been good enough for Santa to get me both for Christmas, but a second body would be rather wonderful :0)

Wandering Whistling Ducks (Wild Bird Wednesday)

Wandering Whistling Ducks

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

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Here we have an Australian trio of charmingly named Wandering Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna arcuata) performing some synchronised swimming. An understated but utter delightful species of waterfowl in my eyes :0)

The Awesome Australian Eastern Osprey (Wild Bird Wednesday)

Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus) on Low Isle Queensland, Australia

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

Click the link below to see photographs from many talented folk around the world and feast your eyes on our fine feathered friends!!

I took this photo on the Low Isle off the Coast of Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia, this is the powerful and beautiful Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus) in the process of launching himself off a Casuarina tree.

Check out the talons on this beauty!! This is why they are brutally efficient fish catchers.

I cannot tell you just how much I enjoyed seeing this majestic bird!

Click here for more of my bird photographs – enjoy!!

Rainbow Bee Eater, Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia (Wild Bird Wednesday)

Rainbow Bee Eater in Port Douglas. Beauty on Chains

Happy Wild Bird Wednesday :0)

Click the link below to see photographs from many talented folk around the world and feast your eyes on our fine feathered friends!!

This Wednesday is rather special: Stewart, who spearheads the weekly Bird photography blog exchanges and links which make Wild Bird Wednesday (WBW) such a valuable source of photographs and web links is today hosting his 100th WBW!! He has selected 15 of his favourite WBW photographs and posted to his blog. They really are spectacular, so do click the link below and enjoy them. Links to this weeks participating Blogs (around 70 )from around the world can be found on his page, so do drop in and enjoy the weekly event which is WBW :0)

Today is my third WBW blog posting, so a long way to go to catch up with Stewart’s landmark figure and after last weeks British bird, I have chosen to return to an Australian bird, the spectacular Rainbow Bee Eater (Merops ornatus)

You will never forget your first encounter with this beautiful bird and the brightly coloured feathers have an almost metallic sheen to them.
I took this shot in a Park near the Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia.

I have a number of shots of these birds on branches and plants, but there is something about the mix of the modern steel chain with the stunningly beautiful colourful bird which makes this one that bit unusual and a personal favourite!

The bokeh background is provided by a Paperbark tree (Melaleuca spp), a stunning tree, superficially resembling a Eucalyptus, but unrelated, with a soft bark often hanging off in huge multilayered sheets – hence the name.

Click here for more of my bird photographs – enjoy!!