Saturday 30 April 2011

Telephone hotline for the Dotterels

Sat 30th April 2011
             We got at  telephone call this morning while we were still in bed. It was from Terry a new friend of mine who is an excellent naturalist and first class ornithologist. He informed us that some more Dotterels were in the area and we needn't climb almost a mountain to see them, so within 20 mins. we were away  into the Bowland area of Lancashire to where they were  last sighted. My apologies for us not wearing the correct dress code  for this privileged sighting .There were 9 dotterels happily feeding within 30 yards from us and by sitting quietly I managed a few photos just for my own record. Some of the photos show how it should be done if you have the right equipment. The only other time that I've seen this fairly rare bird was on top of the Cairngorm Plateau on the last day of May 3 years ago in a blizzard. The dotterels we've seen today are moving up country and will probably breed in the Cairngorms later in early summer.
        My appologies for the photos, trying to take photos at 12:1 zoom even with anti-shake in a near gale force wind it is almost impossible.


                       This is how the photography should be done

My attempts with my Panasonic compact camera



            Two of the females ( the females have the brighter plumage)





And finally (this is how it should be done I hope he won't mind) a photo of a Dotterel taken by Mike Watson from his Blog....Mike Watson's Diary
                Birding in East Lancs and Beyond
This was taken on our local Pendle Hill a few days ago






2 comments:

  1. Great pics David when double clicked.I bet your pleased seeing a few Dotterel.

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  2. Exciting way to start the day:))

    ReplyDelete