Sunday, 10 October 2010

Pair of Stonechats

An early morning visit to the Nene Washes near Peterborough in fantastic weather gave me extremely good views of this pair of Stonechats. They were very active, dropping down on the floor by the feet of cattle to feed on anything that the cows` feet disturbed.
There was also another pair, although these two were much more wary and kept their distance! Also, there was a Curlew present, a Marsh Harrier being `mobbed` by crows and loads of Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits with a lone Swallow flying over.
The Stonechats pictured below were `stars` of the show though!


Male Stonechat

Female Stonechat

Male

Male
Male
All Digiscoped using Lumix FS15 and Kowa TSN-883 x30

4 comments:

  1. Absolutely beautiful.
    Your mention of crows reminded me that we have recently started getting agressive crows in the garden. Even the magpies (who ruled the roost until now) seem weary of them.

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  2. Cheers bazza! Crows tend to be top bird where they are present, that is until something bigger comes along!
    J

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  3. These are beautiful photographs - you must be a very patient man to get them in this quality! Congratulation! Tell me: is there any connection to robins? I think I've never seen a stonechat before.

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  4. Thanks Britta. I don`t know about being patient, I do take lots of photo`s to get just a few half decent ones!
    Stonechats are in the `Thrush` family of bird species, which the Robin is also in, so they are very loosely related. The `Thrush` family is quite a large one with over 50 species belonging to it, ranging from the Robin all the way up to the Fieldfare. (Sorry, got my geek head on!)
    J

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