Michaela and I had a drive down to Wolseley Bridge today, the weather looked like rain could always be a possibility, but we managed to get about half an hours walking in before the heavens opened. Luckily we were in the Wildlife garden at the Staffordshire Wildlife HQ, Wolseley Bridge and we managed to find shelter. In between showers I got a shot of a Grey Wagtail on the banks of the River Trent, we also spotted a Kingfisher on the main lake, but it was a long way off - see if you can spot it in the picture below.

The weather was not right today for digiscoping or DSLR telephoto photography, just too dull to get decent shutter speeds and detail in the subject - hopefully get some good weather when we got to Anglesey in a few weeks.

Over the weekend I visited a lovely little reserve called Whitfield Valley which sits in the heart of the city of Stoke on Trent, surrounded by housing estates and busy roads, the reserve offers a wide variety of habitats providing a home for a wide range of wildlife and plants. The Ford Green Reed Bed at the south end of the site is one of Stoke-on-Trent’s two Sites of Special Scientific Interest. It has been designated because large numbers of swallows gather here before leaving the country at the end of the summer.

The good weather allowed for some really fast shutter speeds, along with the lens stabilization, I managed to get some sharp action shots of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls feeding over the water surface, the shots above were taken at the full 400mm end of the Canon 100-400 IS USM L lens at ISO 200 at F5.6. using AI Servo Focus on the Canon EOS 400D.
Whilst walking along the reed beds we had great views towards a Reed Bunting nest site and watched both adults darting in and out with food for their young.

Michaela and I spent Monday on Anglesey, the day was not planned as a photographic expedition, but luckily I took along my Canon EOS 400D and 100-400 IS Kit. The weather was superb - bright blue sky. We took a boat trip to Puffin Island just of the coast of Anglesey, even on a rocky boat, the stabilization of the Canon 100-400 and the good light conditions, enabled me to get some sharp shots of Grey Seal, and Guillemot. We saw one Puffin from the boat.

Later, we spent the early evening walking at the RSPB reserve at South Stack, a great place to see nesting sea birds on the huge cliff faces at this time of year. Meadow Pipits were frequent along the path, also Stonechat. All in all, a cracking day.