Wildlife Photography across the Water: Dorset Trip - Part 6

Thursday, 14 April 2011

Dorset Trip - Part 6 - Teamwork

After we had finished seeing the sun up at Portland Bill as I reported in Part 2 of this series, we drove down off the Bill, along past Chesil Beach and pulled in at Ferrybridge. This can be quite a good spot for various wader and shore birds across towards the Fleet behind Chesil Beach, such as Ringed, Little Ringed and the occasional Kentish Plover.

As we pulled into the car park, we saw a Little Egret a bit further up on a patch of water that I had not seen before.

Pulling the car to a halt with the drivers side away from the target, I was able to get out quietly and unseen and belly crawl up to a suitable location without being seen.

The Little Egret was the obvious character being big and white but looking further around there were also Black Headed Gull and to my joy, a male Red Breasted Merganser. The RBM's have always eluded me photographically when I had seen them on many occasions in Scotland so it was great to see this one fishing away like crazy.

My first concern though was that the Little Egret wouldn't stay away and it was difficult getting clean shots, but after a few minutes of watching rather than thinking about the images, it all became clear to me.

As the RBM was dashing around chasing prey, it was also disturbing other prey and it was this that the Egret was focusing on. On occasions, the roles were reversed, so it was great fun to see the teamwork in action.

An unlikely team pairing

Moment of impact

Preening - 'Its under there somewhere'

BH Gull in full mature plumage

Male Red Breasted Merganser

Immediate foreground colour is the reflection of the Chesil Beach shingle bank

Juggling a Shore Crab for breakfast

Still struggling - it took it quite a while to get it sorted

All in all, a very pleasant time with some great light and strong sun on my back as I lay down watching.

Martin

1 comment:

robbieb14 April 2011 at 21:30
Nice shots of the RB Merg' Martin. They're quite difficult to get close to here but I'm going to give it another go this coming week.

Robbie
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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.