Longshot longspur...

Lately I have been quite pleased with some of my photos on here, a distinct improvement since the start back in 2006 when I was digiscoping with a poor quality compact camera. Today sees a return to the good old days! Not digiscoping mind you, oh no this is all DSLR with Canon lenses and all that jazz, its just that the taget was so far away and elusive, you would think the images had been taken in the fog through a carrier bag over the lens!

This morning we had a quiet wander around the Coquet Estuary seeing very little, so we decided to take a long shot and try a revisit to the Coues Arctic Redpoll. It seems that he is long gone, but there were still redpolls in the field including at least one Mealy. The weedy rank stubble was full of bird though with lots of Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings, Linnets and Skylarks with a few Grey Partridges and Brown Hares for good measure. As we walked up we herd a faint 'tickety tickety' over head and after a scan around picked out a lone Lapland Bunting circling around with other finches and buntings.

What a merry dance this bird lead us for the next hour or two, back and forward up the field sometimes missing it all together then lifting it nearby only for it to fly the length of the field and drop back down! I managed two glimpses on the deck as it ran along a wheel rut showing a nice rusty nape, but photos were an impossibility. Then, didn't it make a change from normal Lap Bunt behaviour and land up on a bramble bush next to the main track! Although way too far for pictures, we could see its nice pale form quite well in the binoculars. Well here are the delightful images I promised you. Prepare to be amazed...

'tickety tickety' and off...

Squint. Thats it in the middle. 

A much better shot. Showing rusty nape and chestnut wing panel with white underparts...

 While the views and photos are nothing to write home about, it is still a Lapland Bunting and a very nice record for John's patch. Its a while since I've seen one...