Paxton Pits - Nightingale, Scarce Chaser and Diving Terns

 Paxton Pits was alive with damselflies and dragonflies yesterday morning. A Nightingale stayed long enough in a thorn bush to capture it with food for its young. This is my first photo of a Scarce Chaser - a common dragonfly species at Paxton pits but, like the Nightingale, not common elsewhere. The Common Terns were dipping into the water picking up dragonflies . I was fascinated by their reflections as well as the poses.

Orange Tip, Nightingale and Snail

 Some images taken in the rain over the last two days. The Orange Tip was in the garden on a scabious. The first is natural light while the second has a bit of ring flash to allow smaller aperture. The Nightingale and the snail were shot at Paxton Pits this morning in the rain.

Still No Nightingales

Visited Paxton Pits today hoping that the Nightingales would have arrived (6th April last year) but no sign of them on the Heron Trail (one had been sighted/heard in Rory's Wood). Here are some of the species that we did see so very much not a wasted visit - Great Crested Grebe, Common Tern, Greylag Geese, Chiffchaff, Cormorant, Robin, Heron, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull. I hope that the Nightingales will return in their usual number (30 males recorded singing last year).

Nightingales in Full Song

A quick call in at Paxton on way to Devon to check on Nightingales and, yes, they have arrived in numbers now (we counted 6 singing birds along the first section of path. I did not get any clear views but this one was of interest to the warden as has colour rings from ?nestling ringing. One male did display beautifully out on a twig but I was too slow and just got the departing bird but it shows the beautiful taill very well.

Photographing Nightingales

Continuing the theme of why I like to photograph, here is a series of Nightingale pictures taken this year on subsequent visits to Paxton. The first image has appeared on the Blog before in the Dawn Chorus entry - it was the best shot I could get that day in dull conditions and not knowing the best locations for photography.


On a second quick visit one evening when returning home down the A1, I found a very good area for photographing where the bird perched to sing very much in the open. The evening light was beautiful but did create a harsh shadow across the tail so another visit was required!

By the next visit a few days later, the number of singing birds had diminshed and they were singing less often but I did manage a sharp image in mottled sunlight.

The final (?) visit yesterday to the same area produced some wonderful views - still not perfect as there are branches across the tail in one and a rather bland background in the other. Perhaps another visit is required - so photography becomes an excuse to return several times and experience the wonderful song of this amazing bird.

Dawn Chorus

This morning I took part in an event for International Dawn Chorus Weekend. I got to Paxton Pits by 5.30 am to listen to the dawn chorus there. The noise was incredible, especially the Nightingale. Paxton has many pairs of Nightingales despite the fact that the scrubland habitat that they require is being reduced by the Muntjac deer that graze among the trees. The bird on the right is a Garden Warbler - very similar to Nightingale except what comes out of the mouth!

A wonderful experience - watch this short video made from a recording taken at the time plus photos.

Press the play symbol under the box - features Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler and Nightingale - bit crude as first attempt at Photo to Movie