Where to start? I had no idea what to expect, but from the moment I got there to the time I left it was an absolute delight. A special thanks to John the warden who gave us great tips and didn't laugh when I told him I was attempting to photograph every native bird for my new blog. Other birders stopped by to say hello and I managed to add a few more species to my list.
The only downside to the day was that my 250mm lens is clearly not up to the task I need, so the quicker the new Tamron 150-600mm comes back in stock the better. Anywhere, here are some shots before I add them to my actual blog.
The highlight of the day was a deer (silka?) that suddenly run out to our right as we were in the hide.
I'm struggling with adding the images at a small size here, so here's a link to the Album I've made on Flickr. Enjoy.
Cool!
My first visit to Arne was a couple of weeks ago. Didn't have very long there as we had spent time on Studland Heath and at Bestwall RSPB reserve, but with helpful directions from the wardens regarding the best place to look I did manage to see my first live UK Sand Lizard (it's not often I see a new vertebrate species in the UK these days!).
The deer you saw was very likely to be Sika, they seem to be by far the most common in the area.
Glad you enjoyed your trip out to Arne Darran and good luck with photographing all the UK birds. I've got a folder on my laptop with loads more folders inside where I keep all my collections - 121 species of bird so far and it's taken me an awful long while to collect all those. I've just started a Flickr page too where I put some of my favourite ones. Just looked at your page and you have some beauties on there!
P.S. If anyone can tell me how you create a link to your Flickr page from here then I would be grateful!! I am pretty rubbish with technology!!!
Thanks for the kind words everyone. Glad you like my pics. I'll look at trying to get the i age sizes down.
Thank you Bob - been and gone and done it!
Nice selection Darran, you're off to a good start by the look, had a peek at your Flikr page,you've some nice photo's on there
Terry
Cheers Terry, I know it's a big project, but it's certainly keeping me busy at the weekend ps :)
Darran, Yes, Arne is a great place! Good luck with your quest. I can't see your pics until I have a better internet connection, but will look tomorrow. We were at Arne for the first time last September, and revisited a couple of times right after Christmas. It is good for wintering Avocets and we saw lots of them, as well as several other wintering water birds. Strongly recommend the place, and if you can combine it with the Cheese Festival in Sept. farther up into Dorset, so much the better--best food fair we've seen to date, and not solely cheese.
That looks a great start Darren. Don't rush into buying a new lens, I see you've got a thread asking for advice. Listen, try it out if you can, & go for the best you can afford.
Just been back to Arne for another trip. As always you can read about my adventures by visiting the following link.
greatbritishbirdhunt.blogspot.co.uk/.../week-5-18-05-2014-birds-spotted-3.html
No new birds this week so I've done an overview of Arne on my blog
greatbritishbirdhunt.blogspot.co.uk/.../week-6-25-05-2014-birds-spotted-0.html