A beautiful Stonechat

A gorgeous Whinchat.

I didn't set out to photograph these two stunners today.  I went back to my spot on Dartmoor early this morning.  We were promised rain, and lots of it by 1030 so not wanting to miss the Cuckoo opportunity I left at around 8 and was sat waiting for him 35 minutes later.  He was there, or another  cuckoo when I parked the car but immediately flew down the valley which I have seen him do numerous times before. I sat down as on the previous days and waited……. waited and waited but today it didn't happen.  No complaints though because how could you eclipse the previous days anyway.  I had been disappointed with my regular portrait photos this last few weeks so I had a re-think of what I was doing wrong and decided that two factors would improve them.  Firstly a tripod and secondly (if you are a photographer you will understand) I went back to basics and decided to shoot in Raw which is what I should be doing anyway.  It certainly has worked as you can see.  It  had even been going through my mind to get rid of all my kit and start again, drastic I know so its probably more sensible to get he best out of what I already have. 

As I sat waiting for the Cuckoo which I could hear calling just behind me in the lower valley by the way,  these chats were feeding on the short grass and every now and then they would perch on the log that I had placed in front of me for the Cuckoo to land on (which he did yesterday) .  In previous years I have spent hours and hours trying to get close to male Whinchat so to have him come to me like this repeatedly was more than a bonus, it made the trip worthwhile as it's my best Whinchat photo ever and perhaps the best ever Stonechat as well, who knows?  It's worth mentioning that on this log which is just a few feet in front of a wall and bank, with me tucked just behind, I have had in the last 4 days, Wheatear male, Stonechat male, Whinchat male and female, Meadow Pipits various and of course a Cuckoo.  The lesson here is, if you have the time it's worth sitting concealed in a suitable place in front of a log or similar and wait for the birds to come to you.  You may go 40 minutes or more on your own but it's worth the wait.  You must sit still and be totally camouflaged though.You might be interested to know that I never ever use binoculars prefering to wait until birds come close to me.  I always laugh to my self when I see some birders arrive, it happened this morning for example.  A car pulled up, two blokes climbed out, one in a red jacket and the other in something far to light in colour.  They scanned the distance, well they would have to look in the distance because nothing is goin to be within a few hundred yards of you when you dress so innapropriately and make such a comotion…….. they just don't get it do they?  All the while a Whinchat was just in front of me, 10 foot or so away and I can see it beautifu, they didn't see anything although I know the cuckoo was just quite near to where they were.  After a ridiculously short  time they climbed back in to the car and off they went, weird to my eyes.

My session ended when a Cuckoo eventually landed in the tree to my right but I am absolutely certain that this was a different bird, probably a female because it didn't call and it was smaller and more slender than the bird seen yesterday. The male, based on 8 hours observations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday always called when he landed if only a few times.  This was a noteable part of his behaviour so when a wary (and wiry bird) landed in complete silence I was prety sure it was a female.  To confirm it,  a male continued to call still, down in the valley below.