On arrival, I learned that the bird had been perching on nearby wires for most of the day but flew off not long before I arrived.
Not to worry, I can wait! I had heard grasshoppers in the long grass so spent about an hour keeping one eye on the sky and the other on catching 'hoppers...
This one was just a baby and sat on my hand quite happily for some time...
Then I decided to have a little wander around as I'd never been to this area before. I hadn't got far when I spotted a falcon overhead, heading back to where it had been earlier!
I headed back and found several birders assembled, soon seeing where the bird had landed.
There was also a black redstart (but I didn't get any good photos of that at all).
The red footed falcon was really close (it flew right over me twice!) and I watched it for about two hours, perching on a fence and swooping down to the fields either side to catch insects.
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| #wildphotofail ! |
What a treat to see it so close and for so long!
I took a couple of multi shots at 60 frames per second and made a series of GIFs as the bird took off too - here are some links to those (randomly named by gfycat!)
60FPS (1sec) - normal
http://www.gfycat.com/
http://www.gfycat.com/
20FPS (3sec)
http://www.gfycat.com/
http://www.gfycat.com/
10FPS (6Sec)
http://www.gfycat.com/
http://www.gfycat.com/
Wow, worth waiting for - what a beautiful bird, I've loved all your photos and gifs. I'd heard about the falcon via our local news and SWT but asumed it had perhaps moved on - looks as if it will stay a while longer, thanks for sharing your fabulous photos:)
ReplyDeleteWhat amazing photos of the bird and the grasshopper, though I am not feeling very loving towards grasshoppers at the moment as one had got into the loo which I didn't see and was making frantic escape bids!
ReplyDeleteFabulous photos Louise, great close ups of the Grasshopper.
ReplyDelete