MERRY CHRISTMAS

&

BEST WISHES

FROM

REBECCA NASON

Thank you to the Chelmsford - Essex Wildlife Trust group for inviting me to give my 'A Fair Isle Season' talk on the 24th November and for such a warm welcome and large turn out (after a less than enjoyable journey there!) . . . . a great evening . . . .

Thank you to all from the 'Wensum Valley Birdwatching Society' who came to my first talk of the winter 'A Fair Isle Season - working and birding at Britain's premier birding hotspot' at Weston Longville Village Hall in Norfolk on the 17th November. A great turn out and very warm welcome! THANK YOU!

On a recent trip to London and with dull, overcast skies, I headed into a couple of parks near Richmond for some opportunistic shots! I was not disappointed with the outcome as the parks were alive with wildlife! I took some pleasing images of Red Deer, including a few frisky looking rutting stags with bracken on their enormous antlers, Fallow Deer, Ring-necked Parakeets & Grey Heron to name a few! I look forward to returning here when the weather conditions improve, perhaps in snow or a misty morning for more dramatic atmospheric shots . . . .

Fair Isle Farewell

A very tame Lapland Bunting spent a good few days around the plantation area, joined by Meadow Pipits and Skylarks after I put some grain down. . . . .these are a few of the shots I took before we departed back to the mainland for a couple of days in our house, followed by Glasgow and then back to Suffolk . . . . .;-(

LESSER SCAUP

A First for Fair Isle!

07/10/11

High Flyers . . . .

Strong winds and rain have made birding and photography somewhat difficult on Fair Isle for the last couple of days. However Wednesday saw the Hawfinch still at The Haa, a smart Yellow Wagtail with Turnstones on fields adjacent to South Harbour and several flocks of Whooper Swans battling the elements over the Island, along with Greylags, Pink-feet and Barnacle Geese. A highlight was watching a Short-eared Owl in Da Water which flew over the sea before landing to roost in long grasses below the school. Other birds included a Yellow-browed Warbler, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear, Dunlin and 4 Red-breasted Mergansers. The Island is generally very quiet for migrants! We need a change in wind and birding fortune this week! However it's great just being here with friends, enjoying crofting life at Burkle with fresh eggs daily, homemade soups and baking, pig slaughtering and butchery, getting cuddles from George the cat (who hates going outside luckily!), lots of tea drinking and the odd Tennants!

Autumn Platinum . . . .

The weather continued to be uncharacteristically 'summery' on Shetland & we spent many hours eagerly notching up more and more garden ticks in our new Lerwick garden! The list now stands at a modest 54. . . . . 1st October started incredibly well with not 1 but 3 Hawfinch appearing in the Hawthorn tree before breakfast followed by a Yellow-browed Warbler and then a Barred Warbler - not a bad start and above our Autumn hopes of what the garden might produce! However the best was yet to come on the 2nd with a very brief appearance of an Olive-backed Pipit on the freshly mowed lawn thanks to Chas & Alan who saw it drop in from the living room window! Chas later had an OBP at Helendale & Phil & I had a smart Citrine Wagtail overhead during a walk about or new 'Lerwick circuit'. Later that evening we also had presumably the same bird over the garden . . .taking our garden list to dizzy rarity heights we had not anticipated. It just makes us think . . . what else is to come!!? and if we are getting these birds in one Lerwick garden, what's dropping in or passing through so many others . . .

A trip to Bressay on Sunday morning produced 8 Yellow-browed Warblers. We dipped the Alpine Swift on several occasions but caught up with the Isabelline Shrike at Levenwick with 2 Yellow-browed Warblers nearby. We are now on Fair Isle staying with Hollie & Deryk at Burkle along with Micky Maher - it's great to be back!. The flight in was touch and go with increasing winds and driving rain but somehow we did make it in, even though it was the rockiest Fair Isle descent to the airstrip we've ever experienced. I photographed a very approachable Hawfinch at The Haa in the later afternoon gales but birding is pretty difficult as it standing up right now in those winds . . . .

Below are a few images from our Autumn adventures so far . . . .

Below: RIP: Siberian Blue Robin (from Foula) Hawfinch, View from North Shetland, Pallid Harrier, Rough Fair Isle sea, Grey Seal, Black-headed Bunting.

SHETLAND - AUTUMN 2011
Autumn Gold . . . .

Last week saw us gain an unexpected 'large' British tick during our stay with friends in Glasgow - we caught up with the Sandhill Crane near Fraserburgh some 4 hr drive further north - quite a bird! Blackdog on the beautiful Aberdeenshire coast saw us scan and eventually catch up with the Black Scoter as well as Surf Scoter, Arctic Skua and Little Gull. Our first day on Shetland saw us catch up with the Pallid Harrier near Quendale, this 'oiled' bird flew a few feet over our car at one point giving superb views! We are currently enjoying our new house and garden in Lerwick and birding around Shetland. Our garden list now stands at a modest 40 and we have ringed several Garden Warblers and Blackcaps! Today we headed over to Unst and caught up with the Black-headed Bunting as well as going to view the Lesser Grey Shrike a second time on the mainland. A couple of Yellow-browed Warblers during our many hours searching in the field and a few Mealy Redpoll keep things ticking over nicely in what has been a gorgeously warm Autumn day. . . . .

Below: Surf scoter first left, Black Scoter far right.

Sandhill Crane.

BIRDFAIR 2011

REBECCA NASON PHOTOGRAPHY
I have just returned home after what turned out to be a very enjoyable & highly successful British Birdwatching Fair 2011. I once again held a stand - Rebecca Nason Photography - AM 9 in the Art Marquee displaying many new images & older favourites, both mounted & framed alongside new style canvases and large photo-boards. Thank you to all those who popped in over the 3 days! I am now going through photo orders this week before preparing for another photo-based trip to Shetland & another exhibition in Norfolk. If you have any queries regarding Rebecca Nason Photography images or wish to purchase prints seen at the Birdfair or on my website, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be updating my website over the next few days, including the Birdfair 2011 category.

Very best wishes, Rebecca ;-)

MINI MOUSE!

A little 'Harvest Mouse' . . . .a recent image taken before another Shetland bound adventure!

July 'Marsh Frog' Photo Shoot . . . . . .

June Chicks

It has been a busy month with travels between Suffolk and Shetland as we get to grips with our amazing new Shetland house and new life to come! Alongside our Shetland visit and busy photographic commissions, we have had a large number of Suffolk birds to ring with many nests reaching the 'ring-able chick stage' in the last 2 weeks. . . .oh and of course there was the White-throated Robin 'twitch' which saw me parachute down from the Air Canada flight from Manitoba and land jet-lagged but happy in Hartlepool . . . .

Photo's here show 2 tiny Reed Warbler chicks, an 'unusual' Barn Swallow angle, a Sand Martin, House Martin (a ringing tick for me!), me with an adult Little Owl (a chick I ringed yesterday was another ringing tick for me!) a dodgy shot of the White-throated Robin and one of my favourite 'Bison' shots from Manitoba!