Tag: Black-headed Gulls

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CBWC

In the Water and On the Water

This is my contribution to Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: In or On Water prompt.

I started out considering all the bird species I have photographed on water before thinking of photos of rocks and boulders in water.

Then I remembered the tree stump that appeared at Hurleston Reservoir when the water level dropped and I realised that I could go with in and on water with a single photo.

Winter plumage Black-headed Gulls swimming around and standing on a tree stump in Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.

CBWC: In or On Water
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Weekly Topics

Black-headed Gulls

My Saturday Bird this week is the Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic.

The birds in the photo are winter plumage adults who lost their dark head feathers in the autumn. They’re standing in a shallow section of Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England, a lot of them are preening.

In the 1990s Hurleston Reservoir was the location of a large winter gull roost that included thousands of Black-headed Gulls.

Saturday Bird: Black-headed Gulls
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Month of Squares

Lots Of A Kind #2

A small section of the winter gull roost on Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich in southern Cheshire, England.

Mostly Black-headed Gulls with a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a couple of Common Gulls. Anything less than 10,000 Black-headed Gulls was a small roost.

This is my day 27 contribution to Becky’s October Squares challenge on the theme of Kind.

October Squares: Lots Of A Kind
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Lens-Artists

Crowded and Tangled

This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge set by Ann-Christine who asked us to Pick a Word from a list in her post.

I went with two of the words for my post, Crowded and Tangled.

Lens-Artists: Pick a Word
A Crowd of Oystercatchers at Point of Air on the North Wales coast in the winter.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Chaos
A Tangle of Snow Geese on autumn migration at Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Chaos
A Tangle of Black-headed Gulls over Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich, Cheshire, England in the winter.
Tuesday Photo Challenge - Connect
A Crowd of American White Pelicans fishing on a section of the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada.

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CBWC

Black and White Birds

When I read the prompt for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Birds I considered giving this challenge a miss.

Having had bird photos published everywhere from field guides to calendars over the years there has been a few times when I was embarrassed having my name on the photo credit. Each time was when an editor/publisher converted a colour original into monochrome.

Then I thought about going with a small selection of black and/or white birds. Meaning mostly black and/or white plumage.

 

Cee's Black and White Photo Challenge: Birds

Snow Geese on autumn migration in Saskatchewan, Canada.

 

Cee's Black and White Photo Challenge: Birds

A Turkey Vulture making sure that the photographer is alive as it glides along the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.

 

Cee's Black and White Photo Challenge: Birds

A section of a winter Gull roost takes flight over Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich, Cheshire, England.

 

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Photo Challenges

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Scale

When I read the prompt for the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Scale I had several ideas for a post.

Landscapes taken with a telephoto where it’s difficult to get a sense of scale, extreme close-ups where you can’t tell what you’re looking at.

So, typically for me recently, I went in a completely different direction after thinking of a particular photo.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Scale

This is the photo I thought of, a Great Crested Grebe looking lost amongst gulls in a winter roost on Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich, Cheshire. These are mostly Black-headed Gulls, there’s one Common Gull close to the edge of the frame at about 1 o’clock.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Scale

This may explain why the Great Crested Grebe is looking lost. A section of a winter gull roost on Hurleston Reservoir. Again, mostly Black-headed Gulls with a few Common Gulls, one Lesser Black-backed Gull and one Herring Gull.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge - Scale

If the second photo didn’t give a sense of scale to the Great Crested Grebe looking lost this one may. This is most of a fairly typical winter gull roost in the 1990s. Anywhere between 12,000 and 15,000 gulls was a normal count. If you look closely there’s a Great Crested Grebe just swimming into the frame on the left hand side of the photo.

 

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Weekly Prompts

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: The Tree

This is my contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: The Tree.

Having decided to ignore the obvious theme, the Christmas tree, I had a couple of ideas for the challenge before remembering the remains of a tree in a reservoir in south Cheshire.

It only became visible when the water level dropped but when it appeared it was popular with the birds.

A pair of Mallard hanging out on the remains.

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: The Tree

 

A Common Coot standing on it.

Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: The Tree

 

A Canada Goose doing Tai Chi on it.

A Canada Goose having a stretch.

 

A juvenile Grey Heron on it. The bird is watching something closely.

Is that food?

 

Some winter plumage Black-headed Gulls on and around it.

Winter plumage Black-headed Gulls.