Stonechat Silhouette

Now here is something I haven't done for a long time ... I spent the whole day at Newport Wetlands. I got there with my mate Nigel (who I haven't seen for months) just after half nine-ish, and I didn't leave until quarter to five! Yes, I was shattered and a bit cold, but all in all, reinvigorated!

Looking at the Newport Wetlands community boards on the RSPB webpages there have been some awesome sightings there of late. A Short Eared Owl has been using the visitor centre scrape as it's hunting ground, and the Bearded Tits had been showing well everywhere. Well, I didn't see either! That's about par for the course!

What I did see a lot of though was Stonechats. The sea wall had a fair old smattering of them. They are wonderful birds to photograph as they have the convenient habit of sitting on top of reeds or shrubby bushes. All you have to do is stand still long enough where they have been perching and you should get lucky.

This was my attempt of being arty and getting a silhouette shot! It kinda works I think. Seems a shame to blow out the colours on such a pretty bird, I have put some properly exposed ones on my Flickr pages.

Stonechat - Newport Wetlands

And I rejected this Mute Swan photo, although I quite like it!