I think you are right, thanks. I did check my bird ID and it’s similar to the Little Stint and the Temminick Stint, however this example looks like a non breeding adult. I’ll edit my post.
Tim
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Still great to watch and a good pic!
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Little egret taking off on my local river.
Female mallard taking off into the setting sun
Lesser black-backed gull surveying over the river
Local greylag goose
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Very nice pictures, I need to improve my BIF technique. I tried yesterday by going for a walk in Ousel Valley Park, Milton Keynes. The sun was shining when I got there but soon as I stepped out of the car it got darker, nevertheless I continued on, saw a few interesting birds but alas too dark to get any good detail. Funny enough as soon as I met my wife back in Stony Stratford the sun came out and it was nice and bright.
Oh well.
Tim
Hi Tim, thank you… yes bird in flight photography I find very rewarding… and I could only really get into it about 13 months ago when I purchased a Nikon Z9 which excels at such wild life photography (subject detection tracking etc) … but even then takes a lot of practice … and you need a long lens really, between 400mm and 800 mm, in the wild and in hides the longer the better and typically no slower than f/6.3 but occasionally a stop slower if using TCs… (the female mallard is an example of that). Exposure speed, between 1/2500 and 1/3200… the slower end if your panning skills are good, and you want some movement in the wings… shots are often made by wing positions, so bursts of 20 fps I find helpful if not gliding.
Look forward to seeing your images …
Three herring gulls flying at Felixstowe Ferry/Woodbridge Haven looking for fishing scraps using only a 400 mm lens.
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Yes it’s a difficult art to master BIF, I have OM Systems OM1, I use for bird photography with a small sensor it is difficult in low light. I also have a Pentax K3 III and Pentax K1-2 as APC and full frame but these are a bit slow, but still excellent quality, especially the lenses. A Pentax with the 150-400 mm lens can be quite difficult lugging around which is the reason I moved to the OM setup. I have the 300 F4 and the 100-400 F5-6.3 which is a lot lighter.
Here is one I shot near Lymington on a nice sunny day!
Tim
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Problem is that in many situations, if I shoot at f.6.3 and 2000th to 3000th sec., it would mean the ISO would be too high and create excessive noise. I know Lightroom can remove a lot of it, by my humble Canon 7D can only be realistically used up to 1600 asa without too much noise.
It’s a frustrating game playing with apertures, speeds and ISO’s.
One day I will have to upgrade to one of those new fangled bodies that you lot use ! 12800 asa no probs. 
Bird photography kit is always somewhat of a compromise, ease of use, weight, and image quality.
I use a Nikon D500 with a 300f2.8 and an added 1.4 teleconverter. The DX sensor adds another yet more reach so my 300 is in effect about a 630mm. Have a new Nikon Z8 full frame now so my 300 plus 1.4 tele is only a 420mm
Pros and cons re lens size and weight and of course expense. Not had time to really try the Z8 yet but at least it has a DX mode if I need it !
I’m hoping the fast frame rate and better iso improve both my images and also the success hit rate.
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Yes I agree high noise robs details and adds artefacts with some of the new AI noise reduction tools.
On the Z9 I try and keep below ISO2000, much above that and you start to loose feather detail etc.
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Angry goose in Cambridge. I didn’t go any closer!
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Magnificent Seven
Loose formation, just before sunset.
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A tern, but which tern?
I think most likely a common tern, black beak, winter plumage change looses the distinct tern black crown and turns blotchy white/grey.
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Yes, those are adult Black-headed Gulls in winter plumage. I have noticed they are all in winter plumage where I am as well.
Nice picture BTW
The bill is a smoky red with blackish tip… Little Gulls can look quite similar this time of year but have a black bill.
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Yup agree… BHG
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My 1st impression was the bill shape and curvature looks tern. Also wing span compared to body size.
But plumage is BHG.
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Thanks. I hadn’t considered black headed gull, due to the fact they don’t have a black head.
They were hovering in the wind, their eyes fixed on food my wife had thrown on the ground.
That’s the best confirmation ever, BHG.
Only bettered by herring gulls as eat anything garbage disposal sh*te hawks.
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It gets better, black-headed gulls in summer actually have a dark chocolate colour head, where as little gulls in summer do indeed have back heads…
A picture of two black-headed gulls I took this summer with full summer plumage.
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