Liam McDowell

Liam McDowell 🇬🇧 Hobbyist Photographer 🦉🐦‍⬛🦊
🗺️ East Anglia
📷 Equipment - OMD OM-1 ii + M.Zuiko 100-400mm

Serial Entrepreneur

Bearded Tit at Ouse Fen, clinging on in the reedbed like the whole place was built for him. Which, to be fair, it mostly...
05/09/2026

Bearded Tit at Ouse Fen, clinging on in the reedbed like the whole place was built for him. Which, to be fair, it mostly looks like it was.

A little burst of attitude from the brambles. Common Whitethroat, Ouse Fen.
04/09/2026

A little burst of attitude from the brambles. Common Whitethroat, Ouse Fen.

Out for lunch, and the birds had the same idea.Great Tit had the top of the rotten stump, feet spread right across it, a...
04/09/2026

Out for lunch, and the birds had the same idea.

Great Tit had the top of the rotten stump, feet spread right across it, and the Robin sat just behind and below waiting for a gap.

Great T**s are the biggest of our t**s, and around a feeding spot the size tends to settle who goes first.

Lackford Lakes.

Parus major

Everyone thinks fish, but Kingfishers take plenty of aquatic insects and shrimps too, and that is what is being held her...
04/09/2026

Everyone thinks fish, but Kingfishers take plenty of aquatic insects and shrimps too, and that is what is being held here.

A small one, right at the tip of the bill, water still running off it after coming back up.

Haven't been for a while. Need to get over to Lakenheath, it is such a lovely peaceful walk with nature.

Alcedo atthis
UK conservation status: Amber

Head down between the shoulders, bill held out level, the shape a Kingfisher makes when it has stopped fishing for a bit...
04/09/2026

Head down between the shoulders, bill held out level, the shape a Kingfisher makes when it has stopped fishing for a bit.

It is easy to think of them as a flash of blue going past, but they actually spend most of the day sat still like this, watching the water and picking their moment.

Winter decides a lot for them. If the water freezes over the food goes with it, and a hard cold spell can knock numbers back for a season or two afterwards.

Alcedo atthis
UK conservation status: Amber

📷 OM-1MarkII, OM 100-400mm F5.0-6.3 + MC-20, 800mm (1602mm equivalent), 1/800s, f/13, ISO 5000
Edited: exposure, colour, crop

A Starling's bill is only yellow for part of the year. Come autumn it goes dark again, and you can tell where you are in...
03/09/2026

A Starling's bill is only yellow for part of the year. Come autumn it goes dark again, and you can tell where you are in the year by looking at it.

The spots do something similar. They wear away through the season until the bird looks almost plain, then a new set of pale tips comes through with the fresh feathers.

The green and purple never goes anywhere, it just needs the light hitting it right. Stand ten feet back on a dull day and you would call it a black bird.

Sturnus vulgaris
UK conservation status: Red

All four wings work independently rather than in pairs. That is why they can hold a spot in mid air, then reverse out of...
03/09/2026

All four wings work independently rather than in pairs. That is why they can hold a spot in mid air, then reverse out of it, which is not something many insects manage.

This was at Lackford Lakes.

The eyes on a Snipe sit so high and so far back on the head that the bird can watch behind itself while the bill is down...
03/09/2026

The eyes on a Snipe sit so high and so far back on the head that the bird can watch behind itself while the bill is down in the mud.

Lackford Lakes.

Gallinago gallinago
UK conservation status: Amber

Marsh T**s hide seeds one at a time, all over their patch, and remember later where each one went. Little bird, very goo...
03/09/2026

Marsh T**s hide seeds one at a time, all over their patch, and remember later where each one went. Little bird, very good memory.

Nothing in the bill, just a pause before it went again.

They have gone from woodland across a lot of the country in the last few decades, so a close look at one is always worth stopping for.

Poecile palustris
UK conservation status: Red

Head down the trunk, bill aimed at the ground, and completely steady with it.A Nuthatch hangs off one foot held high whi...
02/09/2026

Head down the trunk, bill aimed at the ground, and completely steady with it.

A Nuthatch hangs off one foot held high while the other sits low on the bark, which is how it works a tree downwards rather than up.

The mud is the other thing worth knowing. They plaster the entrance of a nest hole until the gap is only just big enough for them to get through.

Lackford Lakes on a bright morning, half the bark lit and the rest of it in shadow.

Sitta europaea

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