Shrikes,Snipes and Buntingmobiles

And not to forget a very obliging Desert Wheatear again.
Once again,i travelled up the A12 to deepest darkest North Essex,armed with the Nikon D7000,with a few tweaks made overnight to the settings,seemed ok but still a few teething problems,like how to turn the ISO Auto off and how to get my focus spot in the middle in my viewing glass,it stays left and i cant seem to change it,will have a session in with the manual tonight,photoporn!!

I started off at Hardys Green for the Great Grey Shrike,i think you will all agree that the photos of the bird today are a bit better than that of the same bird yesterday!!! It was sitting in a tree,where i walked down towards and it just sat there for a minute and i got a few snaps,here is the results!!

I then made my way to Abberton to see if the Desert Wheatear was still there,true to form,it was and just as showy.I also spent about an hour on the causeway but it was very quiet,i did manage a few shots of birds but  was still coming to terms with my camera settings,hopefully with each day i will get more used to it and the results will be better.Had a Peregrine as well at Abberton,which is always nice,well not so for the waders & Teal it was hunting!!!

After this i went to Cudmore Grove,Mersea Island where i saw 2 Snow Buntings,Sandelring,Brent Geese,plenty of Golden Plovers,Teal,Wigeon,Red Breasted Merganser,Great crested Grebes,Little Egrets,Snipe,lots of the usual waders.I Met Andy Field,had a wander around with him then with Dougal Urquhart the site warden,we ended it by looking at 2 Jack Snipe,i did get some pictures but they were far away and poor,below are some pictures of the birds seen.Getting to grips with the camera,something still dont feel right with the settings but i suppose that will get better with time,luckily i know where to find the birdies!!!!