One Amazing Year!

What a year! I started the year with some plans to enjoy photographing some different subjects and I was amazed at how much fun I had. Exploring local churches,abandoned mills and hospitals proved to myself that I can photograph more than just wildlife. Instead of  cursing the weather, stopping me from wildlife photography I was out and about being creative and that proved to be a huge boost to me. My 14-24mm was my most used lens at the start of the year, very different from previous years. I only really started photographing wildlife in March where I managed to catch up with Grass snake and adder and also Black-necked Grebe and Red-necked Grebe. April was amazing for birdlife, warblers seemed to be everywhere and I enjoyed some magical dawns photographing various birdlife. May and June proved to be a quiet time apart from close encounters with Northern Fulmars with some very nice head shots. Strong South Westerly winds had a big impact on butterfly and seabird photography for me. I was hoping to be photographing some new species but conditions proved to tricky. Butterfly numbers locally were very low to previous years and I only managed some more images of Common Blue,Grizzled and Dingy Skipper. Every year is different in the animal world and its just a matter of changing your plans to suit. “Hopefully Next Year” is a common phrase used in wildlife photography.

Six-belted Clearwing

Nikon D3s,105macro lens.

A totally new species to me was the Six Belted Clearwing which I photographed with a friend and although very tricky  to capture an image it was incredible to see and I even managed a nice image. Family holidays in Northumberland enabled me to see one of most amazing and humbling views any human can see. That is a view of our Milky Way galaxy. Standing on my own in pitch darkness down a country lane looking up and trying to capture an image will remain with me forever. Green Woodpecker was a nice addition on a couple of summer afternoons while sitting in a hide.

It wasn’t until September that I photographed what I thought was my nemesis bird, the Kingfisher. For too long this species was out of my reach, not until I actually started to do some serious field work and locate a resident bird in a quiet part of my county. What fun I had and I finally ended with some nice images of Common Kingfisher perched 15 feet in front of my bag hide. This bird also enjoyed sitting on the end of my lens,head and shoulder. I wish I could have shot some video I am sure it would of been great fun to watch. I look forward to catching up with Kingfishers early in 2012, fingers crossed.

Nikon D3s,500mm.

I finished autumn with an amazing trip to Portugal, mainly to do a couple of pelagic trips to photograph some seabirds. Not only did I manage some great images of Great Shearwater but also had an incredible encounter with a pod of Common Dolphins. The end of the year has been pretty quiet apart from some photography in Sherwood Forest. I don’t think I have ever photographed so many different subjects within a year before and its been very refreshing to be creative with such varied subjects. I hope 2012 proves to be just has amazing. Many thanks for following my blog and I hope you have enjoyed the photography.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year .

Who’s watching who?

Carrion Crow

Nikon D3s.500mm,1×4,1/600@f10,iso800. Fill flash SB900@-1stop

 I managed  to enjoy a few quality hours in some fine winter sunshine in company of  Carrion Crows at a local park. “Carrion Crows” you’ve got to be kidding! Well for me quality of image not subject matter comes first. What do I mean by this?  I do not live next to an amazing nature reserve or next to a dynamic zone like the coast, so I have to look at what subjects I can photograph locally. This forces you to work with what’s available to photograph however frustrating this can be in terms of subject choice, it brings a need to be creative and pushes your technical side. Just look at how many amazing shots of House Sparrow you see. Not many, and its something I need to work on soon, so theres a great project to work on if you have a good population in your area. My initial plan was to capture some flight shots but the wind and sun direction was wrong so head and body shots were the order of the day. Carrion Crows are clever birds. They soon had figured out that there were some tasty morsels in my bag and while I was photographing the birds in front , a few birds had flown behind me to grab what was inside my bag. Luckily I kept spotting them before they could grab what was in the bag. I decided the only course of action was to zip the camera bag up and move it next to my side. A great little game they were playing.

On  a technical side I used  some fill flash set quite high due to the black plumage, I probably should have added a bit more maybe,  -2/3 stop  would have been better. This helped open up the details to reveal some wonderful textures, not so boring are they! I hope this encourages you not to worry about travelling hundreds of miles to look at some dot in a field with scores of photographers lined up and to look at whats available to you to go and be creative.

Portugal Part 4

Red veined Darter

Nikon D3s,300mm,1×4, 1/1600@f8,iso400

  I wasn’t expecting to photograph many dragonfly species on my trip, although when a chance of an image did occur I made a few nice images. On most of the marshes I visited Red-viened darter’s proved numerous but quite a challenge to get a decent image of. Interestingly I managed some nice images in the surrounding garden of Casa rosa where I was staying. Very nice to be one minute relaxing by the pool then  photographing dragonflies in flip flops and bermuda shorts!. I used the 300mm and 1×4 convertor with a small amount of fill flash from a sb900 to open up the shadow areas. It was the only time I used flash but it proved very useful.

Red -veined Darter

techs as above plus flash

While being eaten alive by mossies in one of the local marshes whilst waiting for Black-winged Stilts a passing Lesser Emperor gave a brief chance of an image, not easy with the 500mm.

Lesser Emperor

Nikon D3s,500mm,1×4,1/1600@f8,iso800

Although the species count wasn’t huge, the birding was quality and with some nice images in the bag I came back from Portugal with some great memories. The birdlife encountered on the pelagics was great and not to mention the Sunfish and the pod of Common Dolphin were just the icing on the cake. A few useful links if you fancy a great holiday in Portugal.

http://www.birdwatching-algarve.com/  -Birding guide/pelagics

http://www.jet2.com/-  Low cost airline with great leg room!

http://www.casarosa.eu.com/- Wonderful accommodation in a good central location and a great pool!

Donkey

…

Portugal Part 3

Gannet

Nikon D3s, 300f4afs,1/1600@f8,iso800

The second pelagic trip had arrived and the weather was sublime, with wonderful calm seas and sunshine. I was hoping for some great chances on this trip to make up for the lack of images from the previous outing. A 1st winter Gannet passed over the boat and now using just a 300 lens made photography a bit easier . The only problem with the fine conditions was that a lot of the birds had decided to leave, making finding birds harder. Heading for any small fishing vessel which had any birdlife was easy enough, but most of the birds were gulls with a few terns.

Fishing Boat

A typical scene on the pelagic. So onto the next fishing boat to try and find something of interest. On arriving at the next boat one of my target birds was spotted, just a small matter of getting close. The captain, Ricardo did an amazing job of drifting close to the bird allowing stunning views of a Great Shearwater.

Great Shearwater

Nikon D3s,300,1×4,1/2500@f11,iso 800 (manual exposer)

I was able to get a nice low viewpoint due to the size of the boat and with me on my knees in the boat. If I had used the cameras meter for this I would have burnt out the whites and over exposed the image. My lessons learned from the previous trip paid off as I produced some great images of bird I had travelled to see. The bird suddenly was flushed as a passing Great Skua spooked the bird. One happy photographer breathed a sigh of relief!  We decided to head further out to another fishing boat, but what was going to happen next was just amazing.A sunfish was spotted just in front the boat but disappeared before giving any prolonged views. Then as we started onward again a large pod of Common Dolphins appeared and came towards the boat. The dolphins were all around us, jumping and riding the pressure wave on the bow of the boat. You just didn’t know where to look. It was one of lifes moving moments, one you will never forget. The only trouble I was having was trying to get an image, but in some ways it did’t matter it was just amazing to watch.

Common Dolphins

Nikon D3s, 300, 1/3200@f11,iso 800

The pelagic trip was coming to a close and the other visitors wanted to see some of the other birdlife in the estuary. Slender-billed and Audouin’s Gull were very nice additions as well as some good numbers of Med Gulls as well as the usual mix of waders. Although I was hoping for more images from the pelagic trips, especially birds, I had returned with some very great images, with the Great Shearwater down to a few feet and the incredible encounter with the Common Dolphins. I would love to do several pelagics in a row just because it is so different day to day. My final day in Portugal was spent visiting the  Tavira saltpans which was a big disappointment as I didn’t see that much and was eaten alive by mossies, the only highlight was a nice shot of some Spoonbills flying overhead. I did venture north of Tavira to see what I could find. A nice pair of Hoopoe feeding by a small dirt track next to the road nearly had me with frame filling images until the only car I encountered in two hours of birding the area flushed the birds. The area was very promising with stunning views of Black-shouldered Kite over the car, but soon vanished before I could get the camera onto it. Good numbers of Corn Bunting and Common Wheatear in the surrounding farmland. I really enjoyed birding this area and it looked very good for a spring visit. Quiet roads with few people and a lot of birdlife. In fact I think that has been the underlying theme of my experience of Portugal in that it is such a nice country to visit, with few cars, not many restrictions and the people have been so friendly and not to mention you can find your own birdlife,all add up to a great place to visit with the family or with some mates. I visited in mid October due to the pelagics, but an early spring visit would be pretty good. The only place I didn’t visit was the plains for the Bustards, a couple on the first pelagic had good views of Bustards but the heat haze was pretty bad which for me photographing would have been a waste of time.

Tavira Saltpans

Spoonbills

Spoonbill

Nikon D3s,500vr,1×4,1/1600@f8,iso800

Just a few more images from the trip.

Black-winged Stilt (juvenile)

Nikon D3s,500vr,1×4,1/2000@f11, iso800

In a small pool by one of the saltpans I had the chance to photograph Common Waxbill. In fact I encountered small flocks all along the coast in suitable habitat.

Common Waxbill (female)

Nikon D3s,500,1×4,1/1600@f11,iso800

Part 4 coming soon….

Portugal Part 2

Zitting Cisticola ( aka Fan-tailed Warbler)

Nikon D3s,500vr,1×4,1/320@6.7,iso800

After a challenging pelagic from the previous day I thought I would take a short journey to the Quinta do Lago golfing complex near to Faro. Early morning had me pretty much lost in the huge complex, eventually I found my way to the main lake. Several Greenshank were feeding along the shoreline with a Little Egret standing guard. I was soon geared up and just as I was approaching the birds a local van driver flushed the group of birds and the chances were lost. I decided to walk towards the far side of the lake which would take me along the edge of the lake and towards another lake famed for its Purple Swamp-hen. I was soon able to capture a nice image of Zitting cisticola perched in some vegetation. Bluethroats were seen in good numbers but always skulking or flying very low over  the marsh, I cound’t get within 50 metres with the camera  . This proved to be the case with all the Bluethroats I encountered although it was nice to see so many with even more spotted later in the week, when there were some higher tides. Moving along the path I came across a very obliging female Wheatear which had me moving backwards with the camera as it feed.

Wheatear

Nikon D3s,500vr,1/1/600@f11,iso800.

 Near to the Wheatear several Red-rumped Swallows were feeding above a wasps nest. Also I found several willow Warblers and Chffchaffs feeding in a small patch of wasteland. I tried for some images but just coundn’t get a clear shot so I moved on. Nice to see warblers moving through on their migration southwards and in good numbers. Onward to the lake which held lots of ducks and Purple Swamp-hen. It did’nt take long before I spotted several in amongst the reeds feeding on roots. Cettis warblers foraged in the margins and again no images. The sun was staring to get high, so photography time was nearing an end. I tried to spot Little Bittern but didn’t see any  the morning I was there, although they are present. I did find Reed warbler and Common Redstart in the woodland next to the lake and many Firecrest feeding in the canopy.

Purple Swamp-hen

Nikon D3s,500vr,1×4,1/2000@f11,iso800

After a hot morning it was back for some relaxation with a swim and power nap back at Casa Rosa.  Afternoon had me moving into the hills above Faro into the Burregin, a large area of wooded hillsides. I drove for a few hours searching the hills . A distant Vulture sp’ and Buzzard were the only birds of prey I spotted, although a pair of Ortolan buntings were a nice addition to the list. The vw polo had to work hard on some of the internal roads, no restrictions and only one other car the whole time I was in the woods and not a parking meter in site! A scarce Swallowtail feeding by the gravel road gave good views but soon disappeared down the hillside. I wouldn’t travel these sorts of roads if any rain had fallen as they proved quite challenging in the dry conditions and is not for the faint hearted. The woods were very silent but I would think in springtime they could be excellent for birding. I visited Fuzeta saltpans again and photographed some more Ziiting cisticola and Cattle Egret in the fading light.

Cattle Egret

Nikon D3s,500vr,1/500@f5.6,iso1000

The cattle Egret was a nice end to a busy day with lots of birding and  a few nice images. Next morning had me visiting yet another birding hotspot Lundo Park, which is a large set of saltpans near to Faro. Black shouldered Kite and Booted Eagle soaring behind the lake near to the farm where I had parked gave good views, with a Kingfisher zooming around the lake. Purple Swamp-hen was spotted. Several warbler species gave brief glimpses, Blackcap,Willow Warbler,Chiffchaff,Cettis warbler and a nice view of a female Sub-Alpine warbler. I tried for some Chiffchaffs along the road but everytime I got close a passing car or  jogger flushed the bird. Today was turning into a no image day. Good numbers of Flamingo and Spoonbill were present with all the usual waders on the saltpans and a fly through Osprey adding to the raptor list. Spotless Starling were feeding around the farm buildings. I had enough of the constant passing joggers and cars and called it a day. The birding was good but for photography, it proved very poor. Back to Casa Rosa for some r&r.

Lundo Park

Part 3 coming soon…

Portugal Part 1

Greenshank and Redshank

nikon d3s,500vr 1×4, 1/1250@f16, iso800

My trip to Portugal started on the 9th of October and ended on the 15th. It was an amazing time full of great birding with some nice photography, not to mention the light. The whole time was based around two pelagic trips out of Fuzeta with the intention to photograph some seabirds. More on the pelagics trips later. My first morning out in the Rio de Formosa gave me a good selection of waders and herons with a few warblers thrown in. I flushed a Common Snipe and Kingfisher as soon as I stepped out of  the car in the half light of the dawn. A Water Rail moved along a small channel flushed by a high tide. Moving out onto the marsh the Egrets were moving from their roost sites out into the surrounding water channels to feed. I tried some slow shutter type images but the birds were too far away to make any good images. I managed to find a small pool where a Greenshank and Redshank were feeding. A slow approach resulted in some comparison images. The birds flushed when a cyclist passed. I had a feeling they might return and I wasn’t wrong. By sitting still and not moving about  the Greenshank returned and I photographed with the bird at ease with me. I was using the silent mode on the d3s which proved very useful.

Greenshank

nikon d3s,500vr 1×4, 1/1600@f11,iso800.

 Further along the marsh I encountered a family of Black-winged Stilts.  Alarm calls exploded in the only way Stilts do. They soon returned to the small brackish pool they had been feeding in. I lowered my profile from the path by sitting in some vegetation by the pool. The birds didn’t seem bothered by my presence so I could fill my cards with many images of Silts feeding. Stonechats and Sardinian Warblers were feeding on the far side of the pool, too far to photograph.

Black-winged Stilts

Nikon d3s, 500vr 1×4, 1/1250@f11,iso800.

 The heat of the day and harsh light stopped photography by about 10am, although a passing flock of Flamingo added a nice sighting as I returned back to the car. Time to relax by the pool and wait for the light to get better. I generally made use of this time making notes and birding from the poolside. One thing I did learn was how the light changed so quickly in the afternoon, going from harsh light to  the light being  no good for photographing birds in a very short time. Morning light was the best and every day I was up before sunrise. The first of the pelagics now dawned and I was on the quayside early in Fuzeta waiting for our birding guide to arrive. Sandwich Terns in winter plumage were fishing in the channel and a Common Kingfisher darted along. Four people assembled in the small boat eager to head out to sea. Pelagics are just amazing as you just never know what you are going to see or what conditions you are going to encounter. The first problem was breaking the large waves out of the channel. It didn’t take long for all the passengers to get completely soaked. My camera was well protected in its bag and a good job as the sea conditions were quite rough which made for an interesting pelagic. Large numbers of juvenile Gannets were fishing around small fishing boats  with a couple of Great Skuas in company which made for some exciting birding. However taking pictures with a handheld 500mm vr proved to be tough. That was a mistake.  I didn’t take many images as I was really after shearwater species and the conditions made it almost impossible to keep on the birds in such rough seas. Cory’s, Great and Balearic all passed by the boat or were found around the fishing vessels. I only mananged a few images of a Great Shearwater during this trip but the birding was superb with a European Storm Petrel being spotted in the swell but I failed to get on the bird in time. The return journey through the calmer waters of the Rio de Formosa was very welcome and the Rohan gear dried quickly enough. A tough pelagic for images but great birding and I had another go later in the week which had the promise of calmer seas. I learned a lot about how I would approach the next pelagic in terms of equipment and exposure etc, valuable lessons were learned and I wasn’t sea sick! It had been an amazing few days of birding and photography and I was looking forward to even more….

Northern Gannet (juvenile)

Nikon d3s,500vr, 1/3200@f8,iso800.

Great Skua

Nikon d3s,500vr

Lots more to come in part 2….

Portugal Trip Report

• 

  A full report packed full of images and notes coming soon!

Kingfisher Love

Common Kingfisher (male)

Nikon D3s, 500 vr,1/250@f8 iso800

 Spending as much time as possible with Kingfishers.I am starting to learn more about how the light works at different times of the day and also the behaviour of the male. I managed to find his resting spot along the river but I don’t think its worth photographing just yet as the fishing spot he is using is just so much fun to photograph. I am just going to photograph as much as possible at this site and just ‘fill my boots’ , so I hope you will enjoy the images to follow. I even did a small video the other morning just for fun. On another note don’t expect any over the top staged images from me. How some photographers represent Kingfisher  is just a joke and poorly reflects the birds and how they are actually seen in their environment . The short video is on my flickr site if interested.

Nikon D3s, 500 vr, 1/250@5.6 iso800

After catching and then dropping this fish, the male just looked at the now impaled fish for a few seconds and the proceeded to catch another fish. A nice moment of behaviour, only by spending time with birds do you start to see and capture images like these.

Finally!

Common Kingfisher

Nikon D3s, 500 vr, 1/250@f5.6, iso800

Well, I finally did it. I managed to  put some serious fieldwork into finding one of my nemeses birds, the Kingfisher. I have struggled for along time to find a location which would give a chance at photographing this stunning species. I have seen many Kingfisher in many parts of the UK including some popular hides on nature reserves but all seem to fail. This fact came to head recently when I visited a reserve where some photographers had been photographing Kingfishers. What a joke!!! I walked into the so called hide and looked in dismay at some perches 50-60 feet from the hide windows. I then was confronted with a chap who showed me pixel sized images on the back of his camera and he thought It was great. The local Kingfisher arrived and I watched but didn’t any images, the chap in the hide was blasting away at dots on sticks, I smiled. I left the hide and continued to photograph some dragonflies, but this really made me realise I need to do this myself. A friend had recently had some great success with Kingfishers on a site that he had found. I could  use the site but even this didn’t seem right. It was my friends site and so it remain, but this gave me another kick up the rear, so armed with my local knowledge and OS maps I begun the fieldwork. The funny thing is that it didn’t actually take that long to find a site. The 20 year mental hurdle had been jumped and I was on my way. My first morning with the local Kingfishers was just magical with countless visit from the male, which  had me in Kingfisher heaven. Hopefully I will be photographing at my local site as soon as weather and time join and more Kingfisher images will follow. So in the end all I had to do was look harder and do some legwork, if only I had done this sooner!

Stuff The Weather!

Dunlin

Nikon D3s, 500mm vr, 1/500@f8, iso 800.

There I am laying in goose droppings along a shoreline and the rain is starting to fall very hard. I am wet, but I am not bothered as before me a Dunlin has been feeding unconcerned by my presence. My fieldwork had been good as I had slowly marine crawled along a gravelled shoreline. I had left the tripod behind as it was not allowing a low perseptive. The lens was buried into the stones and I was letting the Nikon vr system earn its keep. What I was loving about this encounter was the light. The soft even light was causing no contrast problems giving wonderful details in the Dunlins feathers. The rain was a bonus as it was creating an atmosphere to the image. The two elements combined were creating a different type of image, one to remember and that makes all the difference in our image overloaded minds.

Sedge Warbler

Nikon D3s,500mmvr, 1×4 convertor, 1/640@f8 iso1000.

Another example of how soft even light helped create an image that in sunny contrasty conditions would yield a mass of problems, especially with the vegetation in the background. Yes, it was raining lightly, so soft light and rain does produce interesting images if you are prepared to be brave. I carry small charity bags which I can cover my gear if needs be, the bags which fall through the letter box on a daily basis have finally found a use! On a gear note the Nikon D3s is an amazing camera, the high iso abilities are a wonder to work with producing stunning image quality in low light conditions, coupled with the Nikkor lenses this is really helping me push what I can create with my photography. So don’t worry if the sun isn’t shining or the rain is falling, just get out and you may just be rewarded with an image worth remembering. Oh and get a Nikon!!