Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Kingfisher in the rain.

We haven't had a Collared Dove in the garden for several weeks now and  I am not the only person to have noticed their absence. This morning there were two, glad to see them back.  The weather is dodgy today with overcast skies and a high chance of rain. I am planning a trip to the brook however where I hope to see the female Kingfisher.

Well, it's now PM and as you can see from the above, it was a successful morning trip. As I got in to the car it was just starting to get damp but it was brightish and without a trip out, it would be a long day in doors. I carried on regardless and managed to tuck myself in the hide before it got too wet.  Gradually it worsened, but I was under cover and the camera is designed to be used in unfavourable conditions with 127 weatherproof seals so Iwasn't too concerned when the rain and wind got much worse.  I sat and waited as normal and the minutes ticked by to an hour. Keeping a watch down stream I saw quite a splash and theres only one thing that is going to splash like that and even though I couldn't see a bird on the bank I ws pretty sure that a Kingfisher was not too far away. Just the hint of a bird in the territory is enough to suddenly make it not boring anymore.  But when the minutes continued to tick by, I have to admit that I did start to get a bit frustrated.  I literally said out loud " Oh, come on" and it worked, she flew towards me just as she had on Sunday and landed exactly where she had before, straight on the perch in front of me.   The wind blew her plumage  about, that alert head on the side pose is typical when a bird is intent on fishing and so it proved, she didn't see any prey and then flew off up stream making my morning worthwhile.

Just a couple of pictures from today, I went back to my Kingfisher Hide twice but a combination of bad weather and dog walkers disturbed the birds constantly.  The Egret (pictured) had about three tries to come and fish in front of me and each time finished up being spooked.  But it is a public park and other people have the right to use it just as much as me. In the end I had to give up when the rain started to teem down. I was looking around the hide for more evidence of wildlife activity and it's obvious that otters have been using the waterway over the last week. Several really obvious piles of mud with spraint and tracks everywhere. I am  still confident that one day I will see an otter in the day light and mange a photograph. Mallard ducks are not hard to see of course but this one has been near to me in front of the hide a lot. It might be a very common bird but it's still nice to get a photo when they are wary like this bird is. For some reason, it's very satisfying.

Kingfisher on the Alphin Brook

I hadn't been in my Kingfisher hide on the brook for a few weeks and on Friday I went just to check if it was looking promising or not. I was encouraged to see lots of signs that indictated Kingfisher. There was fresh droppings even on my hide, not massive aounts but more than a small bird like a Wagtail would leave and beneath the perches, signs that a Kingfisher had been there as well. This would have been overlooked if I hadn't had so much experience and knew what Kingfisher "lime" looks like.  They are very messy birds and spray  droppings often and copiously. If you know what to look for and where to look, you can easily  find their favourite perches. I admit to being quiet excited just knowing that a Kingfisher had recently been in the territory around the hide. With that in mind, on Saturday I devoted just under 3 hours watching and waiting for a visit, but  It didn't happen! I returned home a bit dejected but bumped in to a neighbour who regularly walks a dog along the patch.  He told me that he had only days ago, seen a Kingfisher  by my hide....... I knew I was right!

So this afternoon, the sun was shining brightly and I went back, again full of anticipation and enthusiasm That aticipation was givin a massive lift when, as I wriggled in to the hide (no mean feat with a badly bruised abdomen after surgery..... it hurt like hell), I saw a kingfisher 50 metres down stream and flying to land again. I was sure it wasn't stressed by me, if it had  been I am certain it would have continued flying and not have settled nearby. This was exciting, and I was pretty sure  that I was going to get a visit and it would eventually land on the perches just frame fillingly close to me. It was 21 minutes past 2 when I settle back and waited, and then 23 short minutes later I saw her fying quickly towards me, and bingo...... there she was, right on the perch. When I looked through the viewfinder I quickly locked on to her! She looked lovely, bright and fresh and gleaming. To my mind she looked even more stunning because the brook at this time of the year is a sludgy, dirty trickle and frankly it hasn't got much going for it. It is even almost devoid of birds and out of the 5 hours spent watching just the few feet in front of me, the only birdlife seen was a Kingfisher! 

But to continue, she was with me for 8 minutes. She was in hunting mode as you would expect at this time of year. The winter nights are long and birds need to feed properly in the short length of daylight. This is a good time of year to see Kingfishers because they are on the move and hunting during most of the short day. After posing for me for a while she flew to a a nettle stalk just opposite.  I could see her but my camera was pointing away from her, I gradually and as slow as possible moved the lens around towards her. When I had her in the viewfinder, I could see that now she really was on to something. She left the perch and then splashed loudly emerging with a fish on another perch close to the water  but too far to my right to get my camera on to her. She had a wriggling Stickleback in her beak and she spent at least a minute eating it. I just sat back and enjoyed the spectacle which was  nature at it's best. Then she had enough and off she went! A great afternoon.

Purple Sandpiper - Calidris maritime

I spend a lot of time planning my photos, and usually spend even longer periods sitting waiting for a good photo opportunity. So today, when I literally stumbled on these Purple Sandpipers, I admit I can't take any credit whatsoever, it would have been impossible not to get a half decent photo or two. 

Continuing with my convalescing I decided that some sea air would be good for me....... well, it wasn't quite like that. The actual fact was dictated by a sunny day, I had read on The Devon Bird Web Site that Purple Sandpipers were on Maer Rocks on Exmouth sea front, as it happens, very close to where the Grey Phalarope and Sabines Gull were earlier in the autumn. So wanting to continue with my recovery and get some exercise, I packed up my stuff and went off to see if I I could find them.  When I got there, the tide was very low and the rocks were totally exposed and dry. I could see birds in the fast flow at the edge of the rocks and knowing that Common Scoter were a possibility as they have been seen close to the rocks recently as well.  I tentatively made my way over the rocks towards the fast flowing channel about 100 yards away. I was weaving along, stepping from rock to rock, hoping not to slip, a fall on my recent operation scars might not be too good for me. Then suddenly I stopped in my tracks because just a few feet away were two Purple Sandpipers. They took no notice of me whatsoever and continued to feed on the rocks and in the pool at my feet. Now, at this point I had one of those epiphony moments, thats  when I realise that you dont need to be in the Far East or somewhere similar to see real interesting wildlife. You just have to be content with your own surroundings and all it brings, get out and about and in my opinion, keep yourself to yourself. You rarely have good sightings in crowds!

After a few minutes I moved myself so that the sun was coming over my shoulder and the birds carried on as though they were totally oblivious to me. The camera was quickly pressed in to action and I discovered that my new 500 lens has limitations...... I was too close to focus and had to precariously manoeuvre  backwards.

 

Venford Resrvoir, the highlight of my day.

Before we start...... another Stonechat picture from yesterday.

I have already posted today about the Blackcaps in the garden which took up most of my morning, by that I mean that I spent the morning trying to get better photos of them. Now that winter has almost replaced autumn they are here for the season and as usual, they are starting to come regularly  to the apple pieces that I place close to the house.  The plan now is to mount the apple on a moveable, but photogenic perch that I am gradually inching, bit by bit each day and very gradually, out in to the open and in a good picturesque  place. In this way I will be able to photograph the Blackcaps with high-speed flash.... in-flight, as they fly in and out. But first, I will need to get them really used to the apple and they will need to feel safe to come and go.  It didn't help today when I realised that I have been having regular visits from my neighbours "killer" cat. I hate cats in the same way that I  hate  burglers and thieves. I hate them for the way  that they  interfere with my enjoyment,  and I hate them for killing millions of songbirds in the UK every year.  That isn't a subject that I want to enter in to  discussion about, because I have come to learn that cat owners always seem to be able to find a way of excusing their own cat as if the fact that it's theirs makes it somehow acceptable. They will always and without exception, turn a blind eye. Fair enough but I just wish they would keep them out of my garden. 

In the early afternoon I decided to trip out to Venford to look for Goosanders and Little Grebe.  I still want a good photo of a Drake Goosander and putting the time in is the only way it's going to happen. Then its just a case of sitting it out. Seems easy but it's not. Today, for the first 1 1/2 hours there wasn't a bird to be seen let alone to photograph. Then suddenly I caught sight of a Little Grebe and it was getting nearer. It didn't come close enough but moved down the shoreline where it joined up with another and now there were two. One caught a fish and there was a flurry of activity as a female Goosander and then a Cormorant flew in towards me. Almost busy now, I started to get really optimistic when one of the Grebes turned and started in my direction. Then, it all came to end when a dog walker decided to throw a stick in for his labrador right where the grebe was headed, an almost frustrating day now made complete. At least it wasn't a cat, so the morning was ruined by a cat and the afternoon by a dog...... there's a pattern emerging here and I'll let you decide what the common denominator is?   Have you guessed?  Yes.... the owners!  Some would say that there's no bad pets, just bad, selfish inconsiderate pet owners, and of course I would agree! I can't begin to count how many times my day has been ruined by dog walkers, but I'd better stop now.

 I packed up and stumbled dejectedly back to the car and back to my dog and cat free...... and oh yes, sweet smelling home.

Garden Blackcaps update

I am keeping a record of the Blackcaps in my garden this Autumn and Winter.  Here is a link to a page specifically set aside. We had a ringed female in the garden today at around 1100. For a picture and records of their visits this year please click on this link.

Stonechat on a South Devon Beach

Female Stonechat (sporting a BTO ring which unfortunately spoils the image).

The morning dawned, it was day 4 since my Gall Bladder Op. I couldn't believe how roughI felt, Mike Tyson would have been proud to have caused so much bruising.  I decided that come what may, I was going to have to get my self moving.  The weather seemed nice and bright, it was almost sunny as well so, like the old man that I felt, I gathered my gear together, rammed a banana in to my jacket pocket and headed out  in the car towards Brixham and specifically Mansands and the Desert Wheatear. The Desert Wheatear that had been perched on the Coastuard Cottage roof since last Friday, and the Desert Wheatear that decided to move on sometime very early this morning, frustrating not only me but the other 'birding" regulars that had decided to come and see it now that the weather was fine.

Oh, but it was so good to be out.  I had worried a bit about the walk down, (and back of course). But it was pleasant, cool, bright air and crisp on the breath, Britain at it's best with luxurious green fields of verdant grass and hedges festooned with berries of all kinds. I met a few  'tramping" men of a similar age, now trudging back car-wards, carrying their disappointment and heir spotting scopes with bowed heads, now seemingly brightened as they passed me, with the opportunity to report that I was wasting my journey in the way that men of my age enjoy..... the Wheatear had flown! I carried on anyway, I was half way there, and who knows, they could have been wrong?  I found out when I had completed my route march that they were right but I wasn't that disappointed.  I immediately saw Black Redstarts, three in total, all on the cottage roof, so not a wasted walk by any means.  I just love Black Redstarts, rare but regular Devon winter  visitors. They spend a lot of time on rooves. That's not too hard to understand. Rooftops catch the sun's rays and warm up quicker than surroundings.  Insects are active on roof tops and in gutters and this is the attraction to the the Black Redstarts here.  I just hate the way that some birders ignore common species or pretend to be blase about others, as though they are immune to a bird like a Black Redstart because they have seen them so often. 

This was more evident with a pair of Stonechat that were feeding close by in the Cottage garden, ignored by most but the centre of my 3 hours as I waited for a good opportunity to get a good image. The Black Redstarts, from time to time would join the Stonechats and I positioned myself close enough, always in the hope that I woud get a special shot of either species. Needless to say, I did, and finished the session with 2 nice Stonechat photoraphs.

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Blog problem solved and thank you.

Glad to say that everything on my Blog is back up and running now and I can post and read my blog as normal. The problem was with my local server apparently. A big thank you for all the kind wishes also, I hope to be up and about very soon.  Plans for the next few weeks include Snipe, Grey Pover, Avocet, Goosander, Dipper and more high speed flash when I am mobile again so dont stop looking.   

The garden remains almost birdless due probably to the unseasonally warm weather although we did have a new female Blackcap yesterday. Still very few Goldfinches let alone Siskin.  

Help with the Blog please.

I am having difficulties with the blog. I am unable to actually visit the blog t read my entries from my machine, no idea why and the owners of the service "Typepad" don't seem to be able to help. I think that my readers can read as normal, is that true.  Can you read the blog? Are you seeing all the content? Can you see the Photos?  Could you please send me comments to let me know if its working for you, thanks for your help. Hope to sort it soon, it's very frustrating. 

Starting to feel improvement today by the way, not so sore and feeling a bit fitter already.

Thanks, Charlie

Little Grebe on Dartmoor

I had an early start today, not for birding or photography but for a trip to hospital for surgery to remove my Gall Bladder which has been troubling me for years. It's going to be good to get rid of it. As I sit waiting for my turn, feeling like the eponymous "Dead Man Walking", I am looking out of the first floor ward window here in The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, a friendly, busy and seemingly very efficient institution.  From the window it is more than interesting to count the bird species. It's surprising to be able to birdwatch in a place such as this. There are all the usuals, but in far greater numbers than my own garden which is a surprise. Just casually glancing through the window now, I can see a small flock of Goldfinch feeding on seeding heads in the garden borders.  There are Herring Gulls (no surprise there then), Jackdaws, Blue Tits, Blackbirds, Crows and Magpies. What is good though are the surprisingly close views. There are tree tops at eye level and the Goldfinches are just a few feet from me, it would be a great photo opportunity. Interestingly, there are no House Sparrows to be seen, they really are quite scarce now compared to a few years ago. 

Yesterday I went back to Venford Reservoir to try and photograph the Goosanders and Little Grebe. I had good views of the "Dabchick".  These are a  smashing little species of Grebe, quite small, the size of a Pied Billed Grebe for comparison if you are reading this in the USA and you are familiar with that species. They have a good way of avoiding "trouble".  As soon as they are aware of you the observer, they avoid the perceived danger by diving and then swimming away strongly underwater, emerging somewhere yards and yards away and then diving immediately again.  In this way they are quickly lost to view.  This was pretty much what happened yesterday, when I first arrived I was pleased to catch sight of the individual seen on my previous visit. It was quite close to me and getting nearer as it fished, I had seen it doing that the day before when it was doing quite well with a high success rate, surfacing with small Brown Trout at least four times while I watched.   This time though, it caught sight of me, even though I was camouflaged and it dived noisily and that was the last I saw of it.  That was a bit of a disappointment as I hoped for some good photographs, especiallly with a beak full of wild Brown Trout!

On my previous Venford Reservoir visit, the day before, there had been 7 Goosanders including 2 drakes. I have Blogged about these male Goosanders before but it's worth repeating. The entire Western European breeding population of male Goosander depart their breeding grounds  en-masse in June. They arrive in their thousands from all parts of Europe at a small Norwegian Fjiord  where they remain , in a massive flock of adult males…… the entire European population, for close on 4 months.  They completely moult their flight feathers before returning back in Novemebr to join up again with their females, and progeny, at their breeding  grounds. Whether they are faithful to their original mate is unknown to me, that would make the story even more remarkable.  I watched just one drake at first, but as the afternoon  went on, suddenly I noticed two. I would like to think that this second bird had just arrived back in Devon, but of course I have no way of knowing this even if it were true. What I do know though, is that theses two spanking males were extremely attractive with a bold very dark green head and a creamy white body. I am pretty sure that I will be able to get a nice close up photograph eventually, but it's going to be a waiting game and patience is required!  Yesterday surprisingly, their were no ducks on the reservoir whatsoever, where could they be?   After an hour or so, a female "splashed" in and I was expecting her to be joined by others, and hopefully a drake, but that didn't happen. That was quite a surprise, the way birds behave is a mystery quite often and what makes it more interesting for me.

There has recently been a few interesting rarities around locally. Snow Buntings at Budleigh Salterton and yesterday a Desert Wheatear in South Devon.  Hopefully, if my operation goes well, I will be up and about and be able to try for some photos of this really nice bird, and obviously, rare (for Devon and the UK). 

 

Goosander - Mergus merganser

To my eyes, Goosanders are an attractive bird and in common with almost all of the duck species, they are very attractive and photogenic.  However, truly wild ducks are very wary and difficult to get close to, probably because historically they have been hunted for thousands of years. Only those birds with a built in preservation instinct have survived to pass on their genes. But when I went to photograph them yesterday I had a plan to get close which had worked on a previous visit and that success had given me the confidence to try again. Previously I had photographed just females, the drakes were yet to arrive from their moulting grounds in Norway but now as well as well as five females, there was a couple of very smart males.

I sat on the ground under cover and  in my "gillie suit" with my back up against a rock and my camera camouflaged to blend in to the surroundings. Then it was just a case of waiting for the birds to eventually drift in my direction.  It took quite a while, but eventually three of them were getting closer and closer. Then one female decided to bathe and she was around 30 feet from me, meanwhile the other two, including a spanking male, drifted away again which was frustrating. My photos of the bathing female were exciting to say the least.  She was energetic and persistent, splashing and rolling in the shallow water at the reservoir's edge.

I took lots of photos and finished up with dozens of "specials" .  It's been a hard job to sort through them and decide which ones to publish on the Blog and on my galleries. 

I just adore this photograph, it has a lot going for it, action..... a good subject and an interesting background. 

Birdguides success again

This is the third time that this picture has been posted on the Blog. I posted it yesterday after making it my own Photo of the Week.  I am glad to say that it was also nominated for Photo Of the Week on the Birdguides Web Site. As I have said before, thats a real honour and something that I try to achieve as often as possible, when it happens I am always thrilled. The competition is as tough as it gets and the other nominees are always really special images, you should look at them here.

Comparing Black Capped Chickadee to Marsh Tit

The weather continues to be very frustrating. It was wet today, but rather than sit at home doing nothing,  I still tried to get some photographs and in the end I was successful. It was far too wet to risk putting the flash guns out, rain water and electronics don't mix.  I was therefore, restricted to some normal photography and that's what I finished up doing. Here are todays photographs.

This is a Blue Tit, if you are visiting the Blog from the USA you will obviously see that this bird is related to your Chickadee species. Blue Tits  are a very common bird here in the UK and Europe and a very welcome and common bird in  backyards and gardens. There are approximately 3 1/2 million breeding pairs of Blue Tits in the UK.  The next species is a Marsh Tit which rarely, visits gardens and backyards and is a bird that, whilst not necessarily rare, is on the Red list of species in decline in the UK.   There is an estimated population of around 50,000 pairs, which is a tiny population by comparison to the Blue Tit and  is therefore, not seen as often. However, Marsh Tits do breed here in the county of Devon and I pretty much see them on every outing to the Dartmoor National Park. This species very much resembles the Black Capped Chickadee  Poecile atricapillus of the USA and belongs to the same family with the scientific name Poecile palustris.  I very much enjoy discovering little facts like this and it's good to be able to post about it. It's quite interesting to compare the behaviour of this species with Blue Tits. Even though they are a much rarer bird it is interesting to see that they are a bold and aggresive species and seemingly fearless.  They are always the first to arrive at the food and more accepting of my presence and the flash equipment.  During the next few days I plan to get some video footage of this species so check back later on. 

My own "Photos Of The Week"

Every Thursday I choose my Photo Of The Week and post it on my PBase Galleries. I pick the picture that  appeals to me most.  I enjoyed looking through the gallery earlier on today and thought it would be a good to post the last 10 weeks here for you to enjoy.

 

11 August Meadow Pipit

18 August Common Gull

25 August Squacco Heron

30 August Pied Wagtail

6 September Sparrowhawk

14 September Kestrel

22 September Sabines Gull

30 September Grey Heron

6 October Grey Wagtail

12 October Little Egret

20 October Little Egret

27 October Snow Bunting

3 November Goosander

7 November Blue Tit

14 November Blue Tit

Marsh Tit - Poecile palustris

I hadn't been out and about with the camera for a couple of days, firstly on Saturday i was involved in a large musical concert, Classics Galore...... a very, very successful event by the way and if you want to know about it then please click on the link...... and then yesterday was Remembrance Sunday and I am always involved in that in a big way, and very proud to do so. When today arrived I had the chance to go out to carry on with my High Speed Flash. The best thing about this technique is that you need dull conditions. This is pretty much what we are getting of late here in Devon, so when you would normally be confined to the house in frustration, you can actually get yourself out there and have a good session. There were still no Nuthatches to photograph but in the end ( after a bit of a wait), in came the Marsh Tits to the feed. When I got home I was really chuffed to see that I had got a nice photo or two.

Remote Flash Photography

I continue with my High Speed Flash experiments and yesterday when it was obviously not going to rain, I went back out to Dartmoor and to the feeding satiation where I knew there would be good opportunities to practice the technique. I set the gear up and the birds eventually got used to it all and started to feed with some real enthusiasm. There were Blue Tits, Robins and Marsh Tits with the odd Coal Tit. Oddly the Great Tits don't seem to, as yet like the gear and even though I could hear Nuthatches in the trees very near by, they wee not brave enough to venture down........ but they will I am sure.   Can't wait for that to happen, its going to be magic when they do. This will give me the chance to capture them "in-flight".The lessons I have learned so far are numerous but the most obvious is not to over expose the image, in short, don't set the flash guns be too bright. it's early days but these two are getting near to what I am looking for. However, it's pretty hit and miss and you have to be prepared to have about 5% success rate.In other words out of 100 shots you ae lucky to get 5 that are any good.  As I mentioned, Marsh Tits are quite common at this site, at the moment more common than the Blue Tits which is obviously brilliant to see.  This is due, I think, more about their more confiding nature, they don't seem to be too concerned about the falsh gun, or for that matter me either. Being the rarer of the two species though, photos of them are more rewarding and perhaps "valuable" but I have to be honest, if you were a complete stranger to both species you would think the Blue Tit much more attractive.

I had an email from someone asking how I managed to get the photo of the Blue Tit (above).  I sent him a detailed reply and it is a good description of the effort I have gone in to to make it happen.

"Firstly, I know a site that has lots of birds near to a picnic area on Dartmoor where over the yeas they are fed regularly.  Once they have settled after my arrival, they will come to the feed constantly, but at times that could just as easily be your own garden.

The entire picture is a complete set up, sure it's a wild bird and free to come and go of course, and it's visiting the feed that is out of picture.

I firstly erect a little table  fabricated from aluminium plate and mounted on a fishing bank stick This means I can cary it easily and push in to the ground anywhere that looks good.  I cover the table with natural vegetation from the ground..... moss etc. I then bury seed amongst the moss.

I position this near to my car which I use as a hide and just about 7 feet from the "table". I set up my camera on a small tripod and sit away from the window. I fit a remote shutter release to the camera. After focusing on the table, I then set the camera to manual, (not auto).  I set the camera to flash sync speed, the ISO to 200 and the fstop to f22. (a good depth of field is crucia).  I fit the camera with a wireless shutter transmitter.

Next, I place 4 flash units around the table, only l 1 foot away from each corner of the table. The units are set to 1/16 power meaning that the flash duration is  going to be 1/5000 sec aprox based on the full power duration being around 1/750.  The flash units are also on fishing bank sticks and also fitted with wireless receivers.( fired simultaneously by the transmitter on the camera).

For a background, on a previous visit  I first take a picture of the area behind where the table will be, as normal but making sure that it is now in good natural light and then  take it so the result is a blurred and an out of focus image. Then I have this background image printed to a high quality graphic poster . Then when I return, I place the poster on a stand behind the food table  I fix a further flash unit also fitted with a receiver, on this background. Eventually the birds get used to it all and then start to come in to the feed... sometimes this will take an hour due to the un-natural clutter...... eventually they accept it.  The fun starts and you start to try and capture the birds flying in as they begin to feed. The high speed of the flash units is what freezes the action...wing beat etc..... not the cameras shutter speed.  Without the flashes firing everything would just be black even though you are working during the day. 

Then you may take 1000 photos and one or two will be OK.  Then back at home you remove any other clutter from the picture in Photoshop and adjust the lighting and saturation. Estemated cost of equipment. £6000.

 

 

Birdguides notable photos

Every week the Birdguides Website, the most visited birding website in the world with with an average of 49,000 views a day, (what an amazing statistic), runs a competition for their photograph of the week.  It is a massive accolade to win this weekly competition and lots of bird photographers post their pictures regularly, all photographs uploaded, are then "entered" in to the competition. To date there are 203,450 pictures representing 3934 species. As well as the prestigious Photo of the Week,  the  runners-up, are recorded as "Notable" . To have a picture mentioned as  "Notable" is a great achievement.  17 of my pictures have been recognised as "Noteable" and as well as this I am a twice winner of the "Photo of the Week". My Cuckoo photo taken in June was my second "Photo of the Week" and out of the 203,450 pictures on the sight, is the 10th most popular picture! 

Click on these links to visit:

Birdguides website.

My "noteable" photos.

My Kingfishers fighting "Photo of The Week".

My Cuckoo "Photo of The Week"

 

This week my Goosander photograph taken at Venford Reservoir was a nominated as a Birdguides Notable Photograph and here it is.

 

Blue Tits photographed with High Speed Flash

I have had a hard few days here, been in discomfort with my Gall Bladder issues....... operation coming soon! But, regardless I went out in the late afternoon just to try to improve my High Speed Flash photography, and yes it's working! Eventually I got the trigger and receivers to work properly. I am using the car as a hide which works really well from a concealment perspective but I suspect that there can be some interference from the metal of the car. For some reason though, yesterday they all seemed to work really well, and armed with only a tiny bit of experience I was able to position the units in the right places. There were birds, lots of them and a bit of a feeding frenzy started to happen and I got some lovely shots as you can see.  A Tree Creeper (crept opposite) along the branches of a bush and I was preying for it to come down, it didn't, sadly!  A Nuthatch was nearby, eventually one will fly in and that is going to be a beautiful image to capture, my hearts thumping at the thought of that. Then after just a few minutes of this mania, it all came to an end but not without some real excitement.  A female Sparrowhawk - (Acipitor Nisus) came in and that really put an and to it all.  There was some sad squeaking from the nearby bush as the hawk obviously made a successful kill.  Any bird with any sense of preservation left the scene, or kept an extremely low profile. One or two small tits with a death wish eventually came in to feed but that was the end of my session.  Back home I looked at the few pictures I had taken and was thrilled with a couple of results. I just love the way that in the one above, the light is shining through the back of the bird's wing from behind and creating a glorius effect. Then this one below is beautiful too.  The bird had come in to land and then at the last second had a change of heart and swerved away. This is all happening at speeds that the eye can hardly follow but when the action is captured some glorious images are recorded.  I am excited about this new aspect of my bird photography, and very thrilled at the prospects of things to come...... like I have said previously, it can only get better.

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More High speed flash efforts from Friday

Here's another picture from Friday's High Speed Flash session, one that I didn't post before. THis weekend has been slow with very few birds seen. Blackcaps have been absent from the garden for several days, and the regular flocks of Goldfinches usually seen, have yet to appear this year. I am assuming that there is still a lot of natural food still in the countryside and the birds will move in, in numbers eventually. A late flying Red Admiral butterfly was in the garden at midday I went to sit in the Kingfisher hide for the 1 1/2 hours before dusk, hoping of course for a Kingfisher but it didn't show. In fact it was very quiet there too and I had to wait for more than an hour, and by the then the light had almost faded, before we had any avian visits at all. Then a Grey Wagtail a Little Egret and then a "first-winter" Moorhen momentarily visited.

Creating pictures from photographs

This needs bit of work but it has some potential. It was achieved by taking a photograph using multiple flash units to freeze the action. Then I adjusted  the camera again to take a photo of the same scene to capture the background, very obviously, without the bird. Then back at home, I combined the two images. This next one has worked a little bit better and I am more pleased with the result as it has a more natural feel about it.

The next images are of Blue Tits without any addition backgrounds added and the first has worked out well as the bird "bombs" in to the feed.  The harshness of the flah spoils the image a ittle but overall, when you imagine the speed that the bird was flying, it's worked exactly as I have planned it. The wings, which are just being folded before landing, have been frozen in time at around 10,000/1 of a second.

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Taking these in-flight shots is a very time consuming and demanding technique. Thee are numerous variables and difficulties that have to be overcome.  Timing is all important, press the shutter too soon and the subject is not within range of the flash and will also be out of the "focus' range of the camera's settings. The camera needs to have the aperture set to get the maximum depth of field. If you press the shutter too late, the subject bird will have landed which obviously defeats the point of the high speed set up.  The lighting is crucial and the extremely short burst of light, at 20,000 of a second is what captures and freezes the action.  However it can be very hit and miss and to get the bird subject lit properly is a rel challenge. Because, without the flash, the ambient light is not sufficiently bright to register on the cameras sensor, any part of the picture that is out of range of the flash will be black , this makes the pictures apear as though they were taken at night.  Obviously, not always desirable for a day flying bird. There are ways to get around this and that is my next step.

 

High Speed Flash and Marsh Tits

I have been planning this photo, (and more like it and hopefully better), for a year now. I am always incredibly impressed by photos of Hummingbirds that I see, with their wings frozen in time. These pictures have seriously inspired me.  I wanted to use some of these techniques  to photograph the more ordinary species that I encounter here at home.  I did a lot of research to try and find out how it is done and having now got a good idea of the technique involved, but more importantly  the equipment required, I began to assemble what I needed. Basically that is multiple flash guns, at least 4 of them and the stands to mount them on.  Also needed is the means to trigger the flash units in unison and remotely. I purchased a Radio trigger which operates the receivers that in turn fire off the flash units. In a nutshell, and very simplified, that is a basic breakdown of the gear.  Of course, then you also require a camera and a decent lens……. total cost of equipment, around  £6.500, the most expensive part being the camera and lens.   Today, I went out, fully equipped, to somewhere that I knew would give me a good chance to try and use all this expensive kit with lots of birds at a feeding station on Dartmoor!  These photos might represent, on the face of it,  a bit of a result but  hopefully "you ain't seen nothing yet".  There will be lots more to come.  The truth of it is, the whole excersise was really difficult. I took about 200 photos to get just a few that were acceptable, but that's OK because digital photography gives you the opportuity to work like that. You can really experiment.   What makes the picture above a little bit more interesting is the species, it is a Marsh Tit, a bird that is not as commonly encountere as the more usual Tit species. It's always really nice to see them, let alone get a good photo "in-flight". But it didn't end there and I took a few others that I was quite pleased with. 

This is a Coal Tit, again quite a nice image. It is an interesting lighting effect.  I like the way that one of the flash units has lit up the breast of the bird from the left.  The best shot of the day happened by accident.  It was more  a case of being there at the right time. But if you put the time in  eventually you are bound to get lucky now and again. A Blue Tit was feeding on the sunflower hearts,  then when a Marsh Tit flew in, it took an aggresive stance towards the other bird. I managed to get a shot of a real life piece of action which is always what I am trying to capture,  the result is a really nice, successful  picture.

I finished up with a great shot and one that might well be considered my best ever photograph. just have to go back to get more!

 

Back to Venford Reservoir

It's  been a couple of hard days photography wise.  Yesterday was a clear bright day, a break in the weather, Monday was wet and windy and today, Wednesday is forecast to be stormy again.  I parked myself by the water at Venford as previously with sun at my back. I had had a wonderful day last Thursday, really special and productive with some brilliant close ups of Goosander, Little Grebe and Cormorant.  It was a real disappointment though, oddly no Goosanders on the lake whatsoever. After 2 hours, the 1 cormorant present had grown to 3 but they were all resting high in the conifers close to the edge of the water. In the far distance I caught sight of a Little Grebe, almost certainly the single bird I had seen last week. The reason for my visit was to try for pictures of this bird, so although it was good to see it was there, I was disappointed not to be able to get some close up photographs and it never did come closer than 100 meters. The lack of success makes good days all the more rewarding.

I just wanted to make some comments about a conversation that I had with shop workers and customers in the angling shop in the city.  I wanted to know what their feelings were about the potential damage that Goosanders may or may not be doing to fish stocks in the waterways of the county. To a man they hadn't even heard of the species let alone know that they feed exclusively on fish. I can't imagine working in a shop that caters for outdoor pursuits and yet not be aware of such a well known species. But Otters, that was a totally different thing.  I can honestly say that we are well on the way to a battle over Otters.  As you may know they have made a massive recovery here in the West Country and conflict with anglers is now inevitable, in fact the conflict has already begun. All of the people in the shop agreed that they would like to see the Otters killed and removed from the waterways here around Exeter. I was horrified that this could even be contemplated by anyone, let alone with such unanimity. To my mind, the otters were here in Great Britain well before anglers and they should always take precedence. If the presence of otters means the end of angling as we know it, then that is an  unfortunate but inevitable fact of life. The thought of shooting/trapping and killing of otters is abhorrent and it is selfish in the extreme for anglings to be calling for this to happen.  The thing that worries me is the strongest and loudest voice will endure and I suspect that it will be easier for anglers to unite. There may be more people who have a more general interest in wildlife but they may not be able to "come" together as a unit to get behind the otters to save it from a stronger more vociferous minority. Very worrying.