Trying to photograph Nuthatches in flight

 

When I returned home late afternoon, I was really surprised to see a Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) with a begging chick. We rarely have Starlings n the garden, this formally very common bird is nowhere near as common now as it used to be, especially here in Devon.  Not in the slightest bit rare yet, but in decline and in the 27 years living here, on only a few occasions have they been in the garden.

 

I spent the majority of the day trying to photograph in-flight Nuthatches in the wood.  I would have gone out to photograph the Cuckoo but because of the recent upset when  a couple of local photographers decided to search out my the site and muscle in with little regard for me, I decided to keep away.  If being usurped wasn't enough I then had to suffer a tirade of abuse when I objected, one even suggesting that because I wasn't from Devon originally he had preference over me, can you imagine a comment like that being taken seriously. So if you are one of the hundreds of people that have been searching my blog today to see what's going on, there's your answer.

So, Nuthatches, I have been trying for weeks, off and on, to photograph them in flight.  I know that eventually I will have some success but it's not working out too well. Tomorrow I am going to try with an infra-red shutter release.  I used this in Australia last year and it was quite successful and I think that this is the only way that I am going to be successful in my quest. 

This Blue Tit photo is interesting from a technical perspective.  It was photographed with a high ISO setting on the camera.  ISO is  the sensitivity of the camera.  The higher the number the more sensitive the camera becomes. Using  a  high ISO number means that you can achieve a faster shutter speed.  This is essential if you are going to get sharp moving images.  The downside though is the "noisy" image. But sometimes I quite like the effect and this is quite a nice picture.