Night-time shot of the tower of St. Mary’s Church in Astbury, Cheshire, taken from the graveyard at the front of the church.

This shot was given the HDR (high dynamic range) treatment using three copies of the same image, with different levels of brightness applied. This allows the darker foreground to be lightened without the bleaching out of the tower that would normally occur when brightening a single image. Hope you like the result.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 17-40mm f4L;    Exposure: 2 sec @ f9;     ISO: 1000

OK, as a wildlife record shot, this falls a little short of the mark. But as a photograph, I actually like it!
Shot taken at Alkrington Woods Nature Reserve in Middleton, Greater Manchester.

Comments welcomed as always.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/500th sec @ f10;     ISO: 1250

Walking through Alkrington Woods near my home in Middleton, Greater Manchester, I saw something dart up a tree very quickly. Satisfied that he was out of reach, this grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) happily posed for the camera with his breakfast!

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/800th sec @ f6.3;     ISO: 800

Always carry a camera around with you wherever you go.

A great piece of advice and one that I’m glad I followed earlier this week as I travelled “down south” for a business meeting in Stokenchurch, Bucks. As I walked back to the car after being stuck indoors for most of the day, I saw five red kites (Milvus milvus) flying fairly low overhead. I rushed to the car and reeled off around 100 shots (we don’t get red kites in Manchester!), including this one. The low evening sun helpfully cast some light on the side of the head and the underbody – a change from the usual “silhouette” shots that you normally get of birds of prey!

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/800th sec @ f8;     ISO: 800

“Not very bright, that male widgeon down there!”.

So said the elderly gentleman sat next to me in the hide at Blacktoft Sands, the RSPB reserve on the Humber estuary. Unclear as to whether he was referring to colouration or intellect, I gave what I hoped was an affirmative-sounding grunt.

This image of a pair of widgeon (Anas penelope) was taken using a borrowed Canon 2x teleconverter (TC) coupled with my trusty 400mm lens. There’s no doubt that the TC allows you to get shots that would otherwise be difficult and the 2-stop light loss is fine in the right conditions. But being limited to manual focus is very hit-and-miss.

Should I buy my own, though? Decisions, decisions…

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L + 2x teleconverter;    Exposure: 1/500th sec @ f11;     ISO: 400

A lucky shot, as this robin (Erithacus rubecula) landed just a few metres away as I was walking through Fairburn Ings. The fact that the sun was fairly low and behind the bird, coupled with the uncluttered background, only add to the simplicity of this image.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/500th sec @ f5.6;     ISO: 800

With frost on the ground (and on the tops of feeders!), it’s no wonder that this long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) was feasting on suet balls at RSPB Fairburn Ings today.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/500th sec @ f5.6;     ISO: 800

Despite living pretty close to Alkrington Woods, I’ve not really visited the place for many, many years. And I don’t remember there being anything other than swans and gulls on the water in the adjoining area known as Rhodes Lodges. It turns out that if you actually visit a place with your eyes open, you can see so much more – including greylag geese and long-tailed tits, neither of which I thought ever visited the suburbs of Manchester!

This tufted duck (Aythya fuligula) was one of a small group on the lodges on a crisp January day with the sun shining, bringing out colourful reflections on the water.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/500th sec @ f14;     ISO: 1600

The nuthatch (Sitta europaea) has to be one of my favourite wild birds. Until I took up “birding” a few months ago, I’d never seen one (being a city boy and all that), so I was really impressed at my first sighting. This particular specimen was making good use of the peanut and seed feeders at the recently-opened Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB reserve, situated near Neston on the Dee estuary.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/400th sec @ f10;     ISO: 800

Why is it that the relatively docile European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) always looks so angry? Is it the red face that does it? Or perhaps he just doesn’t like having his photo taken!!

Even so, the colouring of these birds is fantastic and makes them irrestible subjects for a shot like this, taken at Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve just a few days ago.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II w/ Canon 400mm f5.6L;    Exposure: 1/400th sec @ f5.6;     ISO: 800