Wildlife Photographic Journals

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Rain and Flu

My photos activities during the last couple of weeks have been curtailed by a bad dose of flu and some grim autumnal weather. Unfortunately the brief appearances of sunshine do not seem to coincide with my moments of free time. I have managed a few grabbed photos here and there but could do with a good productive session somewhere.

The following photos have been taken in my local area. The Wirral is a wonderful place to live for a bird photographer as there are so many different birds available to photograph. Winter is my favourite time at least when the weather is kind.

For those interested in camera bodies the following photos were taken with the Canon 7D.

When times are tough the local sea gulls always provide good practice for flight photography.

Knot are obviously at their most spectacular in a large swirling flock but I think that the individual birds also have a certain appeal.

There are plenty of Oystercatchers around at the moment but mainly on the fields digging up earthworms.

The local model boating lake is full of Mute Swans, with this one taken as the sun had just disappeared at the end of the day.

A Barn Owl hunting voles out on the local salt marshes

To finish off this rather mixed post my local nemesis the Green Woodpecker. We don't have many of these birds locally and I have tried and failed on numerous occasions to photograph this particular bird but its extremely difficult to get anywhere close to it. This day I managed to catch it but still have not achieved what I am after with it. One day my perseverance will be rewarded!

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:09:00 +0000

Seeing Purple

A recent trip to the local shore found me looking on the rocks, that make up the sea defences, for roosting waders. It was a big tide which forces the birds up the rocks and closer to the camera. The sun shone but there was a near gale blowing onshore making holding the camera steady tricky and causing lots of airborne sea spray. Saltwater and electronics are a bad mix and if you are ever out in these conditions it pays to give the camera and lens a good clean on returning home.

As I looked out upon the waders the first that caught my eye were two redshank braced against the wind.

As I was looking through the groups of turnstones I started spotting purple sandpiper which I was not expecting as they usually appear a little later in the year. There were seven birds present so I spent the rest of the short session concentrating on them. These birds are well adapted to walking around over rocky habitat and seem quite comfortable perched on near vertical sides of rocks.

The name Purple sandpiper appears a bit misleading when you see these birds for the first time but with a bit of sunshine on the back feathers and all is revealed.

They are wonderful little birds and always a joy to photograph.

My favourite photo of the session is the last of this post. I love the mood and tranquility of this photo. The birds spend a great deal of time with the heads tucked over their backs in the roost position. I was trying to find an interesting photo of them in the roost position and noticed this bird standing in the shadow of the rocks and spotlighted by the sun appearing through a crack in the boulders.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Flying Corvids

I started a new lunch hour project a couple of weeks back to try and get some flight photos of the jackdaws and rooks that lurk around the farm field next to my office car park. The lunch hour session is very therapeutic as for a brief period in the middle of the day I can forget the stresses of the office, immerse myself in some wildlife, and start the afternoon refreshed. It took a couple of days to start getting the photos I was after but I soon began to get some results.

The first photo of a magpie is actually from another site but keeps with the general theme of the crow family in flight.

I have always had a fondness for jackdaws but must confess it was the rooks which were the target species of this mini project. The autumn foilage in the distance providing some warm backgrounds colours.

Finally I come on to my target species, the rook. This is a bird that generally seems to be ignored as dull and uninteresting. In fact I asked a few people around the office what colour they thought rooks where and the usual answer was 'well its just a boring black bird'. So I have converted a few photos to black and white as this seems to be how most people view them.

So if this is how you see rooks then I urge you to take a closer look next time you see some because they are subtly very colourful birds with a rich blue and purple metallic sheen to their feather in the sunlight. Hopefully after re-examination you will then start to see them for the beautiful birds they really are.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:44:00 +0000

Reflections of Leighton

I recently took a trip up to the RSPB Leighton Moss Reserve. It has been a long time since I made a visit and it made for a refreshing change of scenery. At early start allowed me to arrive at first light and on opening the hide flap I was confronted with two wader species that I have not photographed before. A promising start! The light was a bit odd that morning and all over the place but conditions were very calm allowing for some reflections to be captured. First to be put before the lens was a Spotted redshank in winter plumage. These birds are much more attractive than the normal redshank and have a certain elegance about them.

All that wading around must have been hard work and the bird soon came to stop, and stretched before settling down.

Meanwhile a small group of Greenshank were steadily making their way nearer and nearer to the hide.

They stopped briefly in front of the hide with their rapid probing of the mud.

It was not only invertebrates that were on the morning menu and this one came up with a small fish.

As quickly as they had arrived they had moved on, a brief moment but of sufficient time to at last gets some photographs of this beautiful wader.
As usual there were plenty of Little Egrets present to keep the camera entertained.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Panning for Waders

I decided it was about time to start the winter wader campaign. Having played around a little last year with getting some low level photos, this winter I intend to put a good deal of effort in with my main target species being Bar-tailed Godwit. So before heading forth in to the estuary muds I thought it was time to get properly kitted out and invested in a good pair of chest waders. Of course the other essential piece of kit was the modified fry pan!. If your wondering what I am on about then check this previous post http://wildlifephotographic.blogspot.com/search?q=the+low+down.

The first trip out was less than ideal with a very small tide, poor light and a Sunday beach full of dog walkers. As I had no tide to bring the birds towards me, it was a case of going commando in the mud and crawling a long distance, which I certainly felt with some aching muscles the following day. I just had a bit of experiment with some sanderling that afteroon.

Despite the conditions I liked what I was seeing through the lens from my very low angle which brings a degree of intimacy with the subject.
The next session was under better conditions.

Along with the Sanderling scurrying around the beach there were around 3000 knot and 5 Bar-tailed Godswits. The Godwits were playing hard to get and stayed on the seaward side of the knot flock making any approach difficult and spent most of the time asleep.

The session was useful though as I am now confident with the approach for the bar-tails and just need to wait for the right combination of sun and tides.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Brief Norfolk Moments

North Norfolk is a bird watchers paradise, especially during migration time as the bulge of land jutting out into the North Sea intercepts birds heading south down the east side of the country. As a result many scarce and rare birds can often be found there in Autumn. Before heading off on my holiday I decided to set my mobile for scarce and rare text alerts in Norfolk. That was a mistake as it was going off every half hour during my week stay, I couldn't turn it off as I had no access to a computer and it was made even more frustrating as I had no time to pursue them. This was a holiday and not a photography trip so my time with the camera was very limited, however I still managed a couple of photos whilst there :)

I found a curlew creeping along a tidal channel at Brancaster.

Its a muddy business poking around in estuary silt searching for crabs to eat and the bird frequently dropped back to the waters edge to wash it bill.

I popped out early one morning to Salthouses and found a couple of birds to photograph. This Egyptian goose was part of a group grazing close to the coastal road. This is a species that is restricted mainly to the south and east and so not a bird that can be found back at home.

I also came across this drake Gadwall in a reed lined area which provided an interesting back drop.

Final bird of the trip was a lonely Dunlin that I found in a channel whilst searching the shallow beach pools at Salthouses for waders.

Unfortunately just as I got into a nice low angle the sun disappeared. However, this does show nicely the difference some good light can make to the appearance of a bird.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Norfolk Feeding Station

When I go away on holiday in the UK, I usually try and rent a self-catering cottage. One of the advantages is that it enables me to set up a mini feeding station in the garden during my stay. The only draw back to this is that if the birds are not accustomed to being fed, they sometimes do not appear or only at the very end of the week. This was the case on my recent visit to Norfolk where the cottage I rented was adjacent to a small area of woodland. The feeders were put up on arrival on the edge of the wood but the birds did not find it until the day before leaving. So most of these photos were taken on the morning before leaving.

There was a constant stream of four different tit species arriving once they had found it.
Blue tit

Great Tit

However, the bird that was really catching my eye were the Marsh Tits. These are very scarce in my local area and in fact I think I only have one photograph of this species. In a similar way to Willow Tit they are very tricky to photograph as they come in to the feeders, almost bounce off a branch and on to the feeder and then away up into a bush or tree to eat. So there is usually literally a fraction of a second in which a photograph can be taken. After a bit of perseverance against a ticking departure clock I managed to get a few photos.

Checking the undercarriage before take-off

As they say have bird feeder will travel.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:58:00 +0000

Cromer Zoo

My holiday last week in Norfolk is now a dim and distant memory having returned to heavy workload in the office. While away we visited the new small zoo at Cromer which was quite interesting as it held a number of animals that I have seen before. The light was not great but some of the enclosures were reasonable for getting some photographs after a bit of careful positioning.

Zoos generate a lot of mixed feelings and of course everyone would ideally like to see animals running, flying or swimming free and wild. My view is that not only do they undertake very important conservation work and are making great steps for improving the enclosures for the animals but also they offer the chance for the public to get a glimpse of the wonderful diversity of this planet which they would not normally get to see. As a bonus they also provide a good practice ground for the photographer.

The zoo at Cromer is known as the 'Amazona Zoo' so it seems appropriate to start this post with an Amazon Parrot

The zoo held a couple of owls. The problem will photographing owls in zoos is that the visit in the daytime coincides with when they want to sleep, like this burrowing owl, and so they don't tend to make great subjects for the camera.

There was a small tropical house which held some caimen but the light in there was even worse than it was outside.

I then turned my attention to some mammals. There was a heap of slightly dejected looking spider monkeys.

The perennial zoo favourite in the shape of Geoffrey's Marmoset

There were some interesting cats that you do not often see in the zoo including puma and ocelot and which I have not put in front of the camera lens before, although unfortunately the enclosure of the latter was just not suitable for getting any photographs, particularly when combined with the low light levels and very active cats. The big cats all looked to be in real great condition.

Just a small warning before the next photograph as it shows graphic content of a puma feeding on a rabbit. Nature is not always attractive when predator is consuming prey but I think you will agree the puma is a wonderful looking animal.

I occasionally receive emails asking how I manage to get photographs in zoo where there is no mesh showing and it looks like you are inside the enclosure. This is achieved by a combination of three factors. Firstly careful positioning as you ideally want to get the camera as close to the mesh as possible and the animal at some distance away in the enclosure. Incidental the smaller the mesh size the more difficult it is to overcome. Secondly you need a lens of reasonable focal length as this creates a shallower depth of field (these shots were taken with a 300mm lens which is probably the minimum you can get away with). Thirdly you need to open the lens aperture right up (F4 in the case of my 300mm). The result of all this is that it puts the mesh so far out of focus that it effectively disappears as can be seen in the jaguar photograph.

To finish off I have noticed on my recent zoo trips that big cats start licking their lips when they see me which is a bit concerning!

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:37:00 +0000

From North to South

The Northern Wheatear are currently making their long journey back southward towards Africa for the winter. Small groups of birds can be found temporarily pausing along the scrub and pasture areas behind the local coast, although finding them is more a question of luck in being there at the right time as some are passing through. I was fortunate to recently locate a group of 8 birds.

The autumn passage birds have a 'softer' look about them as the males have lost their bold markings of the spring and all the take on an appealing warm apricot colour. These returning wheatear also seem much more approachable than those found in the spring and were typically perching along the fence line of a paddock.

A few were also present on the large boulders of the local sea defences which is the closest similar habitat they will find around here to their rocky upland breeding grounds.

The birds were busy hopping down from the fence posts on the a gravel path to feed on insects to fuel their long journey.

However, the heat haze coming off the path on the warm early autumn day was playing havoc with focusing as usual. This bird was having a battle trying to subdue a large beetle in had found.

Wishing them all a safe onward journey and I look foward to their return with their spring colours in the middle of March.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:06:00 +0000

On TV Again....

Sorry about the lack of updates but I have been away on holiday in Norfolk during this last week. I managed a few photos whilst there despite very limited camera time which should appear on here once I get round to processing them.

Just a quick note to let you know that I should be appearing on BBC Countryfile tomorrow, Sunday 20th September on BBC 1 at 7pm. Thats assuming I didn't end up on the 'cutting room' floor!

Update.... here is a link to the show which will be available on BBC iplayer for the next 7 days

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mwtvz/Countryfile_20_09_2009/

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Project J Update

Regular readers will know that earlier in the year I started a mini project to try and get some Jay flight photos. However, I never reported back as the best laid plans fell flat when the birds disappeared to go off to breed. This was a shame I was just starting to get some photos but only kept the two below as they were proving very tricky and I was not achieving the shots I wanted.

Almost a flight photo

Not being the type of person that gives up easily I decided to resurrect the project. However, I have already decided that I have probably started too soon as there is still a good supply of natural food around to tempt the jays away from where I want them. So the project will probably be paused briefly until the late autumn now. Of course some magpies put in appearance and so I decided to use them for practice to refine the camera technique for the jays ahead, hopefully!

Some of the magpies are still not looking at their best as they are in moult. AS you can see this one is a slightly lacking the full compliment of feathers around the head.

This bird has completed its moult and if you can get them at the right angle to the light then the blue, greens and purples really start to shine.

A further update of Project J will appear in the future and hopefully with some photos to show for my efforts.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Competition Win

I recently entered a photography competition run by the North Wales Daily Post in conjunction with Airbus. The theme of the competition was to submit a photo that represented the biodiversity of North Wales. As I have spent quite a bit of time in North Wales photographing the woodland summer migrants that are typical of the sessile oakwoods of the area, I thought it worth entering. The choice of which photograph to enter was quite difficult and fell between pied flycatcher, wood warbler and common redstart. I settled on a Common Redstart on a lichen covered branch which is typical of these oakwoods. The photograph won the competition and part of the prize is that the image appears within the exhibition of Joel Sartore, a National Geographic Photographer, that has just opened in Llanberis. It makes all those hours of quiet waiting even more worthwhile.

Here is the winning photo.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Hare Tonic

During August as the bird photography can be a little on the quiet side I thought it time have a break from the birds and to catch up with the hares again. They provide a great diversion and refreshing tonic from the bird photography and always entertaining and fun to photograph. I am occasionally sent emails asking how to go about photographing these enigmatic animals and my first bit of advice is to get a good alarm clock as an early start will provide the best chance of finding them.
Back-lit against the rising sun

They can often be quiet in the early part of the day and may be found just standing around, sometimes warming themselves in the sun and at other times grooming themselves or just quietly feeding.
I thought I was suffering from early morning blurry double vision when I first spotted these two.

It often does not take them long to start getting up to some of their usual 'mad' hare antics. This can be just having a personal odd moment ...

.....to the typical chasing round of the females by the males.

To finish the post, the first leveret I have seen this year. Always good to see some of these new mini-hares which hopefully will provide many more photos in the years to come.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Dunlin Everywhere

I recently had an enjoyable but relatively short session with a large flock of Dunlin. The numbers of these birds seemed to have started building early this year with good numbers around locally already. It was a well a well timed visit as the ebbing tide had just exposed a mud bank and the birds were busy feeding on it. As usual with waders the usual approach of sitting away and still at distance and hoping they will come to you work well, and at one point I had several birds feeding with a few feet of my position.

Some of the birds still showed remnants of their summer plumage.

These birds never stay still for a moment when they are feeding and given their small size makes them quite a tricky target.

Looking around for food in the small puddles left on the shore.

If that approach doesn't work then its time for them to get the beak muddy......

.....with the occasional stop to clean off the excess

As a bonus there were a couple of Ringed Plover mixed in amongst the chaos of the Dunlin flock and I was fortunate to have this one pause briefly close by.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:40:00 +0000

Return of the Turnstones

Over the last three or four weeks the Turnstones have start returning from their northern breeding grounds. It seems to be quite an early a return to me but may be its something I have just not really noticed in previous years. From a photography point of view the early returning birds offer an opportunity to capture some birds in their attractive summer plumage. One point of note is that I have found these early returners to be much less approachable than the usually fairly confiding turnstones I encounter through the winter. Here are a small selection of photos taken on the local coast since their return.

When I first spotted this bird at distance I could not quite work out what species it was from the pale colouring but on closer inspection it turned out to be a young bird.

and one more of these technicolour beachcombers..

Of course the turnstones are not the only waders that have been heading back here with good numbers of dunlin and redshank starting to arrive but that can they wait until the next post.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Grey and White

I had a brief session down on the local coast recently in a rare moment of summer sunshine. The jet stream slipping south this year has in the last few weeks made for some less than idea photo conditions with streams of clouds coming in from the west and only brief glimpses of sunlight coinciding with my free time.

The peninsula where I live is subject to a very large tidal range which can be up to about 10 metres. The accompanying currents carve channels through the shifting sand beds. These channels create good hunting grounds for herons and more recently Little egrets on an ebbing tide. Neither of these birds are particularly easy to approach in the absence of cover and so I decided to quietly settle in amongst the rocks of a groyne to see what came my way.

First visitor was a grey heron flying in across the sand banks.

Photographing the birds coming in across the sand has some advantages as the reflected light provides some under lighting to the subject.

Another bird coming into land. The pools can on occasions attract quite large numbers of herons.

I did have one bird coming up close stalking fish along the edge and I was waiting to move to the right of my position to get a better angle to the light but a group of kids with parents appeared putting all the birds to flight and the session to an end. However, before this one of three Little Egrets present came strolling purposely past me.

As usual on the look out for an easy fish meal

My last view of the egrets as they too where sent scattering skyward by the arrival of the paddling kids.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Taking Terns

I could never get bored of photographing terns. They are very interesting birds that form some great postures when stood and always graceful and elegant in flight. Earlier this year I joined up to a local nature reserve which provides a temporary summer home to large numbers of terns particularly Common Terns.

So I recently paid a couple of visits to the reserve with the specific goal of photographing some of the birds before they dispersed southward.

It really is an excellent place for photographing the birds as the opportunities to puts birds in front of the lens from one of the hides is so numerous. They form some interesting postures when they land in display to other passing birds.

What I was really after was some good flight photos but was this required a morning visit with a south-easterly to get the birds coming in the right direction which never really happened. The sun was also typically fleeting as it has been recently. I still managed some flight photos but not the image I have in my head. I admit I messed quite a few flight photos up with ends of wings out of the frame. Then again when you see the length of the wings that comes as no great surprise!

However, a few flight photos did come my way...

The birds are already starting to disperse from the reserve so I will probably leave them for now but am already planning for a mini-project with them next year although hopefully on a day when conditions are perfect.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Supporting Cast

When I head out the front door with the camera I am usually going to target a particular species as I find it much more productive to go out with a specific plan rather to just see what comes my way. Of course while out and about I am often presented with opportunities for other species that just need to be taken. So I have gathered together a collection of birds that have been encountered on some of my wanderings this year. I have pulled together quite a number so this will be a fairly long post, at least in term of number of photos.

Earlier in the year I went out looking for dippers, on a stream local to my office, during my lunch hours. This was not wholly successful but on one trip I came across this grey wagtail unusually perched in the tree rather than hopping between boulders in the stream.

The early mornings out looking for hares produced the next three in the shape of a female Blackbird, a Song Thrush and more recently a Mistle Thrush eating some Rowan berries.

At the beginning of the year I heard about a couple of Barnacle Geese that had appeared on a local park lake. Probably 'feral' birds but a species which I had not photographed before.

During my sessions photographing avocets in the spring, one of the best looking Shelduck I have seen swam into view and so the mad antics of the avocets were quickly forgotten for a few moments.

There was some good late light illuminating the local pond on the way home one evening so I stopped briefly for this Mute Swan.

During a session looking for skylarks along the local coast I came across this male StoneChat in the dunes and a Robin along a footpath.

and to finish off a Little Egret on the local coast. I do not usually take back views of birds but thought I would make an exception for this one coming in to land.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:28:00 +0000

Glorious Gulls

I really enjoy photographing sea gulls especially in that soft late in the day light. The gulls have recently been returning from their summer nesting grounds so I took the opportunity to photograph some while still in their summer plumage. They usually lose this plumage very quickly on return.

Starting straight off with a couple of portraits of a Black-headed Gull and Common Gull.

They also make for some great flight subjects with this set taken in a short session one evening after work.

To finish this set a young Lesser Black-Backed Gull in some evening light

The waders are now returning from the north so it is time to switch my attentions.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Seabird Safari - Part 4

This is my final installment of my recent trip to the Farne Islands. Before I describe the fun that was had on the last stop of the tour on Inner Farne Island, I thought I would post a photograph of a passing Shag so I could devote the rest of this post to my target species on the island.

I had a clear plan for Inner Farne Island , I was not to be distracted by the puffins, and had the 24-70mm wide lens fixed to the camera before my foot had touched the jetty. As you land on Inner Farne the path from the landing area takes you up through an Arctic Tern colony. They tend to take exception to people and constantly attack the visitors who usually tend to quickly pass through the colony. Those without a hat usually come off worse and sometimes there is even some blood shed. The onslaught of the birds is relentless and it is a fairly uncomfortable experience to endue for any length of time. I decided I would try put up with the attacks for a while in order to try and get some photos of the birds in flight with a wide angle lens. Arctic Terns really are stunningly beautiful and elegant birds in flight with their translucent wings and long tail feathers. That is of course if you can get beyond them trying to do a woodpecker impression on your head with a very sharp bill. Interestingly this year they semmed to have developed a new tactic of attacking exposed ears rather than just the head. Some of the photos from this bombardment of birds are shown below:

This photo was taken with the lens at 24mm. The birds come at your so quickly and so close that the camera autofocus has little chance. Getting photos at this distance and with the weaving flight of the birds proved very tricky.

I suppose there is room for just one photograph to bring the trip to the Farnes to a close.

Overall an enjoyable and productive day out on the islands with some very fortunate weather conditions. Unfortunately the following day the planned trip to the Gannets of Bass Rock was cancelled due to the wind blowing up a sea swell. The planning for next years June excursion is already under way and is going to hopefully take me much further a field and northwards.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0000

Seabird Safari - Part 3

I had the best of intentions as I stepped of the boat on to the small concrete land stage of Staple Island, with some thoughts of the photos that I wanted to get. However, as soon I arrived at the top of the short path from the boat and caught the sight of puffins at close range the plans quickly dissolved away and 'puffin fever' took over. They are such photogenic birds and very distracting.

In fact they are distracting to the point that I actually photographed little else during the short time on Staple Island.

I did a few flight photographs but the light was awkward.

So in the end I decided on taking some portraits. These two birds made for a colourful dispute.

I am a big fan of the 'over the shoulder look portrait' and it suits puffins particularly well.

To finish off this festival of all things puffin, one particular bird came in with a very full beak of fish and landed at close range and sat their looking a little bemused for about 10 minutes which allowed plenty of time to get some full frame head photographs.

The short time on Staple Island was cut short by 30 minutes by an increasing swell and rapidly moving tide. The next destination was Inner Farne Island for which I had a well formed plan from which no puffin was going to distract me.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Seabird Safari - Part 2

There were some glum faces sat around the breakfast table as the rain fell heavily outside. Surely we were not going to be hit with poor weather for the second year running, following the mists of last year. Fortunately soon after leaving the harbour quay the rain stopped and the skies started to clear as we headed out towards Staple Island. As usual I was on the look out for any passing birds as we were shipped out to the island but the combination of a crowded rocking boat and fast moving sea birds is never an easy combination. I did manage to get a photograph of a passing gannet. I love they way they skim the water when flying out at sea.

The boat paused briefly to check out some grey seas that had hauled themselves up on to a small area of exposed rocks. They are so much easier to photograph than the birds.

We then went onwards to Staple Island, which I put in the third installment, but had to leave early due to a swell that was developing and fast tidal currents. This meant that the boat had to motor around for about 1.5 hours before we could make the landing on Inner Farne Island. A cormorant drying out its feathers after a fishing expedition.

Another cormorant surfaced at the base of the cliffs with what initally looked like a wrasse but turned out to be a fish known as a Lumpsucker. I always thought these fish were a grey / brown colour.

The smaller and greener Shag were also present perched along the base of the low cliffs.

The light suddenly became very harsh which is probably the worst conditions for trying to photograph kittiwakes, that were nesting along narrow ledges on the cliff face.

To finish off this post in one area where the boat stopped briefly there were a small number of puffins perched along the cliff top, This bird was in the process of jumping between rocks.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:29:00 +0000

Seabird Safari - Part 1

At the beginning of this week I headed up to the North-East of England to photograph some sea birds with my friends Steve and Austin. The original intention was a day on the Farnes Islands followed by a visit to Bass Rock on the second day. I will post the resulting photographs over a few posts.

The journey up was a bit tortuous as we decided to go via the Yorkshire Dales to see if any curlew were around on the moorland but having gone up a month later this year they had already disappeared.

First stop on arrival at Seahouses was to check the harbour and beach for Eider Duck. The sun was beaming as we got out the car but soon disappeared.

Given that we were later this year, as we normally visit in early June, the males had dispersed with only one male bird in eclipse plumage drifting around the outer harbour but there were plenty of females and young around. Eider are one of my favourite ducks with the bold monochrome of the males and the intricate patterns of the females. A few photographs to start of the birds resting on the seaweed covered foreshore

Paddling around the harbour area

There were various young eider at different stages of growth, this being one of the smaller ones.

After the harbour we took a walk south to an area of low lying cliff where rock pipit, sand martin, kittiwake and fulmar are present. I decided to concentrate most of my efforts there on the Rock Pipits.

and calling or prehaps more accurately 'pipping'

By this time the rain clouds were gathering fast so it was time to be a rapid rapid retreat towards the hotel.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:03:00 +0000

Return to the Redstarts

I recently decided to have one more session with redstarts. As usual the male quickly put in an appearance. He really is a beautiful bird in prime condition.

He was closely followed by the female.

On this particular session I decided to play around with a 25mm extension tube which has been rattling around neglected in the bottom of my camera bag. The extension tube gives some magnification effect to the lens. The longer the lens the less the magnifying effect but it is still noticeable on the 500mm. This effectively leads to the bird appearing larger within the fame and so the bird occupies a greater number of pixels and as such detail should be improved. The real benefit of the extension tube is that unlike a teleconvertor they contain no glass so there is nothing to reduce image quality, although you do lose a little light with their use.
The real joy of the session was the appearance of three recently fledged young which I have not really had opportunity to photograph properly before and it was great to see the adults had a successful brood. The young redstarts are virtually identical to a young robin except they have a red tail.

They were certainly looking healthy and very active

So I suppose its time to bring the redstart story to close for another year and I will finish off with one last photo of each of the adults.

They all have a long journey ahead of them soon with their trip back to Africa for the winter so here's to wishing them good luck on their voyage.

squid@studiosquid.demon.co.uk (Rich Steel) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Swallowing Swallows

I have not had much time with the camera lately as I have been very busy in work. As I pulled in to my office car park yesterday, I noticed a row of recently fledged swallows lined on along the fence of the adjacent field. I had about 20 minutes left of my lunch hour so decided to put it to some use.

Adult swallows feeding their young is great fun to watch as the usually do it on the wing, swooping in and dropping off the food before carrying on their hunt for more. In terms of photography you are provided with an early warning of an approaching adult by the young birds.

The fluttering wings and gaping mouth a sure sign that food is en route and its time to get ready with the shutter finger.

The flying skills of the adults to deliver their food payload with such accuracy has to be admired.

However, this adult landed next to the young bird and released a live fly which was then watched flying off by the fledgling whose reactions where too slow.

Precision hovering in front of the young one

Is this why they are called swallows?

The fifteen minutes was over all to quickly and I returned back in to the office to carry on working through some spreadsheets. I had a quick scan through the photographs and did not get the image in my head that I wanted to capture so thought I would give it an hour when work had finished. Unfortunately during the course of the afternoon the clouds gathered overhead which by the end of work had turned into a steady downpour of rain.