Pasta Time

Christchurch - Forest of Dean

I've been out all morning with little to show for my efforts other than some distant images of male and female Crossbils eventually calling time as the rain set in. So there I am stood at the kitchen window preparing some pasta and I spot a bird sat on the fence, it's a Red legged not what you would expect and another great garden tick following on from a belter male Sparrow Hawk recently.

Panic, the camera gear is all packed away so I grab the first thing to hand the 100-400mm and get some shots through the window not really that good in the poor light and to add the glass has some reflection, chancing my luck I open the patio door just wide enough to get the lens through and rattle off a load of images, with no sign of the bird moving I decide to get the big white.

I now have the 500mm together with the 1.4 ext on the end always a bit big to swing about and get a stable image, I manage to manoeuvre a swivel chair in to position to use as a rest with the lens now extending through the open door, the bird seems content just to sit on the fence and shoot at speeds as low as 250/sec which is a bonus in the grey light

The rain is relentless, probably why the bird just sits and remains motionless on the fence balancing like some acrobat performer from the Cerc de Soleil only occasionally moving to shake the water droplets off its back or looking skywards when a Buzzard lands in the tree close by. Evenly the partridge crouches then lunches itself in to the air to disappear in the direction of the Yat Rock, I'm happy to have recorded this unusual encounter, especially in the dry !

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Litte Bit of Sunshine

The rain continues but tomorrow Sunday for one day only the forecast is sun so we've planned a day at Leighton Moss Reserve in north Lancashire, the only issue British Summer Time commences this weekend and that has set us back an hour so a change of plan to Harwood House just north of leeds with a possibility of Red Kite.

Harwood House recently used as the location for the Grand Depart for the 2014 Le Tour is a new venue for me and reasonably close, but first off we're heading for the Muddy Boots Cafe a location where the Red Kites have been attracted by free food put out by locals. Soon we see our first Red Kite floating effortlessly over head on the edge of the Harwood estate, after a bit of searching we eventually find the cafe which is tucked in on one end of the community centre. If you plan to visit parking can an issue.

If you want to easily see Red Kite then this is defiantly the right location with numbers of up to fifteen in the air at one time constantly vocalising with their unusual wee oww calls. Whilst my wife orders coffee and scones I watch from the comfort of one of the garden benches a spectacle you don’t often see other than at specialist sites like Gigrin in mid Wales. 

I start with the 500mm big white but find tracking the birds a bit hit and miss so change to the 100-400 with more success, the lens and camera work well and stick with that combination for the remainder of the session. 

The Kite’s play “tag” swooping from a high performing acrobatics circus like, some landing in the trees on the edge of the estate but never easy to get a clear shot, the trees I suspect forming part of they're breeding site.

The weather has been kind with some blue sky which is aways preferred when shooting flight shots. Happy with my efforts we move on to Harwood House itself, its chocka…enough said about that visit.

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Photographic Gloves

One of the difficulties with wildlife photography in cold weather is keeping your hands warm, gloves are the answer you may say but using back button focus as I do I just can’t get the feel through gloves and often find I have to remove the right hand glove to shoot, the trade off being control and feel as apposed to being warm.

Over the last couple of months I must have tried countless gloves from thick cold weather gloves, fingerless gloves and thin gloves from the like's of The North Face not really finding the ideal solution, so after some research I have narrowed it down to what I think could be the solution, specific photography gloves with fold back finger and thumb sections allowing direct contact with the camera and lens controls and importantly, warm.

Both the following gloves appear to fulfil these requirements but differ considerably on cost…

Photography Gloves by Vallarret (Danish),    https://photographygloves.com

This company produce a range of gloves purchased direct from their on-line store or a limited range from Amazon UK. The two options I considered are the Markhof Pro Glove at £60 and the Ipsoot Glove at £87, additional if you purchase from the on-line store you need to add postage for European delivery. Both these glove get good reviews but thats what I would expect from gloves at this price range.

Sporting Glove by Sealskinz (British),   https://www.sealskinz.com/gloves/+photography  

Sealskinz a British company make a number of products including gloves and a company I’m more familiar with, the glove I have chosen is the Sporting Glove, made from leather and man made material backs and available from a number of UK outlets including Amazon, at the time of research if you take advantage of Amazon Prime one month free trial you can purchase these gloves at a very competitive £36 half the cost of the Vallarret option.

Taking delivery of the XL sized gloves my first impression was the fit was a little tight for my liking although a more snug fit may well suite some people to ensure a secure grip on the camera equipment, after an initial trial I decided to exchange the gloves through Amazons PassMyParcel scheme which arrived next day to a size XXL !

In this image you can see the fold back finger and thumb sections which are held in place with magnets. This option is available on both gloves for anyone that's left handed or for operation of the image review and menue buttons.

Sealskinz claim these gloves are 100% waterproof, windproof and totally breathable but my thoughts were how warm would these lightweight gloves be ? Testing in the recent snowy artic conditions of last week I found them to be warm for the entire period although I've not had chance to use with extended camera operation

West Kirby Twenty Years On

It’s well over twenty years since I was last at West Kirby Marine Lake in fact it was a day trip over to Hilbre Island for a high tide sea watch. Today I’m back at the marine lake to photograph Greater Scaup sea ducks which have been in residence for the last week.

The weather has been pretty dire over the last couple of days so I’ve targeted today as the weather forecast is…sun ! The sat nav dose it again and I arrive in the carpark next to the boating centre, a quick scan of the lake to get an idea of a plan, light angle etc and I’m off.

The marine lake being close to the Dee estuary attracts it’s fair share of sea birds none more so than nine Brent Geese which have turned up and are quite close, I get some images but I'm keen to press on looking for the Scaup. 

With the light angle being from the welsh side of the river Dee the plan is to head south along the sea wall path and try and get the sun behind me, walking directly into the sun is never good for trying to locate birds never the less I eventually I pick up two female Scaup a little far out but still within range of the "big white" for some images.

I’m now at the causeway end of the lake and there are three males and two females quite close to the path giving some really close photo opportunities, as a bonus the sun is now right behind me enhancing the colours and highlighting the iridescent green of the drakes head.

On days when the sun shines you will always have walkers and dogs, and on occasions dogs always seem to want to jump in the water, this is exactly what happened on this occasion resulting in the Scaup moving off in to the centre of the lake. 

With well over a nine hundred recorded images I decide to call time and walk back to the boat club to finish with some more images of the Brent Gees, unfortunately on arrival they had departed probably back out onto the Dee estuary.

A grand day out. 

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Black-necked Grebe Visits Elton

More rain again and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping any time soon, checking the weather forecast and the afternoon looks a little better so I’m off to try for some images of a Black Necked Grebe that turned up at Elton Reservoir a couple of days back, still uncommon in this area not like the hundreds seen at the San Pedro salinas in Murcia.

The best side of the reservoir for photography is always the North West side shooting back towards the boat house with the light behind but no such issues today as it’s grey and overcast, at least the rain has now stopped. 

The track is like a bog so I need to take care as the last time I landed on my backside in the mud. I locate the Scaup still hanging around the far end of the reservoir but I can't see the Black Necked Grebe, continuing round to the hard track I locate the BNG on the side I’ve just travelled along so back I go. 

Grebes dive and stay under for about twenty-seconds at a time so the plan is to stay stationary in the tree line, when the grebe dives….run and move closer. I’m now amongst the reeds at the waters edge, I’m not sure wether the grebe has seen me but it carries on diving and I move as close as I’m going to get, in position I'm all set to take some images.

The conditions today are a little different to what I usually preferr, but the wind is producing some nice waves rather than flat water. Making the most of the conditions I have more than enough images albeit a little closer would have been better, I call it a day.


Black Necked Grebe