BHG portraits

Black-headed Gulls, Ferry Meadows CP, Cambs, 27.1.07
Canon EOS 30D + 300 f4 + 1.4x
(all clickable for bigger versions)

Three flight shots

Red Kite, Fermyn Woods, Northants

Black-headed Gull, Ferry Meadows CP, Cambs

Common Gull, Ferry Meadows CP, Cambs
Canon EOS 30D + 300 f4 + 1.4x
(all clickable for bigger versions)

Surely not more Legses...

Canon 30D + 300f4 + 1.4x
(click each pic for larger versions)

From the Archives... No. 10

Banded Demoiselle (males), Stamford, Lincolnshire, 3.8.06
Canon PowerShot A95 with Kowa TSN-823M + 32xW
(click photo for bigger version)
A little taste of late summer and a reminder of the power of digiscoping for photographing insects. Check out the fine spider's web hanging from the rush on the top photo.

Redwing

Redwing, Woodwalton Fen, 21.1.07
Canon PowerShot A95 with Kowa TSN-823M + 32xW
(click photos for bigger versions)
Despite having a shiny new DSLR in my armoury, digiscoping will still be a big part of my photography. It is just so easy and effective! This Redwing is a prime example. It was the last of a flock which flew off as I walked down the path, and lingered long enough to just snap away – long enough also for a big cloud to pass behind for the last shot, making a nice background for the the sunlit bird.

Legs II

(click each pic for larger versions)
Yesterday, Ray and Will Bowell took me to Thornham for a bit of a morning session with the Lesser Yellowlegs. We were on a tight time budget, though, as we had to leave the site and head back to Peterborough at 10.15am. When we arrived the tide was in, the road to the car-park flooded and the chance of seeing the legs zero. However, at 8.45, as the tide was hurtling out, the bird flew in, circled around surveyed the situation then flew off to join a big flock of Ruff on a flooded field. Eventually, when mud started to show, it came back to the car-park area and we had about half an hour of close-up action with the DSLR. When we left, I checked my shots and they all looked soft. However, the final results were not too ropey: you decide...

Barn Owl action

Detail of above shot




Barn Owl, Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire, 21.1.07
Canon 30D + 300f4 + 1.4x
(click each pic for larger versions)
I believe digiscoping can cope with most of my photographic needs. However, it can't really do action, and as birds are my favourite subjects and they are full of movement, flight and activity, I have bought a DSLR. And I'm starting to get into it...

Barrow's Goldeneye

Part one of a Marathon weekend trip to Scotland to test the endurance of Hercules, included an overnight drive to Callander, Forth. The target for Kevin Durose, Graham Catley, David Jenkins and I was a drake Barrow's Goldeneye that had been around for a while. We drove overnight and searched from dawn through mist, drizzle, showers, rain and gloom. We gave up hope at 1pm and had some lunch. Food lifted our spirits, though, as strangely did the surefire knowledge that we were never going to see the bird. With a sort of Zen 'letting go' we became unshackled and unburdened, but thought we'd have one last look before heading west to Kintyre and the Ross's Gull. With re-energised bodies and minds it only took a short while to find the drake hiding behind some distant grass in a flood just outside the town, flirting outrageously with a female Goldeneye. Hurrah!
Here is some dodgy digiscoped video action, demonstrating:
a. We saw it,
b. A wee bit of display,
c. The incredible speed of the current pulling the bird through the flood back to the river.

Ross's Gull Portraits

Canon 30D + 300f4
(click photos for bigger versions)

Ross's Gull

Oh Lordy, there are hundreds of them!!!




















Canon 30D + 300f4
(click photos for bigger versions)