Viewing entries tagged
Kingfisher

Summer Catchup

Think it’s probably time I posted some more images! As always it’s been a very busy year. Working on multiple sights across Wales, bird surveys, raptor surveys, ontop of Dusk Bat surveys, so my Nightjar time this year has been limited. Currently trying to fight thru some health issues also, looking forward to getting some results back from the Doctors after bloods this week. I’ve been using the R5 extensively and recently swapped out my Canon 400 DO ii with the 300 2.8 ii, as despite the fact that the DO was a superb lens, it was missing contrast and most importantly, had some weird ‘bokeh’ which rendered the foreground and background pretty distracting in certain scenarios. It’s a shame, as the lens was super sharp and I will miss it. Once I got the 300 back I was instantly reminded about the contrast and the smooth bokeh. It put me right back to being inspired again, as there’s nothing worse than putting in all the effort, and not getting the results you envisioned. The 300 also has a very ‘collectable’ image, especially wide open, where the colours are some what muted and there is a slight vignette. You see this is some of my images below, like the Nightjar shots and the Fern. They appear dark, some would say even under exposed but this is something I couldn’t even do with the 400 as it didn’t have as good dynamic range. Odd to even use that phrase in a lens but it’s true, each lense renders shadows and highlights differently and with this 300 2.8 you get the best available to modern day optics. Talking about Optics, I’m going to write a review soon on the new Swarovski NL Pure 10x42’s in comparison to my older Gen 1 EL’s. Will explain all in the next post! For now, here’s a collection of my favourite images of the summer, mostly with the macro lens in the Garden! As i’ve been far too busy for proper photography shoots this year. One thing I hope you’ll notice is how vibrant the colours are from the R5, which overall I’m finding has a much more accurate white balance straight out of the camera than the R6 did, which always seemed to be on the warm side.

Autumn Summary

Well, what a spectacular autumn that was! We haven’t had a proper autumn like that for a long time. For around 5-6 years in a row now we’ve either had strong winds at peak autumn colours or well before the autumn colours even kick in. We can’t complain this year though as it was perfect and for a good few weeks too. Along with the colours it’s been a fantastic year for Fungi too, so I’ve spent some time picking out some of my favourites in the woods at various local locations. My last blog I spoke about a new camera, and no I’ve haven’t won the lottery, but this time around I’ve also replaced my lens too, with a slightly longer ‘400mm’ instead of a 300mm. Despite the fact that it’s a longer focal length, this lens is slightly shorter in length and much lighter in weight, making it overall easier to hand hold, especially given that the built in image stabilisation offers two-three more stops of stabilisation than my older heavier 300mm. Canon has been able todo this thanks to a technique called ‘Diffractive Optic Technology’ which in theory sounds quite simple, as they have split an element in half in such a way that it retains it’s magnification. It’s actually an ingenious idea that’s quite difficult to achieve and even Canon took two attempts to get it performing on the same level as their other super telephoto prime lenses. I won’t bore you with all the details. For me it’s the ultimate trade-off between performance and weight, which has become quite important to me lately as I’ve been suffering with back issues. This design however does come at a cost, not just to the bank account, but also to the ‘bokeh’. Bokeh is a term used to describe everything outside the main focus plane, whether that be the foreground or the background. Where this design compromises a little is when you have certain light conditions in the image where ‘bokeh’ has to render bright objections. It’s most noticeable if there are pure lights or reflections in the background, and instead of getting pure circular ‘bokeh balls’ you will have bokeh balls with other smaller circles inside. If you look at the diagram below, you can see why this happens, as the image to the left is essentially what the light has to pass thru, leaving you with circles in the image. You won’t see this on anything other than those rare circumstances where bokeh balls are pure and honestly, when are they ever pure in nature! Almost never, so it really doesn’t bother me in the slightest. In the diagram below it also shows you two different versions of DO options, the middle one was Canon’s first design, which meant it had an air gap between the lenses. This resulted in loss of contrast, especially noticeable when used with extenders. The third right image is their most recent design which is even more ingenious as it affectively does the same job, but without an official air gap. Clever Canon. So, fingers crossed this lens will serve me well, for now I’m happy.

Here’s a mixture of images taken locally with both the 400 and my 100mm macro, in various places. What amazes me looking back on these images is not that they’re great images, I’m just shocked I managed to get any of them.. as 90% were taken in horrific lighting conditions. So bad that I doubt I would have been able to get any usable shots with my previous setup, so for that I am happy.

Sound Recording

Just to give you an idea of how mild it has been this autumn / winter. I recorded Roesel’s Bush-cricket’s actively moving around and singing, on the 17th of November! Absolutely crazy! I consider Roesel’s to be a true summer species, only really singing on those piping hot summer days. Granted it wasn’t giving it the full effort but I still can’t believe it had enough energy for this amount in November. #Globalwarming

The same day I managed to catch up with what’s most likely to be the same Willow Tit I recorded last year. Sadly this time it was on its own. If you listen towards the end it does some pretty epic alarm call which I have heard them do before but it’s quite a difficult one to hear in the field as it’s not that loud.

I’ll end on a high note as I’ve been meaning to set aside some time to record a Dipper singing for years but given that my local population along the Afon Llwyd is quite an urban river, I always put it off for fear of recording too much human activity. That and the fact that the Afon Llwyd is one of the fastest flowing rivers in Wales, so it’s quite loud. That said, I recorded this guy singing quite close to a waterfall and a busy school, so was surprised I managed as well as this given the circumstances. That morning I lead a walk with In Our Nature CIC and we managed to listen to two Dipper deep in a song battle, which ended up with a chase. It was great for the group to witness this and it was just the kick up the butt I needed to get down there myself with my recording gear. Lesson of the day, don’t let people put you off.


Early Autumn Summary

I’m actually enjoying taking a little break from the blog lately but I do apologise to those that like to have regular updates. I’ve been in the process of changing out all my camera gear so there has been a lot of testing and less exploring. Here are a few photographs with the Canon R6, which is my first mirrorless camera and also my first full frame camera, so it’s taking a little time to get used to. So far though I’m really enjoying the focusing system, the noise performance and overall the speed. I previously used the Canon 7D mk ii which is a tank of a camera, but it’s beyond it’s life expectancy and the usability, despite still working, isn’t very inspiring, what with the fact that I have to turn the dial 8 times before it starts to do what I want it to lol, which isn’t ideal when photographing time sensitive wildlife.

SO! Here’s are a few photo’s from that transition. Same two lens combo: Canon 300 2.8 IS with 1.4 and 2x ii extenders, and a 100mm 2.8 Macro IS.

Starting with my last Nightjar photos of the year, in the form of a Chick which stayed quite late in the season with parents sticking close nearby.

I’ll end with a random doorstep photo of a young Sparrowhawk that managed to fly into my upstairs window. Thankfully only a few displaced feathers and he shortly flew off strongly, weaving his way back thru the woodland opposite my house.

Forest Farm

Last week I made a visit to Forest Farm on what ended up being a beautiful sunny (but cold) day. Most of the day was spent in the first hide with a perfectly lit perch!.. but no Kingfishers. My patience in this case was working against me, as a later trip along the canal brought about some great opportunity with the Kingfishers along the canal, where they are so used to people, you can stand 10ft away from them without them flying away. I wished it was always that easy! A brief day time visit of a Red Fox was a highlight, that and sharing the hide with some great like minded people who share my love for wildlife. 

Is spring here already? Snowdrops and Daff's seem to think so, and I'm happy with that. 

Autumn Gone?

What is your favourite part of Autumn? For most people, it's the change of colours in the leaves before they fall. Red being the most popular and vibrant.. It's a shame I can't see it though uh? lol Red is one of those colours I know is there, so long as it isn't amongst other colours and isn't too dark (Needs to have light shining on it or emitting its own light). So how did I know which of my photos had red in it? Two reasons, 1. While looking at the photographs digitally, I can tweak the colours individually and physically see the changes. Usually I need to boost the reds up to extreme levels for me to see them, and then I can dial them back to a level that is acceptable to everyone else. I probably still get it wrong but nobody has complained so far lol.. would you tell me if I did? Probably not lol. 

For me, Autumn is more about the winter visitors and the summer departing birds. Much like the Brambling that seemed to have come back this year in decent numbers, unlike last year where we got very few reports in Gwent. Every year is different, dependant on weather conditions and available food. This is what makes autumn / winter special in my eyes, as you really have no idea what may turn up in what has to be the most energetic season of all. Everything is on the move, even your Garden birds tend to move down to warmer climates. I hate to burst any bubbles, but your resident Robin probably isn't the same Robin you've been seeing all summer. We get thousands of Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Robins moving down from Scandinavia in the winter time and most never truly settle till they've found a stable food source in manageable temperatures. If it's too cold here, they'll even skip the Uk into France.. Joys of being a bird! I can't even begin to imagine the things they must encounter on their travels..

Back on track

Back to work and back on track! I think it goes to show I lucky I am when the place I spend my days off at, is also the place I work. Llandegfedd will always be a special place for me and this weekend it revealed some more of its secrets, this time in the form of a lovely Butterfly called a Purple Hairstreak. I've heard they were present but never seen them for myself till today. I didn't get anything great photography wise to show you, as they remain high up in Oak tree canopies, not to mention they are pretty darn small so even a bigger lens than my own wouldn't quite cut it. Other notable species this weekend - Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Kingfisher, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting, Little Egret, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Scoter and the today ended with a Juvi Cuckoo. 

Kingfisher Extended

Time spent is time earned in wildlife photography and I've certainly spent a lot of time on these Kingfishers these last couple of months. I've learned so much about these guys through this process, not just their feeding habbit's but their distribution and behaviour in the latter half of the year post breeding. During the breeding season they can be quite territorial but at the moment, parents will be pushing their youngsters out and may move off themselves quite far from their original breeding sites. This location is a fair distance from the nearest breeding site but is ideal for small fish, hence the large numbers that I've been seeing. They're actually quite tolerant of each other, only very rarely the males having a little tussle over best perch spot. Thankfully, I've provided them with enough perches to keep them all happy. Not to mention all the natural perches. 

The King

Finally. The end. Next Blog. 

No really, next blog. 

Kingfisher Month

Hope you're not getting bored of my Kingfisher images yet. I have lots more to share haha. I'm slowly getting the hang of timings now and this shot is by far the sharpest I have got so far but not the best pose unfortunately. Always self critical but so happy to finally get an image of a Kingfisher that i'm proud of and will happily put on the wall. 

Brecon & Monmouthshire Canal

This time of year you can expect to see a lot more Kingfishers in our waterways, this is because most (if successful) would have finished their first brood of chicks and will hopefully be starting a second. This provides us with the great opportunity to see the youngsters spread out into areas you simply wouldn't otherwise see them in. Local ponds, canals, rivers and lakes will likely have a few Kingfishers around so keep your eyes pealed for that orange and blue flash that flies straight as an arrow and very fast wing beats. 

This is the closest I've ever been to a Kingfisher and despite seeing many before, there is nothing like getting up close and seeing all the subtle movements and poses they take when on the perch fishing. I've just about worked out the best time to photograph them so will hopefully get some more pictures to share with you. 

Some other notable species from local patch were the many Toadlets hopping along the path and grassland. Quite a few Green Orb-Weever Spiders in the meadows and a surprised Pied Flycatcher that was looking a little worse for wear. Possible malting feathers or this years youngster finally reaching adult plumage. 

Pied Flycatcher Male (Possibly Juvi or Malt)