"New" Nikon D850

Picked up a really good condition Nikon D850 from https://swoptics.co.uk/ in Truro the other day (Good price and good service) . I have done some aviation shots and some night shots of the moon. So far I am impressed with the detail the camera can produce. Since the pictures below were taken I have added an optional battery grip which increases the FPS from 7 to 9. Off to Wales and around a few other places over the next couple of weeks where hopefully weather permitting I will be able to get a lot more pictures. Pictures of the moon for now some aviation ones later:

Shorties still in Cornwall for now!!!

Surprised when I went out to find three Short Eared Owls were still in the vicinty where they have been over-wintering. I thought they would of moved on by now, must be stormy weather keeping them here: Another surprise was some blue skies and good light for photography!!!!! So here are some of the images from a good couple of hours with these majestic birds.

Another visit to search for the Short Eared Owls

Although distant again it was fantastic to witness 3/4 shorties enjoying a succesful hunting period. The area seems to provide a plentiful supply of small rodents to enusre the owls are well fed. Occasionally a crow/raven/kestrel etc will try to steal the meal sometimes sucessful sometimes not. The SEO do defend their prey items against thieves but sometimes they are out manouvred.  These are fantastic birds to observe and hopefully they will return again later this year.

The wouldbe thief was chased off on this occasion

Storm Ciara at Porthleven

With all the media hype you would expect to see a storm of epic, earth shattering proportions!!!  Luckily I checked the swell charts which forecast a bigger swell after the main event. I stuck with the trusted forecast and went on the Monday which was quiet compared to Sunday where alledgedly there were hundred of storm watchers/photographers. Monday there was probably between 10-20 people. Its not the biggest storm I have seen to hit Porthleven by a long shot, however it was an opportunity to test a newly aquired video camera/software along with the usual still images. First up is a link to the video I shot:

Storm Ciara at Porthleven Video


Now for the still images:

Stithians Southern Cut Off and Lands End

Well my first blog post for 2020, at last a sunny day which was most enjoyable. Unfortunately most of the images here were in poor light or at a distance. However they are still fine for web use. Firstly I spent a couple of hours at Stithians Southern Cut off, highlight here was a little grebe thrashing around a stickle back for about ten minutes, backlit by the low winter sunrise.  A few more of the local birds feature in the images. Then it was on to the countryside near Lands End for Short Eared Owls again they did not disappoint but were distant.

Great Spotted Woodpecker in the frosty grass

Little Grebe with stickleback

Chiff Chaff (I think)

Magpie

Jay

Long Tailed Tit

Short Eared Owl

Shorties squabbling over hunting grounds

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl stands his ground protecting his prey from thieving corvids

Winter visitors, Short Eared Owls in Cornwall

My first look for Short Eared Owls (Asio Flammeus) this winter. Located on the hills of South West Cornwall I counted around six owls spread over a large area of heathland. As I said it was a large area so most shots are from a far distance with a lens reach of 750mm to 1100mm. Hopefully the owls will stay in the area as food supply(voles) seemed plentiful. Spent around three hours watching them hawking, and with some success capturing voles. There was also one pair in the distance that seemed to be wasting a lot of enery fighting over access to the plentiful food supply. So a good day hopefully more visits before the birds move on, Cornish weather permitting!!!!

Coastguard/RNLI Exercise in Mounts Bay

Witnessed another Coastguard/RNLI exercise in Mounts Bay. Unfortunately the wind direction meant the Helicopter and Lifeboat were travelling away from my position. A few shots of the Penlee Lifeboat and Coastguard Helicopter were gained before the exercise elements disappeared almost over the horizon. In fact checking the radar on the phone it looked like they were four to five miles off the coast adjacent to Praa Sands!!! So here are some images I did manage.

Penlee Lifeboat "Ivan Ellen"

Coastguard Rescue Helicopter C-MCGY

Penlee Lifeboat "Ivan Ellen"

Coastguard Rescue Helicopter C-MCGY

Penlee Lifeboat "Ivan Ellen" and Coastguard Helicopter

Coastguard Rescue Helicopter C-MCGY

Coastguard Rescue Helicopter C-MCGY

Cuckoo at Bartinney Downs

Had an excellent afternoon at Bartinney in search of Cuckoo and anything else which may be about. Well got really lucky seeing not one but two cuckoos. Unfortunately one bird had already claimed it as his patch and an in flight fight ensued and soon enough we were back to one after the intruder was evicted!!! The original and bird that remained was feeding well on caterpillars etc (bit distant for decent images) but he did come closer into the trees nearer to the camera so got some nice shots there. Also whilst scouting the area for other stuff I came across a Northern Wheatear which completely ignored me coming close for a nice shot. So a productive couple of hours and my first usable Cuckoo images (Fight one is a bit soft, caught me by surprise when they took offence to each other)

Cornish Tin Mine Evening and Nightshoot

Forecast was clear skies until midnight, so decided to take a risk and headed for the North Cornish coast with fellow photographer Alan James. On arrival prior to setting up for the night-shoot we were treated to a superb sunset. We then set up for the star trail shoot, conditions not perfect due to the moonlight but just dark enough and it actually lit p the side of the engine house quite nicely. Bit of experimenting with some additional lighting and we commenced. Start trail came out fine despite being hampered at times by condensation on the lenses that tends to build up over time (well we were trying to capture approx 120-200 30 second exposures. On completion we took some shots of the moonlight silhouetting the mines nicely. The drive home was fun with dense fog in South Cornwall I visibility was reduced to about 10ft between Roseudgen and Helston so North Cornwall was a good choice tonight.

Star Trail

Star Trail with the fisheye lens perspective corrected

Sunset

Moonlight

Single shot without star trailing