Sunday 19 April 2009

Well that van broke down again, but this time an RAC bloke found the fault for sure!!!! So van will get fixed soon. Today we have a couple of great shots and also Cormorant feeding their young (check out the eel making a second coming) This will be last update until late May as work is taking me elsewhere. Thanks for all the great comments and feedback so far.



Little Egret: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens 1/6400 sec Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, + 0 Stop






Cormorant Feeding: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter(840mm) 1/400 sec Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 200, + 0.7 Stop





Cormorant Feeding: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter(840mm) 1/400 sec Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 200,
+ 0.7 Stop


Swan Landing: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, 1/2000 sec Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, + 1 Stop







Saturday 18 April 2009

Marazion 18th April Heron Chicks

Just the tow images today, black clouds desceneded over Marazion, and all bird and wildlife seemed to disappear except the Herons. Van was playing up again so I was stuck at Marazion. Managed a couple of nice shots of the nestings Heron's. Be a month before I visit again so I expect thy will have departed. Hopefully better luck tomorrow with the camera and the van!!!

Exif (for both pictures): Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F5, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, +/- 0 stop




Friday 17 April 2009

Low Flying at St Gothians

Late start today due to the van not starting, 3 hours and 2 RAC chaps to fix it!!!! Anyhow managed to get to Godrevy for 3pm instead of 12, sun was out most of the time so used the light to photograph the swallows and sand martins. It is best to get the swallows flying towards the sun to illuminate the red/black head. The pictures are here but it wasn't easy, tried first with the teleconverter but no joy once i reverted to standard 6oomm shots started coming off. Click on the images to see a larger version.


Swallow: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop


Sand Martin: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/2500 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop






Swallow: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop








Sand Martin: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/800 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop

















Swallow: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/640 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop













Buzzard: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop









Rook: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop






Sand Martins; Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4.5, 1/800 sec, ISO 400, + 1 Stop







Tuesday 14 April 2009

Stithians Evening

An opportunity after work to pop down and see if I could photograph Sand/hose Martins, no luck here a quick view of 5 or six and they were gone. Some good evening light provided some nice portrait type shots though.
Coots: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x tele converter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec, + 1 stop




Gadwall: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x tele converter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/800 sec, + 1 stop







Little Grebe: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x tele converter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec, + 1 stop






Goldfinch: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec, +0.3 stop



















Greenfinch: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/800 sec, +0.7 stop




Monday 13 April 2009

Easter Weekend Pictures

Easter weekend and the needs of visitors come first!!! However still managed some shots although lighting etc was not ideal. Included are Sand Martin at Godrevy, still proving difficult to photograph. Cormorants nest with thee chicks at Hell's Mouth, it is very entertaining watching these feeding the young. Jackdaws gathering nesting materials seemed to be a group effort!! A peregrine falcon on the nest. A jay at Helston boating lake area, on my doorstep after travelling to Tehidy to photograph them. And finally possibly a chiiff Chaff???? which made a nice image despite shooting into the sun.







Sand Martin: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 100-400mm lens, Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/2500sec, ISO 400, +0.7 stop

















Cormorants: Exif: Canon 1D mk111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm) Aperture Priority, F6.3, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, +0.3 stop





Jackdaw Exif: Canon 1D mk111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm) Aperture Priority, F10, 1/320 sec, ISO 400, + 1 stop








Peregrine Exif: Canon 1D mk111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm) Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/1250 sec, ISO 400, +/- 0 stop




Jay Exif: Exif : Canon 40D, 100-400mm lens, aperture priority, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, +0.7 Stop




























Exif : Canon 40D, 100-400mm lens, aperture priority, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, +0.7 Stop

Thursday 9 April 2009

Otter surpise today at Hayle

Picture the scene, it's cold wet and windy there is nothing happening. Were in Hayle bird hide, Leanne disappears to the van for a brew, and Mel Sedgwick shouts "there's an otter", I am onto it and capture it before it disappears. (Mel missed his spot, so did Leanne) Rather fortusiously for Mel, Leanne and me the otter emerged again out of the undergrowth dived for a short swim and came back with dinner, a rather large crab. After gorging himself he returned to the water where he was warned off by a swan and disappeared. I have seen Otters at Paradise Park and others places in captivity, but nothing anywhere near the huge size of this one. Oh two common sandpipers made an appearance before the otter, one pictured below. So despite the weather it turned out to be a great day in the wet!!!!!

Otter: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/800 sec, + 0.7 stop

Otter: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/640 sec, + 0.7 stop



Otter: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/500 sec, + 0.7 stop





Common Sandpiper : Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, + 1 stop

Wednesday 8 April 2009

North Cornwall Coast and Cliffs

A day spent on the North Cornish Coast to produce these images. The Peregrine Falcon was taken end the end of the day, a lack of light mean't slow shutter and high ISO, so a bit of a noisy image but it is the first time I have photographed this so it is being posted. We also have the Gulls and Cormorants on the cliffs which were easy enough to photograph. Lastly the Stonechat, a shutter speed of 1/5000 sec to stop the action that is fast!!!!! I think this is the best image from today. Click to view full size images.

Peregrine Falcon: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F5.6 , 1/160 sec, ISO 800, +0.7 stop.


Stonechat: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/5000 sec, ISO 400, + 1 stop.

Gulls: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/400 sec, ISO 400, +/- 0 stop.






Cormorants Nest: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F5, 1/320 sec, ISO 200, +/- 0 stop.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Unwanted Invader at Heron's Nest

Intentions were a visit to Marazion and then Stithians Resevoir, the latter was foiled by the weather. On arrival at Marazion the Heron's nest was paid an unwelcome visit by a Raven, the chicks left to fend for themselves managed to persuade the Raven to go elsewhere. Twenty minutes or so later the mother bird returned with plenty of food. I had the polariser on to check it out, pity the sun kept going in/out., however the swan image is a good example of the nice blue sky a polariser can produce. As for the other images not being super sharp the wind was gusting making conditions difficult all day.







Invader: EXIF: Canon 40D, 600mm f4 with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm) Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, +0.3 stop. Polarisering Filter

















Feeding Time: EXIF: Canon 40D, 600mm f4 with
1.4x teleconverter (840mm) Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 400, +0.3 stop. Polarisering Filter




Mute Swan: EXIF: Canon 40D, 600mm f4 lens with 1.4X teleconverter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F7.1, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400, 0+/- stop, Polarising Filter.











Great Tit: EXIF: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm f4 lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, +0.7stop

Sunday 5 April 2009

St Gothians Sunday 5th April

Another day at St Gothians, I was actually taking surfing pictures when I decided to take a break. The Sand Martins were skimming the surface of one of the pools, so I thought I would try and capture this. Well I failed my best effort below. Despite manual pre focus on area's of the pool, rapid machine gun fire tactics, I only got eight Sand Martins on my card out of approx 100 shots (so that gives you an idea how difficult this is) I will be attempting this again soon if the Sand Martins oblige. The pipit is a great example of the depth of field on the 600mm f4, notice the focus is dead centre of the Pipit and post, wires and post outer edges are all out of focus. Lastly was a shot of a Linnet (I think) the light just fell right on it giving an image of great clarity.


Pipit: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm f4 lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/5000 sec, ISO 400, and +0.7 stop





Linnet: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm f4 lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/5000 sec, ISO 400, and +0.7 stop






Sand Martin: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm f4 lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/5000 sec, ISO 400, and +0.7 stop

Saturday 4 April 2009

Sand Martins, Cormorant and 40D test.

Hi, much better light today resulted in a good test of the newly acquired back up camera, the Canon 40D . It didn't disappoint, focusing on Sand Martins was difficult, got one in the end though. Larger birds were not a problem. Ok it can't focus as quick as the 1d Mk111 but that is to be expected as it has less cross hair sensors. As it is to be used as a back up a thorough test isn't required, pleased with what I have seen and don't have the insructions, which I wouldn't of read anyway. That said once I get the instruction booklet if I feel I need to explore the camera's specification and performance in more detail I shall. I expect some people would like to see custom settings for Bird Photography wiith this camera. Todays trip took me to Stithians resevoir, Hayle and St Gothian Sands and included pictures of Cormorant, Jackdaw, Sand Martin, Buzzard, etc. Don't forget click on the image to see it unscaled.





I thought the Sand Martin image below was good but this one is better still.

Sand Martin Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm f4 lens , Aperture Priority, F5, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, + 1 Stop








Cormorant "Birdbath" Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm f4 lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm focal length) , Aperture Priority, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec, + 0.7 Stop










Jackdaw: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm f4 lens , Aperture Priority, F5, ISO 400, 1/800 sec, + 1.3 Stop




(In this image the wing tip is sharpest so either a larger depth of field is required, or more accurate focusing on the eye)










Redshank: Exif: Canon 40D, 600mm f4 lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm focal length), Aperture Priority, F5.6, ISO 200, 1/800 sec, + 0.7 Stop










Sand Martin; Exif: Canon 40D, 600mm f4 lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, + 1 Stop










Friday 3 April 2009

New Camera- Awful Weather

Hi,

Purchased a 40D (2nd hand off ebay) as a back up for the 1Dmk111. So today was the first chance to test it. Up early off to Stithians Resevoir at 8 am only to be greeted by a blinding combination of sun and fog. So I did my best with the conditions but not ideal, in fact a long way off ideal to try out the camera. Anyhow took some shots most were not sharp, possibley due to the poor lighting and me hand holding the camera, or is the camera duff!!!! (I don't think so) John Rowe was around and he seemed to be fairing rather better with his digiscope/camera combination and camera support clamp. Perhaps the digiscope was able to zoom in on the subject and eliminate the poor lighting I was having to contend with??? Did manage some shots which captured the weather/light conditions though. Off to Marazion then to be greeted by fog and coastal mist, so any distance photography of any real quality was thwarted again. So I shall try all over again with the 40D once the weather improves again. Example image below is where I have tried to capture the sun/fog combination. The is how is was you could not see the opposite side of the resevoir.




Swans Nest: Exif: Canon 40D, Aperture Priority, F14, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, 100-400mm lens set at 130mm, +0.3stop

(Many more similar shots were attempted varying the exposure compensation/speed and f stop etc, this one I just happen to pick out from the selection)

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Heron and GC Grebe Eat outdoors

A long day at Stithians and Marazion, a close up of the Little Grebe was closely followed by the GC Grebe tucking into some fish for lunch. Next was Marazion. For the two Heron shots the light was fading fast. The first image of the Heron fishing shows the effect of the shallow depth of field, I think this image would of been better at F11 or something to have more of the reeds etc in focus. Last picture of the Heron having caught an eel, this was his second in a few minutes with light fading I upped the ISO to 640 and took a lot of shots knowing most would be blurred. A great shot to end the day.





Little Grebe: Exif: Canon 1d Mk111, 600mm lens 1.4x teleconverter, ISO 400, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/640 sec, +0.7 stop





GC Grebe, Exif: Canon 1d Mk111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm), ISO 400, Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/1600 sec, +0.7 stop







Heron Fishing; Exif: Canon 1d Mk111, 600mm lens, ISO 400, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/500 sec, +0.7 stop









Heron with Eel Dinner: Exif: Canon 1d Mk111, 600mm lens, ISO 640, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/200 sec, +0.7 stop