St Ives,Stormy Gulls and Torrential Rain

Decided to visit St Ives, Porthmeor to photograph the surfers around late morning. The surf photography was interupted by these to squabbling Gulls at one point I thought they were going mental. Anyway as the photos have recorded you can see they were quite vocal and fighting one another. The action was much to fast, and they were only a short distance from me.  How ever the out of focus picture shows they intensity of the moment.  Just as I departed the heavens opened and I had to stop between Hayle and Leedstown as I couldn't see where I was going despite having the wipers on full speed. So hopefully there will be some dramatic weather images appearing on the various blogs soon.

The images on this page need to be double clicked and enlarged to see the true picture!

Gull: Exif: Canon 1d mk111, 600mm telephoto lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/800sec, +0.7 stop

Gull: Exif: Canon 1d mk111, 600mm telephoto lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/250sec, +0.7 stop

Gulls Fighting: Exif: Canon 1d mk111, 600mm telephoto lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/320sec, +0.7 stop

Not sharp but a record of the action. Surprisingly the gull was unscathed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Turnstone: Exif: Canon 1d mk111, 600mm telephoto lens, Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/1250sec, +/- 0 stop

Poor Weather with Worse to Come

Well another day of rain and bad light.  Looking ahead a the forecast, its more Rain Wind, Severe Gales and possibly some Hail for the next 4 days!!!!!!! Nightmare, however I am back and work on the 23rd so I expect the weather will improve rapidly then.  So light permitting it looks like all pictures this week will be taken from the local hides. (or I could just retire to the pub for the weekend, very tempting) If there is light good enough for pictures I expect |I will venture out and try though. Here is my first batch from Stithians a real struggle to get anything at all. Apologies for the quality. No exif data just some shutter speeds as low as 1/25 sec and ISO 640.

Blue Tit

Coot

Teal in Flight

Mallard

Sunshine and Major Downpour

Ok sunshine this morning and lots of rain and lack of light this afternoon = poor quality picutres.  My first stop today was Godrevy as there was some decent surf so I spent a while there.  As I was in the vicinity I went to see if I could get a better image of the whooper swans. They were still there but no better image. As I walked from the southern end of St Gothians the Whoopers took flight from behind a bank out of sight from me until it was to late, not very accomodating and left me feeling like the bloke who missed the Panda in the kit kat advert.  A kestrel then flew in, I messed this shot up as I was still set on 0 EV for the swans, should of whacked it up to +1 EV (now I have some black silouette's of a kestrel) After some more surf shots I headed to Hayle where I was greeted with a downpour and darkness.  Stayed for a while and persevered in adverse conditions. Also  pushed the camera to ISO 640/800, tried a 1000 but to much grain is evident.  Decided at 4pm it was time for home and a hot brew.  So here are the pictures. Also there are roadworks present which are forcing the birds to venture closer to the hide.

Whooper Swan: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F5.6, 1/3200sec, ISO 400, +/- 0 stop

Redshank: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/100sec, ISO 400, +0.7 stop

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lapwing: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/250sec, ISO 640, +0.7 stop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Snipe: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 600mm lens, Aperture Priority, F4, 1/80sec, ISO 400, +/-0 stop

One of those days!!!

Set off with all good intentions, left Helston and arrived at the top of Hilltop garage, mist everywhere.  Decided to press on.  First destination was Carnsew Pool, arrived there major snag my van wouldn't fit under the parking barrier!!!!!!So had to give that a miss. Onto Ryan's Field, Hayle where it was exceptionally dull and overcast, well dark. Had a wander around here didn't see anything that didn't fly off once the camera was pointed towards it. So into the hide set up the tripod in the hide with the 600mm and the Kingfisher flew passed under the hide window, yep missed it. Gave up here, off to Tehidy Country Park, got out the van on arrival and it started raining (which wasn't in the forecast) so back in the van for 30 minutes.  Had a good walk but  didn't see any Jay's which I was hoping to photograph.  Off to St Gothians and at last some progress managed to get a shot of the whooper swans and the sun was out. As it was only 2.30pm I went to Marazion here I managed a record shot of the elusive Water Rail(elusive to me anyhow)  and a distant shot of the Kingfisher departing with his catch.  To sum it up a frustrating day with little reward of decent images as seems to be normal at present, however I am sure things will get better soon, even the idiots might get the weather right!(maybe asking a bit much there)  So onto todays images:

Grey Squirrel: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 300mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, 1/60 sec, ISO 400, + 0.7 stop

Rook: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 300mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, 1/100 sec, ISO 400, + 0.7 stop

Whooper Swan: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (840mm), Aperture Priority, F6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 400, +/-0 stop

Water Rail: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 300mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, + 0.7 stop

King Fisher: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, 300mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, 1/400 sec, ISO 400, + 0.7 stop

You may have to enlarge this to spot the King Fisher in the top/mid left of the image.

Day on The Lizard

I spent most of today on the Lizard visiting Lizard Point, Church Cove, Kyance Cove and Windmill Farm.  Not much to show for my efforts though, a Starling, Stone Chat and Kestrel. The Kestrel was sat on some overhead wires for a while; as soon as I swapped the 300mm for the 600mm it flew off before I could get another shot!!!!!!

Starling: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, with 300mm and 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/4000 sec, =0.7 stop

Stone Chat: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, with 300mm and 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F5, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, =0.7 stop

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kestrel: Exif: Canon 1d MK111, with 300mm and 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F5, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, =0.7 stop

Sunday Visit to Marazion

Another visit to Marazion Marsh but nothing major to report.  A couple of unusual things first one some blue sky!!!!  Second a  greater spotted woodpecker.  Absolutely zero waders on the beach.  The resident heron and little egret both enjoying there Sunday afternoon fishing.  Buzzards were also patroling the area in the high winds.  So with little to photograph I decided to return home and watch Chelsea v Man Utd, what a yawn that was, good result though. Two weeks off work now though so hopefully I will have the camera out most days.  All the shots below were handheld in the windy conditions with the 300mm 2.8 and  1.4x teleconverter, I did not expect so many sharp images in these conditions, just shows how great this lens is.  Shooting in Aperture Priority enables the camera to decide the shutter speed conditions on occasion must of been very light as 1/8000 sec was achieved in the woodpecker shot.  So this tells me we do get really bright light sometimes and maybe I should step down my ISO from my usual choice of ISO 400.

Buzzard: Exif:  Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f2,8 IS lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, +1 stop

Greater Spotted Woodpecker: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f2,8 IS lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/8000 sec, +0.7 stop

Buzzard: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f2,8 IS lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec, +1 stop

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Buzzard/Crow: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f2,8 IS lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F4, ISO 400, 1/4000 sec, +1 stop

Grey Heron: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f2,8 IS lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F5, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, +/-0 stop

Grey Heron: Exif: Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f2,8 IS lens with 1.4x teleconverter (420mm), Aperture Priority, F5, ISO 400, 1/3200 sec, +0.7 stop