Mixed bag tonight

A visit to Marazion, I was on the way to the beach when I spotted the Bittern behind the water level post, about half way down to him he skulked off into the reeds after seeing the camera.(s-d)  Not to be out done I caught up with it after lunch but didn't catch it in flight. The Kestrel was showing good against the novelty of a blue sky. Lots of Kingfishers flying around but to small to post. Also spotted  Waterail today and up to a dozen Little Egret. Ashly Hugo pointed me in the direction of a Snow Bunting which we went and photographed at Newlyn Todays images:

Kestrel against a beautiful blue sky today.

Bittern- no mistaking the long neck

Wheatear on the Marsh

Oyster Catcher

Snow Bunting at Newlyn

Heligan's Green Heron

Normally I wouldn't drive off to photograph something as nine times out of ten it wont be there. Arrived at Heligan about 1045 am and was was greeted by a very disturbing sight, two bus loads of Dutch tourists has just pulled up. Bad start supposed to be a quieter day. So off I yomped down to the bottom off The Lost Valley where the Greeen Heron was spotted the evening before. Well nothing for 1 1/2 -2 hours.  A few people including Bob Mitchell were searching for it. Soon a chap came running down the hill to tell me it was in The Top Jungle Pool (this was really good of him its a major uphill struggle and he had now done it twice in 30 minutes) Finally caught up with it. He was mostly in the dark shadows of The Pool but occasionally towards the end of the day I was able to knock the ISO down to 400 and get some usable pictures (when the bridge wasn't bouncing up and down, with people traffic) Some comments like where is it? reply over there in the green stuff!!! (well that narrowed the search not)made me laugh.  I certainly didn't enjoy the trip back up the hill but I think a couple of the images made it worthwhile. So onto the images.

In deep at Marazion

Water levels have risen significantly at Marazion as you can see by the first image. I spent a frustrating morning at Hayle getting zero images and didn't fare much better at Marazion. But on occasion the yellow thing in the sky popped out and the normal residents provided a couple of nice images. Sundays pictures:

Deep water, new levels post required soon?

This Kestrel gives a good diplay whilst hunting just need a blue sky. I have also now spotted him twice watching me from the post but this time I got an image before he carried on hunting.

Little Egret rushing around

Heron flies low accross the Marsh

New Camera and Lens first outing

Well it was my first outing with the Nikon D300s and the Nikon 600mm AFS 2. The D300S looks like a great piece of kit although the menu is somewhat  over complicated. Most of the controls especially the exposure compensation work opposite to Canon so some mistakes here until I get used to it. Much prefer the AF of the Nikon seems to stick with the subject once aquired. Not keen on the lens foot though so replacement on order. I will submit a more thorough posting on settings etc once I get to grips with it all (might even read the instruction book) A couple of images from today.

Kestrel he seems to be resident at the marsh for now hopefully get some better images later.

Buzzard-sods law this is one of the occasions I went in the wrong direction with the exposure button

Stonechat to finish off with

Have a good weekend and I expect to see loads of Green Heron shots tomorrow from The Lost Gardens.

Switch from Canon to Nikon well underway

Have now in my pocession A Nikon D300S, 600mm AFS ll Lens, 1.4x ll Converter and an R1 macro flash. So a long way to go with Canon kit still to be sold.  However after a visit to Mifsuds having negotiated a deal on 600mm lenses I have came away without spending anytime minus a 600mm lens which is most important as it is the lens I use most often despite its bulk. In fact I think the Nikon AFS ll may be slightly lighter than the Canon. The Mifsuds, team were very helpful setting Camera, lens, tripod etc in the street while I fired off a few test shots. Conclusion I drew if the 1dMK11 was fast at Auto Focusing , well the D300S coupled to this lens most be almost the same or milliseconds slower. The AF also locked on and stayed on didn't seem to hunt like the Canon did occasionally. Ok in its favour it was a bright sunny day and moving cars were the target, but it won me over so much, I couldn't justify paying the extra couple of grand for a 500mm VR version which I was also considering. D3S next ???????
Photo's hopefully from the Nikon set up will be posted in my next post.

Mini Hunter Killer

Down to Marazion and thought it must be weekend because the weather is pants. Anyway determined to get something despite the wind and grey skies this is the best I could get today. All taken with a 1D MK111 and 600mm lens. Todays pictures, taken just after Keith Hargreaves left (always the same someone leaves (normally me) and something turns up)



Spotted on his first circuit around the marsh




Second circuit and something has his attention




Well his been down to ground and got something you can see the evidence just below the tail.




All is revealed a field/door mouse for lunch held in one claw




Now he came back and returned to the hunt less than a minute after going to ground with the mouse, so I don't know if he scoffed it or hid it for later