Great Crested Grebes

Time for more Great Crested Grebe shots, they are such lovely birds. I put on the waders to get as far out to them as I could, the trusty Gitzo doing a sterling job of holding the camera and lens inches above the water. All taken with the 7D, Canon 500mm F4 and 1.4 TC.

*EDIT* Colours are looking off in the below photos - i will look into why this is happening, I think it has something to do with Blogger...

*EDIT* Fixed after re-profiling the monitor and re processing the images.

Spring Woodland

I decided to have an early morning at the woods now spring is very much on the doorstep. The birds were certainly active with Chiffchaffs in full voice along with Song Thrushes, Wren, Robins, and my favourite, Blackbirds, all marking out their territories. Great Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming all over the place, a Bullfinch sung softly and Coal, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits were all seen and head. Spring plants in full bloom were Primrose, Wood Anemone and Lesser Celandine and they attracted Bee Flies, Brimstones, and various other insects as the sun warmed woodland floor and I saw a couple of 7-spot Ladybirds sunning themselves in amongst the Bramble leaves. Deeper into the woods Bluebell leaves, with the occasional flower,  carpeted the floor and in amongst them I found the spotted leaves of Early Purple Orchids. It wont be long until they are in full bloom and and the woods really will spring back to life.

Equipment wise I used a 24-105mm and the 180mm macro, tripod and an angle finder for the following photos.

Log stack (24-105mm)

Birch Leaf (180mm macro)

Primrose (24-105mm)

Primrose (24-105mm)

Primrose (180mm macro)

Primrose (180mm macro)

Bluebell (180mm macro)

Pett Levels

I have just got round to processing a few photos that I took at Pett Levels a couple of weeks ago, just to get out with the camera for an hour. I'm looking forward to spring which is just round the corner and am eager to put the macro lens to some use this year, and hopefully widen the portfolio a bit. I've got a few ideas to make the blog a bit more interesting and hopfully add some posts between trips possibly including stuff about equiptment and how I take the photos and to share my frustrations so I can hopefully help a few people starting out.

These three photos were taken from the car with the 7D & 500mm F4 (1.4x tc for the Coot and Rook), resting on bean bag.

Snowy Bexhill

There has been a long staying Snow Bunting on Bexhill beach, unbenown to me until last weekend. A short trip down there for some photos on Saturday morning was very necessary.

Kumlien's Gull, Littlehampton 02 feb 2015

No blog for a while, basically cos I'm lazy and not picked the camera up much. Did shoot some Cattle Egret at Dunge (see my flickr for those) and supposed I should have blogged that but hey?

Anyways after hearing that the Littlehampton Kumlien's was back, and that I failed misearbly last year, I decided to head back for another go. Got there early before dawn and saw it briefly at the river mouth where it flew up upsteam. I relocated it with another couple of togs although light was shit and it didn't perform much. Afternoon was alot better on the West of the river and it performed well. As luck would have it Mick and Richard turned up (if you like gulls then you surely must know these guys and seen their absolutely awsome photos. If not look http://birdingthedayaway.blogspot.co.uk and http://mybirdwatchingdaysout.blogspot.co.uk) After a catch-up and hearing about the many overseas trips they have had and planning  we moved to a much better position and fired away/
So anyway I got a few nice shots I'm pleased with, which is 100% better than last year.

Kumlien's Gull

 

 Dont like the post in the background in the next one, otherwise would be please with it...

 

Thats more like it...

 

 

 

 

Banking shots are great...

 

 

Manged a few other species in between shooting the Kumlien's...

Starling

 

 Black-headed Gull

Carrion Crow

Pied Wagtail

1st Winter Herring Gull

Down at Dungeness

A relatively early start on Sunday down at Dungeness produced nothing much the obs, a couple of Ravens, Peregrine, lots of meadow pipits moving through and a few Sparrowhawks trying their luck with them. A Wryneck was seen in the moat an hour earlier, but despite looking I couldn't find it. I walked round the trapping area and around the Long Lakes but couldn't find anything to point the camera at. I stopped in at the RSPB reserve just on the off chance for a quick walk around. Just tout of the visitors areas I came across 30 or so Yellow Wagtails and a slow and low approach and I managed to get close enough for a few shots.

 

This scruffy looking White Wagtail joined in too...

...and a Meadow Pipit, but he didn't come too close

Green Sandpiper

I haven't picked up the camera in just over three months, as I've been making time for the Girlfriend and kids and trying to get a bit fitter. Have refound the pleasure of  cycling which has invariably lead to the purchase of a new toy, but the itch to get out again and shoot has been creeping back. So I decided to have a go at the local (but wildly unpredictable) Barn Owls after work, which would give a an hour and a half of useable light. On my way down to the site I pass a couple of very shallow pools that the local farmer has dug out; a quick scan with the bins and I could see a small bobbing wader in the corner. I slowly hit the deck and started to commando crawl the 50 or so meters through the grass and eventually festering mud to the edge of the pool, pausing occasionally when the sandpiper looked a bit anxious. I'll save the Barn Owls for another day.