Gull Practice

Shooting a few Black-headed Gulls for practice is good especially when there is nothing else about.

Leaps and Bounds

A Dark Bird on a Dark Day

Taking photographs of black subjects on a very dull day with no sunlight such as a Blackbird is definitely not recommended as the results are never that good.

Hiding in the Grass

Grey Partridge.

Not a familiar sight anymore in the countryside unfortunately. The Grey are difficult to find due to the considerable decrease in numbers. I was fortunate the other morning to observe 10 in number, although they were not making it easy and continued to hide at the edge of an arable field. Also I could not get any closer due to the terrain. However it was pleasing to find them even if I could not get a clear shot.

An Old Favourite

Winter is coming and our local Nuthatches are keen to get in front of the lens again, especially if there is food on offer.

Evening Flight

Initially this was supposed to be an evening scene shoot with some glowing sunset colours.

However, it partially turned out to be something to do with birds.

When I got home and uploaded my shots on to the mac, I noticed that I had shot more than I originally planned. In this first image below, if you examine the top left quarter and middle left area of the image you can just make out some small dark spots. They are not dust spots on the sensor of the camera, but migrating birds flying South. I had observed some whilst out there, but didn't appreciate I would get any in the frame. Many species migrate at night and often together. I read somewhere that they prefer clear skies for navigation purposes.

In this second image below you can see in the centre, the profile of a light aircraft. If you look to the left of that aircraft you will notice a line of birds spreading nearly all the way across the image.

Anyway here are some more images below that I shot that evening as intended.

Robin Portraits

Its a great time of year for Robins. They are now looking good and are quite amenable to posing for photographs.