Category: Uncategorized

Just a short video to see how the video on the camera performs

Over the last week or so i’ve been keeping an eye open for nest building birds, these Long Tailed Tits were building one in a bramble bush with only a few leaves starting to bud –
this made watching them fairly easy.
Made from sheep’s wool , Lichens, moss and spiders webs, it was fascinating seeing how they put it all together , From a deep cup shape they build it up and every now and then they would go inside and stretch the nest to enlarge it. Finally pulling the top over and making the entrance.

This was the second attempt at getting some decent photos of the Dippers on the river, the main problem is the lack of sunlight at the moment. The river valley runs east – west and the sun tracks the valley ridge, this leaves the river in shadow most of the time.
The result is high iso is needed but this gives a grainy image , typically ISO 2500 to 4000 is needed on a sunny day to get a fast enough shutter speed. I’ll have to have a rethink on this one ! On the other hand the Primroses were nice !!

Over the past two days i’ve spent some time on the rivers near to where i live. Its about the time Dippers start to build their nests and last year i started photographing them , with limited   success.
The main problem being the low light levels in the steep sided river valleys. So with the promise of at least some sunshine over the weekend i decided to give it another go.  A pair had started nest building and were popping in and out with nest material, Giving me a good chance of achieving an interesting shot. but despite the sun coming out from behind the clouds i still needed Iso 4000 to get a quick enough shutter speed . 

These flight shots although not the best have given me a few ideas and i think the next sunny day may give some better results.

You always need a plan !!

After a cold and damp misty day the sun managed to poke through the clouds, a lot of activity around the food in the garden prompted me to spend the last hour  of sunlight trying to catch some of the Diners in flight, to get a decent shutter speed i had to set the iso to 2000 , i knew the quality would suffer but what the hell !
some of the best action shots would have been superb – if they were in focus !
Basically it was pot luck , setting the focus to manual on the flight line and firing away.

one sorry looking Great Tit appeared with an injury or growth on the upper part of its beak ,
i,ve not seen it before , but i’ll keep an eye out for it over the next few weeks.