Sunday 18 March 2007

On photographic firsts

One of the great thrills of wildlife photography is getting a picture of a bird or animal you've not taken before. Last friday I managed two such.

The first was a goldfinch. Having spent an hour in a hide hoping in vain for a kingfisher (but seeing almost nothing!), I emerged to find the area behind the hide alive with goldfinches and long-tailed tits. It seems to be common that all the action happens behind the hide - I saw my first pair of Merlins under similar circumstances.

The goldfinches were a bit of tease; choosing to stay largely in the shadow, hiding behind branches and staying high up - which made for awkward angles with my ballhead. After half an hour or so, however, I managed the following.

Goldfinch

The second was a little grebe. I've seen them before, but not under conditions that allowed a shot. They were also playful, prefering to stay in the rushes, and emerge only briefly. My early shots were all disappointing. However, a little patience yielded a halfway decent shot (with the hope of more to come in future) and they were most amusing birds to watch.

Little Grebe

With a lot more species still to shoot here's hoping I have a lot more days like this one!

Countdown to Falklands trip: 265 days

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