Showing posts with label Kingfisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingfisher. Show all posts
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Kingfisher
The crane park kingfishers seem to have been much shyer this year. There is at least one pair still on the river, but I've hardly seen them since February. So on Friday I headed up to Rye Meads RSPB reserve outside Hoddesdon to see if I could get closer to one of the pairs nesting there. It was a good day with lots of sightings, although due to the position of the hide I was not able to get as close as I have been in Crane Park. I took a fair few photos - but I think I must have been a bit to impatient because hardly any of them were really sharp. This was probably the best of the bunch. Looks like I need to go back again!
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Update on project kingfisher
In May I posted two photographs from project kingfisher. Since then I've have gone back to find the kingishers on multiple occassions. The good news is that I always see at least one. The bad news is when I take my camera they stay away. Two Sundays ago when I went without binoculars (it was a very grey day and threatening to rain) one settled about four metres from me and sat there for a good ten minutes despite me being joined by a dog-walker. Today with the first forecast weekend sunshine in weeks I set out early to try once again.
Once again I came away without any shots. One flew by early on and after that I saw no sign of it or its mate. I did, however, have a great time photographing a warbler in the reed bed. At first I thought it was probably a reed warbler given its location and behaviour. As I worked closer, however, I realised it was yellower than I would have expected. So then I thought it was probably a willow warbler. Looking at the photos now I'm wondering if it is in fact a chiff-chaff. It didn't sing, so no help there. But the darker legs seem to indicate it is not a willow warbler and the yellowish front and roundish head seems indicate it is not a reed warbler? One of these days I'll get the hang of warblers.
On the plus front this is the first set of wildlife shots in good light with the 7D and I am extremely pleased with the way the camera performed.
Once again I came away without any shots. One flew by early on and after that I saw no sign of it or its mate. I did, however, have a great time photographing a warbler in the reed bed. At first I thought it was probably a reed warbler given its location and behaviour. As I worked closer, however, I realised it was yellower than I would have expected. So then I thought it was probably a willow warbler. Looking at the photos now I'm wondering if it is in fact a chiff-chaff. It didn't sing, so no help there. But the darker legs seem to indicate it is not a willow warbler and the yellowish front and roundish head seems indicate it is not a reed warbler? One of these days I'll get the hang of warblers.
On the plus front this is the first set of wildlife shots in good light with the 7D and I am extremely pleased with the way the camera performed.
Friday, 21 May 2010
Firstfruits of project kingfisher
Lack of blog posts recently has not been due to a lack of photographs. I've been a bit busy! In fact I have a fair few new shots to post up from the last couple of weeks. However, I'll get the ball rolling with a couple of shots that are hot off the press.
In recent weeks I've found a rather friendly kingfisher in my local park. In fact I can reliably guarantee to see it every time I visit. On a couple of occasions it has sat for extended periods of time in full view. Never when I had a camera to hand of course. So today I set out to redress that. In the space of three hours it flew by no less than seven times and settled twice. On neither occasion was it quite as close as it has been in the past - but I still managed a few shots. These are both cropped fairly aggressively - but I'm pretty happy with the results!
In recent weeks I've found a rather friendly kingfisher in my local park. In fact I can reliably guarantee to see it every time I visit. On a couple of occasions it has sat for extended periods of time in full view. Never when I had a camera to hand of course. So today I set out to redress that. In the space of three hours it flew by no less than seven times and settled twice. On neither occasion was it quite as close as it has been in the past - but I still managed a few shots. These are both cropped fairly aggressively - but I'm pretty happy with the results!
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