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SUNDAY 26th DECEMBER 2010

Winter thrushes

With all this snow and freezing weather, the Redwings and Fieldfares have moved from the fields and woodlands where you wouldn't normally be able to get anywhere near them, to the berry-laden city where they tend to allow a much closer approach. This morning I visited one of the industrial estates at Avonmouth for a couple of hours when it would be really quiet, and I would hopefully get some nice snowy snaps without the birds being unduly disturbed by all the comings-and-goings that usually happen there during a working week. There had been a group of Waxwings nearby, but it seems as though they've scoffed all the rowan berries and buggered off.

Even on the shots of the birds feeding in the trees you can tell there's snow on the ground by the nice uplighting that gets rid of all the grey shadows. Loads more on my Flickr page.

SUNDAY 13th DECEMBER 2010

More from the bridge

Most of the lake is still frozen over, and as well as the gulls and Bitterns on the ice at Herriott's Pool to photograph, there are Reed Buntings and Water Rails coming down to seed that's been scattered along the causeway. One of the Water Rails was coming to within four meters.

You need to be there in the mornings to get the best light to photograph the buntings and rails (if there is any light, that is), and in the afternoons to get the best light on the pool. Having said that, in winter at Herriott's Pool it's more a case of the afternoons having the least bad light rather than the best, as you face south-east.

SUNDAY 5th DECEMBER 2010

Hibernation

Last weekend at Chew I found a Peacock butterfly on the steps of Moreton hide, and a quick look inside produced another five of them hibernating. It's really dark in there even with the shutters open, but even so I can't say I've come across any hibernating butterflies in it before.

So this weekend, armed with torch, macro lens and ringflash I visited all the bird hides and was surprised at the number of butterflies I saw; 16 Peacocks and one Small Tortoiseshell. I also found a Herald moth, 113 Harlequin Ladybirds, a Two-sot Ladybird, two Depressaria daucella, two Agonopterix ciliella/heracliana, and a few lacewings and wasps.

The shots below are another good reason to shoot in raw - with my torch and the ringflash as the only sources of light all the shots were really warm and yellowy - I had to pull the white balance right back to get them looking a bit more natural. Although in the darkness of the hides I suppose it would be difficult to say exactly what a natural colour balance is.

MONDAY 15th NOVEMBER 2010

Whoppers

Decided to look for the two Whooper Swans which have been at Cheddar for the last month or so. I had a feeling the light would be in a bad direction (which it was), and the birds weren't exactly close, either.

Sometimes backlighting can work quite well with white birds, especially on water but today they were just a bit too far away, and with the water level being so low I couldn't get any closer to the edge to get a better angle. So I made do with some arty-farty backlit shots, of which this is the best of a tightly-cropped bad bunch...

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