Covenham Reservoir 28/05

1st Visit to my patch Covenham Reservoir for the first time in a while in hope of greenshank, little stint and sanderling. 2 year ticks and 2 covenham ticks. I ended up dipping on Little Stint and Sanderling. I managed Greenshank Cov and year tick. Also I found a Wood Sandpiper only my second ever 1st for Cov and year tick :) Not much else aroun really. the reservoir was still no wind at all it was freaky being there silent at times. Also on route I found a Dead female Sparrowhawk

Wood Sandpiper

Ugly Covenham Resevoir

Common Gull that sadly won't make it the night

Hard shooting against the sun still my best shots of Wood Sandpiper

Still Water

Yellow Wagtail

Dead female Sparrowhawk

Messingham Sand quarry

Did My first ever summer visit to Messingham Sand Quarry. And what a place it is hundreds of damselflies and even more wierd insect life. Lots of new ticks for me although I still don't know half the things I was looking at ! 3 Year ticks aswell, Cuckoo, Garden Warbler and Hobby. Taking me up to 139 for the year. I will be returning to Messingham it's an amazing place.

Couple of hours around Brigsley

Catching up on some recent outings around Brigsley over the last week. Finally managed some sunshine. My first Damselfly back in the village aswell as Whitethroat, House Martin and Reed Warbler. Also saw my first ever Muntjac whilst out and about.

Cleethorpes to Fitties 04/05/12

A spare afternoon gave me chance to head down to Cleethopres in search of Grasshopper warblers, I did manage to get one another year tick takes me 136 :) The weather was very hit and miss but managed some alright shots. I was messing around with wide angle shots of Swans at the boating lake which I must try again at some point ! 41 Mute swans and 1 Black swan throughout the day including 16 on the boating lake is the highest count I have had. Nothing else apart from 3 Wheater at Fitties and 2 Oystercatcher.

1 of 16 Mute swan at the Boating Lake Cleethorpes

Coot

Northern Wheater

Possible Greenland race of wheater

RSPB Frampton and Far ings

The alarm was set for 8:00, Destinatio Frampton for the long staying Black-Winged Stilt. I have only seen these briefly in Spain last year so would be a UK tick for myself and my dad. Arriving just after 10:00 in horribly conditions wind and rain ! A quick look in the visitor centre and see whats been seen. With the news we hoped for we walked down towards the wet grasslans further down. Arriving where the Stilt was last seen another birder told is the bird has moved to another field. So I scanned the field with 35 summer Black-tailed godwits in with them was 1 Whimbrel and 5 Ringed Plover ( Both year ticks ) So we walked back down the path heading for the 360 Hide and out of the corner of my eye I saw a black and white wader, It was the Black-winged Stilt ! Lifer 206 and 7th this year alone. After watching it for about 5 minutes the wind and rain numbing our faces we carried on to the 360 hide where it was coming and going often. Great-crested Grebe have nested close to the 360 hide and in the open as well these were seen mating and dancing first time I've seen this happen. Also Skylark, Ringed Plover, Yellow wagtail, White wagtail, Avocet, Ruff, Brent goose, Gargeney and Shoveler in the area. Moved onto the next hide where there wasnt much more except 2 Gadwall and 1 Swift. Back to the visitor centre to try for the Male scaup thats been around the reedbed when the Black-winged stilt came closest it has been all day, so off I trotted in with the rain battering my face I enjoyed photographing this bird for 15 minutes whilst keeping an eye on the scaup. Horrible day for the photography and birding, If it was a sunny day then I would have come home with some better pictures. 1 Lifer and 8 year Ticks Despite the weather a nice day :)

A Red-rumped Swallow was found on Saturday by one of my Birding friends Richard Dawkins, sadly I couldn't get there on saturday due to work and sunday working to ! So I tried for it on the Monday but no sighn if the bird sadly I did manage 2 year ticks in common sandpiper and Reed warbler. Was sunny for a change so good photography weather but not much came close.

Fill flash? My First attempt !

I have long pondered on wheather to try or even learn how to succesfully use fill flash in my wildlife photography. I only want to fill in the shadows not be the main source of light. After plenty of research I decided to give it a go the next opportunity I thought it suited. So after a while searching I stumbled on a female Pheasant that didn't budge (she wasnt on a nest) I took a couple of shots not very good shots but just a snap shot then on quick review I noticed a huge shadow on the breast of the bird so I popped up my built in flash set it to +0 and fired off a shot. This Time I used my built in flash but in the future I will be usin Canon Speedlite 580X II with a diffuser. Natural light is ALWAYS best!

This is the image with Fill flash. More frame filling as a took a couple of steps forward. Now in this image I think the Back of the bird is maybe a little over exposed but much better than the other image below. The Breast and head of the bird has lost the extreme shadows, still there is shadowing but I think it's an improvement. If I set the flash at +1 or +1 1/3 then the the back of the bird would have been over exposed and the breast would have been fine although I could have pumped up apperture to f.8. But changing appertures when using flash comes with all sorts of problems.

This is the image without fill flash. As you can see not an appealing photograph by any means. But in my opinon the back of the bird is a little underexposed. Also as you can see the breast of the bird has extreme shadows along with the head. I have A lot to learn on this matter and will carry on reading and playing with it in the field. I will keep my blog up to date with this and hopefully in weeks and months to come I will notice a improvment. Not all photographers like to use flashes on wildlife or at all but in situtions it will hopefully prove a session saver! Ambient light is ofcourse always the best! I wont be using Fill flash in all my images just drastic shadows like this situation. Anybody's thoughts, questions or even advice are very welcome. Thanks :)