Wildlife Photography across the Water: Local Patch-Reflective mood

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Local Patch-Reflective mood

After Mooses comment last week i decided at the weekend to check out Lake Wheeler, Another largish lake about 20 miles from my home, Its obvious that some of the birds are fed here which is very unusual for NC, The Canada and Greylag geese walk up to you as you get out of your car as do the Squirrels, The coots are very friendly as are a couple of mallards so at least you know that you can walk away with some shots, After a quick recced with the wife and pup i decided that i would return on tuesday (yesterday) early, The weather here has turned back to a cold wind and the outlook for the week was not good but tuesday looked dry, It was a pleasant suprise to arrive at a mirror calm lake and that there were some birds around, I quickly set up with the rising sun on my back and took a couple of tests shots of the closing in coots-making sure that the beaks were not blowing out, The coot is a difficult bird to expose for as its beak is soo white so i only tend to shoot these very early/late in the day or on overcast days and dont waste my time otherwise, They are very aggresive birds and like to spend the day fighting with the neighbours so action shots are always a possibility, Yesterday i spent the first hour trying to get some nice reflection shots which came out ok, The crows spent the morning attacking a hawk that once landed directly above me and then swooped over my car as i was leaving, Lake wheeler has an added bonus of a cafe so you grab a cup of coffee to warm you up and it must have the cleanest toilets in NC, All in all a nice place to spend a few early hours

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.