Wildlife Photography across the Water: BTO Bird Atlas

Saturday, 6 February 2010

BTO Training courses

As many regular readers will know I carry out BTO Timed Tetrad Visits as part of the work towards the 2007 2011 Bird Atlas. These are specifically timed visits over pre defined areas counting all the birds and species that are seen or heard.

An important part of this is the ability to recognise what you are seeing or hearing............obviously.

To that end, the BTO are running a series of training courses here in the UK that you might be interested in. Details of courses, locations and prices can be found via the link.

Martin

Monday, 16 November 2009

A Walk in the Countryside - Counting the Birds

I took a trip out round one of my BTO tetrads yesterday for the winter bird count towards the next BTO Bird Atlas.

The walk is on my local patch and I can walk to it from my house. With a mix of various farmland, trees, hedgerows and a village, there is plenty of habitat.

I haven't yet uploaded the results, but there were certainly plenty top be seen with a number of Yellowhammer, plenty of Skylarks and a flock of 100 + Goldfinch, and a single Raven in the first of the timed hour counts, then in the second hour the highlights included numerous large flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing.

It was a beautiful morning, calm, warm and bright sunshine after the gales and rains of yesterday, it made for a marked and welcome contrast.

If you are interested in contributing to the BTO Bird Atlas, check out their website and find out your local coordinator to see what is available . It is an enjoyable walk in the countryside, armed with an OS map, a pair of binoculars and a digital voice recorder, which is easier than a pad and pen.

Martin

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.