Wildlife Photography across the Water: Mini Trip Report Pt 4 - RSPB Minsmere

Sunday 8 May 2011

Mini Trip Report Pt 4 - RSPB Minsmere - Study of the Marsh Harrier

As promised, I said I would bring you some Marsh Harrier images from my recent trip to Minsmere in Suffolk.

Marsh Harrier are wonderful birds and I have watched them from many hours at Minsmere. My favourite hide is the Bittern Hide, which is one of the closest hides to the car park. It is raised about thirty feet above ground level, and while that is normally a problem for most hide photography, for the Marsh Harriers it is excellent. You get eye level shots with backgrounds of the reed beds. This time if the year the reeds are still straw coloured as the new green growth hasn't reached the tops . Give it another four weeks and the backgrounds will be totally different. I personally prefer this colour as the complement to the subject matter.

So here are a few images I took from the trip. While many of the views are far too too distant, you do get some close flybys and those are the ones worth waiting for. As a result, some of these images are big crops, and of course the quality shows where it is heavily cropped.

Wider 'enviro' shot showing the background and habitat

All of the above shots were of the male bird

Two previous are the female showing the colour variations

As you can soon most images are flying from right to left. This was because the birds were flying into the wind as they were hunting, and of course it is easier to catch your subject when travelling more slowly over the ground.

If you are going to get a trip in to Minsmere soon, you will be in for some great sightings of these birds.

Martin

1 comment:

Anonymous8 May 2011 at 21:57
Fantastic photos! I am going to Minsmere in a couple of weeks so am looking forward to my visit even more now.
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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.