Wildlife Photography across the Water: stratford upon avon

Wednesday, 5 January 2011

Images from Boxing Day in Stratford -upon-Avon

A few blogposts ago, Boxing Day to be precise, I mentioned here that I ventured out with cameras in hand in the extremely low temperatures, particularly as the River Avon had frozen over.

So no particular story other than to share some images and a few thoughts.

So lets do the scenery first and then I will share some wildlife. All of these were taken with the 5D and 17-40 L lens.

Just a small wet hole for the birds

Love the irony

Classic Stratford view of the Trinity Church (Shakespeare burial place)

Haw frost covered Willows on the recreation ground

Frozen Avon with a view to the RSC building

And so on to the wildlife which were all taken with the 7D + 300f4 + 1.4EFTC, except for the last sad image

Walking on water

The mist was swirling in and out of the river - liked the atmosphere and it makes me shiver thinking back to when I took it

Swans, Geese, Ducks, Grebes and Goosanders keeping a small patch of water from freezing

Juvenile Swan with ice on its neck among its more mature brethren

Preening Male Tufted Duck - I liked the tiny bit of colour on a monochrome scene

Pochards came on to the river and went away as soon as the ice melted. Again ice over its feathers

A quick grab of another flight of Canada Geese, underlit by the snow on the ground. Naturally monochrome

I 'bumped' into this Heron while I was walking a bit further along the recreation ground as it fished in one of the bits of water that wasn't frozen. I would liked to have got a lot more shots of this to try to get a clean shot through the vegetation, but the Herons needs were for life and death survival. Getting photographs aren't worth compromising its life so I moved on very quickly.

Finally, I have said a few times in recent blogs of the need to feed and water the birds as the extreme conditions are a matter of life or death for them. This image shows that even the toughest and largest birds can succumb to the conditions. This was sadly very dead.

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.