The Big Freeze continues

And with it changes the wildlife that we might see.  As bodies of water freeze up, creatures that depend on water move on to new locations..

Last year here on the River Avon in Stratford, Great Crested Grebes flew in and were temporarily resident until the usual more static sources such as lakes thawed.  This year I have seen a couple of Little Grebes on a couple of occasions.

In addition, look out for a much greater abundance of countryside birds coming into your gardens.  We have seen significant increases in Finches, Gold, Green and Chaffinches taking the readily available sources that we make available.

One of the problems of having a partner who is just as ken on wildlife is that I get all the texts telling me what has turned up in the garden after I have left for work in the mornings.  So it was nice to hear that Redwings and Fieldfares were in the apple tree yesterday morning.  This is quite good news as there are a number of berry sources that these birds like around here so I hope they hang around until the weekend at least.

So while there are now different opportunities for us in this weather, take care on the roads and don't add to the increasing accidents that are out there at the moment.

Martin

Local Patch-Raleigh-Winter returns

After 2 days of heavy rain it was forecast last night for snow-3-6 inches they said so i went into the garden and repositioned the hides just in case, First thing this morning i opened the blinds and there it was nice and crisp and white as a sheet, I quickly got dressed in layers and put some fresh bird seed out and got ready,Within 5 minutes i had Dark eyed Junco,Mourning Dove,Cardinals and finches fighting for the food,I spent a couple of hours shooting before i fancied a coffee, I noticed a small flock of Cedar Waxwings come and go when i was in the hide so after the coffee i decided to take a drive around the estate and see if they were around, I quickly found a flock of about 50 sitting in a small tree in somebodies garden next to the road so i slowly drove up and began shooting,They were very relaxed and i soon got some shots before they dropped onto the bushes and started to eat the berries,They moved a couple of times but seemed to like coming back to the same gardens,Really nice to be able to shoot these beautiful birds with snow around, It would have been nice to be able to use some flash as there black band around the eye makes it hard to see the eye if you dont shoot at the right time but there was not enough room in the car to use flash, All in all i must admit i am extremly pleased with a few of the shots and they will make nice greeting cards,When i returned to my house i looked out of the winow to check the bird feeders and there was a white tailed deer eating from the bird table so i managed a couple of shots of the deer in the snow-what a great morning
I should have mentioned that the images were exposed for Manually-spot metered off of snow in the same light as the birds then 2 stops added

Dave

Seize the moment

I am very lucky being able to shoot when i want and not have the confines of weekend and holidays, Yesterday was a prime example and when i woke up and looked out side i could not believe that there was snow and that it was still snowing hard, Being away for a few days i hadnt seen the weather forecast so was totally unprepared so plans had to be made on the spot, Its not very pleasant to drive when the weather is so bad so i decided to grab my pop up 2 man tent and put it near my bird feeders,The birds would be cold and hungry and will be easier to shoot, I used the tent as opposed to a hide as it has a built in ground sheet and as i wanted to be low level meant that i could sit on the ground,It is also double skinned so would help keep me warm,

I dressed in multi layers and ended up in the tent for about 6 hrs and still felt fine,I made sure that i kept my gloves and hat dry when i left the tent as this is were the body heat will be lost, Its also worth remembering that you dehydrate when you are out in the cold for long periods as you do in heat so make sure that you have plenty of warm drinks during the day, As soon as i put some fresh food out and got into position the birds started to arrive and there was a constant stream all day,I had to top the feeders up 3 times!! When shooting in snow i set my camera to manual and spot meter directly off of the snow, I then add 2 stops as the white snow will try to fool the camera into under exposing leaing to a dark grey image,Once set i take a test shot and checked the histogram,It depends on how much sun there is on the snow but yesterday with heavy cloud and snow coming down it was spot on,The histogram was way to the right but there were no 'blinkys' showing, i had placed a log on the ground a few weeks before so i sprinkled some food on tht and then had a flat tray that had a branch strapped above it and i put food there,I didnt fill the other feeders that i had as i wanted the birds infront of me, The only bird that i really wanted to get but never came to feeders in front of me was the tufted titmouse-a beautiful bird and one that i would love to get with the snow falling, There are 2 that visit my garden and they were around yesterday but it just never happened, I was pleased to end the day with some very nice images,The snow acts as a reflector and the images end up nice and evenly lit, I put some corn out hoping that the deer that visit my garden may come out early but i watched them come out and start feeding when there was little light so left them to it,

News - Weather Watch

Just a quick note that I am sure you are all aware of, but if not.

With the 'big freeze' here in the UK - OK so it's all relative to the rest of the world, please make sure you keep water sources available for the wildlife in your garden. It is vital for their well being and very existence. All four water sources in our garden are freezing every night, so first thing one of us is out there, breaking ice and filling the reflective pool with hot water.

Not only do the animals need to drink a little, but equally importantly the birds have to bathe to keep their feathers in good order.

So check your gardens and if you can put some water out, and keep it free of ice you will be doing a good thing.

On the food front, sunflower hearts are a real power source, and the birds here are getting through a sackful every couple of weeks - but then we are getting hundreds of birds in the garden throughout the day.

If you have any unusual sightings or rare species in your garden, why not let us know on here.

Check back on the blog later today - we will be starting off the first in the Long Lens series

Martin