Local Patch-Raleigh

Last week we had a lot of rain in a short period and there were floods, My local lake is around 50-80 acres went up 18'' and is the colour of doo daa, The last few days has seen water levels dropping back to normal so today i decided to pop down and see whats about, I took the dog there last night for a quick walk and could here the Kingfisher in the distance, It was very cold and a thick frost when i left at day break, I could here the Kingfisher before i could even see the lake and found him in the shallows next to the board walk, He is quite shy and likes some space so i never managed to get close enough for any decent shots, He did land next to the board walk a few times so i will need to get there at dark and use some sort of concealment, The resident heron,Mallard and Muscovy ducks were around and soon settled so i could take a few stock images whilst i watched the mist rise off the lake as the sun come up, I spent 3 hrs there mainly watching the KF going about his business catching fish and taking note of his favorite perches, There were a few migratory residence in the way of buffleheads out in the middle of the lake with a beautiful drake taking pride of place, There were also a few pied grebes which i don't often see here, This year has been a good one for jays and there were a few kicking around the car park-still a bird i have yet to get any shots of, So a nice but cold morning with some data taken for future use, One thing that was strange was that the mallards were mating, the duck equivalent of a rabbit i guess







Dave

Local Patch - a few recent sightings

Just a short one from me today.

Winter has finally arrived in Warwickshire this last week with a hard frost or two, although with the continuing gales and rain it still feels more like autumn.

Regular winter thrushes are coming in to the garden now with daily regular visits from Redwings. I had the pleasure of watching one bathing in my pond this week. Fieldfares are less common in the urban environment, but I have already seen many very large flocks out in the surrounding fields.

I certainly had an exciting sighting last weekend with a Kingfisher flying within a couple of meters of me while I was by the Rowing Club in Stratford, feeding the birds. Great to see one in the town environment. Also the Grey Wagtail is quite a regular sighting now in the same area.

Large flocks of Black headed gulls are now also resident in the town around the river as they have moved inland from their summer sites.

It is also great to see the regular flock of Long tail tits in the garden and had the pleasure of watching them about three meters from me while eating my breakfast.

So I have put the hide back up in the garden now and looking forward to getting out there again when the weather is kind to the birds and they are in the right places at the right times for me.

Martin

Fair weather Photographer?

With winter approaching does your wildlife photography take a back seat, Don't want to get your gear wet or the sofa and warm house is too inviting, Nope its time to grin and bear it, Adverse weather will give your images a different dimension, There are lots of hides around to keep dry in and yet still get good images from, If you don't want to shelter in a hide then its time to buy some good quality waterproof camo gear and a lens/camera cover, Camo gear is available at many outlets as i have mentioned before, Prices here in the states are crazy low, Last week i purchased some waterproof salopets that are soft and quiet and really thick to keep you warm in the sales for $39, I used a lens cover from wildlifewatching supplies for years and it worked very well at keeping my lens dry and clean-so no excuses-forces yourself out of that nice warm bed and head out, At the end of the day it will be worth the effort



Dave

Environmental Conflicts

Part of my day job includes environmental matters from a business perspective so I tend to see a wide range of environmental issues.

A story that caught my eye earlier this week from The Independant was how the authorities in Scotland are protecting the Golden Eagle from the impacts of wind turbines.

Full story is here

Now I tend to find that people either love or loathe wind turbines.

Personally I think they are a blight on the landscape and are particularly inefficient at delivering consistent power. When there is no wind, there still needs to be another method of delivering energy. Certainly the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture of wind turbines,when you consider the components are shipped halfway round the world means that the true benefits are often hidden with a bit of 'greenwash spin'.

There is no doubt these things are destructive to wildlife as this clip shows

Vulture hit by wind turbine.

A particular sad but seemingly frequent occurrence if you read the comments below the main article from The Independant.

I am pleased that Scotland has seen fit to protect its wildlife and particularly avoid the visual destruction of their wonderful countryside.

Martin

Lens Accessories

So you have donated an arm and a leg to get a decent lens but the buying doesn't stop there, I like to have have a lens foot with the dovetail built in to fit on my wimberley head, I prefer the 4th Generation lens feet, They are beautifully made and light but at $85 for the 70-200 not cheap, You could add a wimberley plate to the lens foot cheaper but if you use a 4th generation lens foot you get to keep the original foot in new condition for resale,its lighter than the original foot and you save extra weight by not having to put a plate on it, Then there is a lens coat to keep your new investment scratch free and helps? with camo when in the woods for an extra $90 and if that's not enough if you use a front filter you can add around $100 for a good quality (what else would you use)item, So when buying a new lens you have to take into consideration all the little but not so cheap extras-maybe an idea or 2 for Xmas

Dave

Your Santa Wish list - Part 2

So some good news for our USA readers, we are now set up on the Associates programme with Amazon.com.

With that in mind, I have set out our Santa wish list to cater for all you American Nikon users as Dave has given me some clues.

Starting off with a few stocking filler books for you




And a few bits of Nikon kit for you




Plus some of our favourite memory cards and hard drives




So send your partner on to the blog with a few subtle hints, and with the links provided it will be very easy for him or her to follow :-)

Good luck

Martin

Nikon 70-200 F2.8 VRII-First impressions

Yesterday at 3pm there was a ringing at the door bell and Mr UPS had a good sized parcel in his hands, The new Nikon 70-200 F2.8 VRII had arrived, The 70-200 is the only lens missing from my current lens collection and one that i really could have done when shooting in Colorado last June and in the Smokey mountains, The MK1 version was known as an extremely sharp lens on a DX or cropped sensor but with the new Full Frame cameras it was soft at the edges which isn't any good for landscapes where you need edge to edge sharpness, Although i do have a DX body i wanted to future proof my equipment and so i have waited over a year for this lens to come out, There aren't many photographers who don't use a 70-200 lens so i was surprised to see some of the first batch still available, I thought that i may have to wait a few months to get my hands on one but it seems that Nikon knew this and gave a good supply straight away rather than the dribs and drabs that you would normally get with either a new lens or body, This is also an expensive lens at $2300 and what with the economy and Xmas on the doorstep could be other factors in the current availability, So the lens arrives as the sun is low as it was a grey day here yesterday, I quickly unpacked the lens and put it on the D3 and upped the ISO to 2000-3200 and took a few shots of my wife whilst she was working, I got shutter speeds of 1/30@F2.8-way too low for hand holding but the images were sharp on the eye and proves that the new VR system giving 4 stops works well,When shooting wide open i.e F2.8 you have a good chance of getting Vignetting or darkening at the corners, This is well controlled as you can see in my shot of Marian (the wife), The lens feels nice in the hand,well made and solid as are all Nikon's Nano crystal lenses, The zoom ring is smooth and the lens hood snaps into place which is a feature normally looked over, I have had lens hoods fall off in the past, Once when shooting a tiger at close quarters, This cant happen with the Nikon hoods, The lens cap is one of the pinch centre types similar to the Tamron macro lens so its easy to take off and put on even with the lens hood on, By now the light had gone completely so i grabbed my dog (Alfie) and took him to my studio and sat him on a seat whilst i took another half dozen images, focusing on the eye- this is one sharp lens, Perfect for portraiture, The images were handheld at 1/100 and F8 (should have used a smaller aperture) and all images came out pin sharp, So first impressions are very good-excellent in fact, It works very well and feels nicely balanced with the D3 but some more time in the field will see if it is as good or better than Canons equivalent model and i look forward to putting it through its paces with and without an extender

Alfie



Alfie @ 100%



Alfie @ 200%



Marian (she wont thank me for this grab shot) at ISO 2000 1/30 @F 2.8 notice lack of grain-no noise reduction used and minimal vignetting



Dave

That time of the year - Grey Seals

So we can expect to see lots of Seal images all over the forums from Donna Nook et all as the Grey Seal population comes ashore to deliver their new offspring, so if you are going there please think about giving the animals some space. There was some bad behaviour last year so I understand so lets hope there are no repeats. We have talked often enough on here that the welfare of the subject takes priority over the image.

More interesting for me was the story from the Farne Islands last week.

Last week five of the National Trust wardens had been stuck on the Farnes for three weeks while surveying the seal population. Food was running short as the boat was unable to take them off due to continuous high winds and heavy seas. Full story here.

The weather is bad news for the young seals who also suffered terribly last year with their numbers being decimated. Lets hope it is better around other parts of the coast although I understand it has been equally as bad around the south west too.

Update: Just remembered that I had this a bookmark on Donna Nook in Firefox so thought I would share

Martin