Osprey leg rings.

The recent Immature osprey that has been frequenting a couple of local reservoir for the past 3 weeks has been fitted with some bling. On the right leg is the normal metal ring that is inscribed with an unique code & on the left is a larger colour ring with a letter code in white. As you can see on the above enormous crop, the code is ND (not NB as it looks on the photo-thats just shine on the ring). The record has been sent to those in the know & we are currently waiting on a reply. From this we will then know the birds history up until now. I find this fascinating & cannot wait to find out. Watch this space......

Another yank & more odds & sods

I went down to Dorset on a recent trip with Tim Taylor to see the immature Short-billed Dowitcher that has been present for a couple of weeks now. I wasnt that worried about going for it, although it was a british tick for me, until i realised this is only the second british record! We didnt have to wait too long for it to show itself on the western scrape.

This immature Osprey has been commuting between Hawkridge reservoir & Ashford reservoir for a while now. I had previously got some flight shots with a lovely blue sky for a background at Hawkridge, but desperatley wanted some fishing shots. This is about the best so far. I will hopefully get to go back before it decides its too cold & heads south & try my luck again.

And finally for now, I found the pics below skulking on my hard drive & decided to process them. They were taken back in 2006 at Shapwick nature reserve with my first DSLR, a Nikon D70.

Items for sale

I have recently added a couple of items to the other items for sale section of my main website. Please go here to view my D2x & 70-200mm f2.8 vr lens.

Revelations.....to me anyway

I have recently pulled the trigger & upgraded my venerable old Nikon D2x to a D4. Over the last 4-5 years, since the D3 came out, I have been secretly yearning for the fantastic high iso performance of the fore mentioned model. Tied to ISO 400 or lower in order to keep the noise under control, I was struggling to get a decent shutter speed to freeze the action, especially during the frequent dull , rainy days of this summer.
The auto focus system of the D2x also is slow & clunky & dare I say unreliable against todays bottom of the range DSLR's.
 Despite all these short comings, I feel I have found work arounds to most of these issues & got results the hard way. Having used it for so long, I know its moods & can second guess how its going to react when I press the shutter button. If I end up with a crap result, its because I have caused it.
The D4 came out of the box & superficially it looks the same as the D2x. A few buttons have moved & some have been added, but it still feels the same. Thats about where the similarities end! Now I have only had the chance to use it a couple of times so far, so this is really just my first impressions. After spending a couple of hours with a manual the size of a phone book, I had got it to a stage where I felt I had it set to my liking. By now the batteries were also fully charged & off I went to give it a go.
All I can say is WOW!
The first thing that struck me like a hammer blow to the head was the autofocus. It locked on straight away & stayed locked. Revelation 1- The AF works straight away even with a 2x teleconverter attached (giving an aperture of F8).
Because I was using a 2x TC, & the light was crap, I had bumped the ISO up to 1600. Revelation 2- The high ISO image quality is fantastic. At 1600 the D4 images are as clean or more probably cleaner than my D2x on ISO 400.
The 3rd thing that I noted was the lack of blown highlights. Revelation 3- The D4 sees much more like we humans do. Dynamic range is far better than the D2x.
Now, some of you guys that have kept pace with the constant upgrades over the last few years, probably wont find these revelations a very big deal, but I had high expectations of this new camera & so far they have been blown clear out of the water.
Even so, I am finding it very hard to part company with the old girl. I think I will end up trying to sell her, but if I don't get what I want, she can sit on the shelf in the cupboard. I have a job in mind for her that she excels at & can come out of retirement a few times a year. What is that you may ask? Just keep an eye on the bug galleries!

Heres a few shots taken with the D4 (all IIRC at ISO 1000 & above). Please click on the images below to see a slightly larger version.

Osprey at Hawkridge reservoir

Swallow at Huntspill river 

Spotted Crake at Greylake

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Discover Skylark meadow

I will be leading groups to photograph wildflowers, insects & whatever else may turn up at the event below on saturday 26th may. If you want to learn how to take better pics, then this may be for you. It will be a completely informal meeting & will be aimed at beginners & novices. The more advanced are of course also welcome & can contribute to the images that will be displayed in the village hall. The event is taking place in the village of Bawdrip from 1pm until around 4. Walks will be started from the village hall, so please drop in & say hello & maybe take part. Just bring your camera (any camera is fine) & your wellies & raincoat. Best of all its free!!!!!!!
Directions to Skylark meadows can be found here
And for more information, click here

Blagdon Squacco

This showy Squacco heron has been at Blagdon lake for just over a week now & favourite areas are the Top end & Burmah road.When i visited on sunday, it spent most of its time in the flooded long grass in the Burmah road area giving views down to 30m, feeding quite happily on invertibrates & small fish in the shallows & ignoring the admiring birders & photographers.

A rear view showing the beautiful plumes on the back of the head.

Please note that entrance to Blagdon lake is by pemit only & visitors to should first aquire a permit from Bristol water to enter the reservoir enclosure. These are availaible from the tea rooms or Woodford lodge at nearby Chew valley lake.