My blog for May 2013

Well today I had hoped to travel to Strid Wood in Yorkshire to see if I could find and photograph another bird that has long eluded me, the wood warbler. However, the weather has been poor of late and although the sun was shining when I woke up, the forecast was for a series of heavy showers in the north. So I decided to leave it till next year.

Instead I chose to try out the 1D with the 100-400mm lens as part of a preparation for a return to Macedonia this weekend. So I went to Chester Zoo. I know many are uncomfortable with animals kept in captivity and I too prefer to see them in the wild. There is nothing like seeing and photographing a creature is its natural habitat. However, as I've said before, zoos do a lot of sterling work in conservation these days and, lets face it, some creatures still exist only thanks to captive breeding programs in zoos.

Also, from a photographers point of view, it is a place that allows you to practice your photography, often in challenging conditions. The free flight tropical realm at Chester being particularly challenging as it is as gloomy as any rain forest under the full canopy. High ISO photography is a must.

As I only had three hours before needing to get home to pick up our granddaughter from school, I concentrated mainly on the birds and also had a short spell with the macro lens in the butterfly house.

One bird that I had not seen on any previous visit, even though it has always been on the information board as a species present, was this sun bittern, the only species in its family.

Another I had not seen here before was this incredibly lovely, red tailed laughingthrush.

They also have the blue-crowned laughingthrush. A fairly tame bird at the zoo but sadly, critically endangered in its Asian homeland. This very grainy shot was taken with ISO 2000!

The Java sparrows all had large broods of young begging for food. Here is an adult without rings so probably from an earlier years brood here at Chester.

Many birds proved very tricky to photograph. Among the more accommodating was this female Asian glossy starling.

And this Royal Starling.

Finally a couple of butterflies taken with the EF100 F2.8 macro lens. First a tree nymph.

And finally a malachite butterfly.

So on Saturday I'm off to Macedonia. Last year I found the 100-400mm frustratingly short when used with the 7D. Will using the 1D (and possibly the 1.4x converter with which it can still autofocus) make a difference? Well I hope so. A golden oriole would be nice!

What with holidays in Northumberland and dotterel on Pendle Hill, I've been late making my annual visit to Frodsham Marsh this year. Sadly the fine weather at the start of the week has given way to the more normal North West weather of wind, rain and grey sky. So before setting off I checked the forecast. It was cloudy but dry until around 9:00am. So an early start then. I set off at 4:45 to get there for 5:30, just a few minutes after sunrise.

Actually although the sun did rise, there was not much to see and photography was pretty much impossible until around 7:30 when the thicker cloud was replaced by some thin hazy cloud. The wind was quite cold and occasionally gusty. Most of the birds had more sense than me and were keeping low. Even the sedge warblers that normally like to pick the highest point in their patch to sing from were all singing from the dense low vegetation. Even the swallows, swifts and house martins had not bothered to put in an appearance so far.

At around 8:30 it did brighten up a little. The sun came out for at least 5 minutes before slipping away being some thin cloud. Suddenly the air was full of swifts, swallows and a couple of house martins. I decided to have a go at the swifts. These are a bird I have rarely tried to photograph and usually failed miserably when I have.

I removed the converter, set all autofocus points active and hoped that I could lock on to one as they flew by ahead of me. This was not a bad spot for attempting to photograph swifts. You need a big area of unbroken space with no trees in order to be able to track them as they approach. There were trees to my left but on the right and ahead it was clear.

I won't say that I was successful. I think I might have been if the light had been better and there was a deep blue sky background. I'll have to try another day when (if) the weather gets better.

Anyhow, here is my modest shot...

It's a bit too grainy for my liking but at least you can see some detail in the bird. Two years ago I would never have gotten a picture even like this one. I've learnt such a lot and I am still learning. I think to have a go at these birds really needs some low sunshine, early morning or late evening. Such a dark bird against a light sky is always going to be tricky and that's especially true when they are moving at the speed of a swift.

I've long wanted to visit Pendle Hill in Lancashire when the migrating dotterel are present. This morning I finally had the chance. The weather forecast was good, 2-3 birds had been present for a few days and I thought that if I went really early, I might miss the 'dotterel' crowds.

I got up at 4:00 am and set off around 4:30 on the 50 minute drive to Pendle Hill. I've never been before but it did not look too difficult a place to find. I had intended to park in the car park at Barley but when I arrived at around 5:20 the gates were locked. So plan B was to drive up to the point where the track to Pendle House is off on the left and park at the roadside. This I did. There was plenty of room for cars to park on the roadside here without causing any obstruction.

The path lead down to Pendle House and then split into 2. The right hand path is the shortest path but the steepest. The left had path is still a fairly long slog uphill but not like the right hand path. Having spent most of the last 10 months as a virtual couch potato I opted for the slightly easier but longer route. I was still breathing heavily and my heart pumping fast when I reached the plateau that forms the top if Pendle Hill. In all it 572m high at the summit. Just a few metres short of qualifying as a mountain but still a tough climb.

Once on the top the sun was shining but the dotterel were not easy to locate. I think they were keeping low until it had warmed up a little and insects got busy with their daily routine. I found them at around 8:00 thanks to some other bird watchers/photographers who had arrived after me.

There were just 3 dotterel present. The other birders listed them all as males. In the dotterel world there is a role reversal from the 'norm' in the bird-world. Where sexes differ it is usually the males that are more colourful than the females. Also where one parent bird leaves the responsibility to the other parent to incubate the eggs and rear the chicks it is usually the male that clears off and leaves the female to get on with it. For dotterels however, it's the other way around. The female is usually more colourful and it's the male who looks after the eggs and chicks on his own.

None of these birds present seemed to me to be in full breeding plumage yet but this bird is definitely a male.

The best clue to identifying him as male is the indistinct white breast band. Females have a black-edged, white breast band that is very distinct with clearly defined edges. She also has much intenser colours than the male. So is this next bird a female but not yet in full breeding colours or a particularly colourful male specimen? If you are a dotterel expert then please let me know.

A great morning and a virtually guaranteed spot for dotterel for the first 10 days in May!