Dorset birding (1 Viewer)

[pooleparrot]

The Scaup was still loafing in Poole Park this morning and there was a single Sandwich Tern fishing off the Baiter shoreline. Back in the park there are now a group of 9 Goldeneye all starting to display, also 1 RB Merganser and a single Wigeon.

 

[Woody1]

Had a good days birding yesterday in wonderful weather first off a trip over to Brand's Bay and then on to RSPB Arne
Brand's Bay

30 Curlew
31 Great crested Grebe
32 Gret Northern Diver
33 Black-necked Grebe
34 Oystercatcher
35 Red-breasted Merganser
36 Shoveler
37 Brent Goose
38 Pintail
39 Peregrine
40 Dunlin
41 Wigeon
42 Teal
43 Avocet
Goldeneye
44 Stonechat

RSPB Arne

45 House Sparroe
46 Chaffinch
47 Great Spotted Woodpecker
48 Coal Tit
49 Redshank
50 Lapwing
51 Black-tailed Godwit
52 Bar-tailed Godwit
53 Little Egret
54 Spoonbill
55 Green Woodpecker
56 Long-tailed Tit
57 Meadow Pipit
58 Buzzard
Brent Geese
Dunlin
Grey Heron

 

[pooleparrot]

Shell Bay Greylag

An unusual record on the beach at Shell Bay yesterday with a party of 3 Greylag Geese amongst the Brents and Oystercatchers. Maybe they were wanderers from Poole Park. Other than that Shell Bay was fairly quiet this morning, a single Chiffchaff in the reeds by the car park was the only other notable bird.

 

[Woody1]

An unusual record on the beach at Shell Bay yesterday with a party of 3 Greylag Geese amongst the Brents and Oystercatchers. Maybe they were wanderers from Poole Park. Other than that Shell Bay was fairly quiet this morning, a single Chiffchaff in the reeds by the car park was the only other notable bird.

Cracking pictures you are taking, what set up are you using I have a Canon 500D and a 400L lens but never get anywere as good pictures as yours.

 

[Woody1]

upton country park

Had an hour or so over at UCP today lots of Teal, Wigeon about and a Pintail plus 10 Redshanks and c50 Curlew and 18 Little Egret in the field past the stone bench never seen so many Egrets in one place

 

[pooleparrot]

I have moved down from a Canon DSLR to a Canon SX50 bridge camera. Much easier to bird with , I also get better results than my DSLR. The standard 50x zoom is equivalent to a 1200mm DSLR lens!!!Using the inbuilt teleconverter to 1.5X makes it 1800mm without sacrificing too much quality.

Ian

 

[pooleparrot]

Sandbanks/Poole Park

Went to find Purple Sandpiper for the year list today. Found a single bird on 1 of the Groynes on Sandbanks beach, it wasn't overly photogenic as it always had the sun behind it. Also 4 Sanderling , a Cormorant and an Oystercatcher on the groynes and off shore 4 Eider. No sign of the Scaup at PP for a second day, the Goldeneye were still displaying on the boating lake and a Common Gull with a strangely shaped head.

 

[Woody1]

I have moved down from a Canon DSLR to a Canon SX50 bridge camera. Much easier to bird with , I also get better results than my DSLR. The standard 50x zoom is equivalent to a 1200mm DSLR lens!!!Using the inbuilt teleconverter to 1.5X makes it 1800mm without sacrificing too much quality.

Ian

Thanks for the info , Iam now wondering whether I should sell my 400L lens.
could of saved my self a bit of money, it is a bit of a lump to carry a round at times with poor results.

 

[DorsetDude]

Thanks for the info , Iam now wondering whether I should sell my 400L lens.
could of saved my self a bit of money, it is a bit of a lump to carry a round at times with poor results.

Sorry to hear you're not getting good results with the 400. If you do think of selling I wouldnt mind knowing about it! Hopefully Im not breaking any forum rules by saying such. Ive got a 450D, longest zoom I have is 300, a bit limited really.
Cheers

 

[greenfrog]

I want to see what birds I can get in my garden here in Dorset.

Got all the equipment just don't know what to put in them!

 

[Woody1]

Sorry to hear you're not getting good results with the 400. If you do think of selling I wouldnt mind knowing about it! Hopefully Im not breaking any forum rules by saying such. Ive got a 450D, longest zoom I have is 300, a bit limited really.
Cheers

Sorry to dissapoint but think I will hangon to the lens and give it another go as I now have a better tripod and a hide clamp so reckon I should be able to get some better pictures than these that I took with the lens.

 

[scary-canary]

Woody
I don't think it's focused properly. Test it out on a stationary object. Or maybe you've cropped the pictures too much. Chris

 

[Joe52]

Both of those shots are suffering from motion blur, the shutter speeds are too slow, I use the 400mm f5.6 and it is a very sharp lens.

 

[DorsetDude]

Sorry to dissapoint but think I will hangon to the lens and give it another go as I now have a better tripod and a hide clamp so reckon I should be able to get some better pictures than these that I took with the lens.

Ok, good luck with it. Half the battle with bird is getting near enough using fieldcraft/hides etc. Im sure with practice you'll get some good ones.
As Joe has kind of said, when you're at the long end you're going to be wanting 1/500 or faster shutter speeds at all times ideally. The IS might help a bit but if you can get the faster shutter, even better. Even if it means bumping your ISO up to 400, 800 or 1600 even.
All the best.

 

[Woody1]

All thanks for the advice, the Collard Dove was taken hand held (have no IS on this lens) at 1/125 sec and iso-800
The Sika was taken using a cheap tripod and was taken at 1/200 sec iso-400
and both have been cropped.
Any way back to some birds had a short walk round home today tried to have a walk along the river Allen but still flooded out over the path heading up stream past the school. Birds seen from there and along the High Hall walk
Black -headed Gulls lots of them a couple of Herring Gull? as well
Stone Chat
Meadow Pipits
Mute Swans
Buzzard
Mallards
Blue and Great tits
and a supprise in the distance a very large group of Lapwings C200 plus, along one of the flooded meadows was quite a sight when the lifted and wheeled about in the sky and landed again.

 

[pooleparrot]

A Couple of Updates

Had an hour at Holes Bay yesterday morning as the tide was lowering. There was a Spotted Redshank that was feeding at the end of the PC World drain, and a Peregrine put everything up.

Returned to Holes Bay this morning on a report of a female Goosander in the Southern section over the last couple of days. It was still there this morning although it had now moved into the northern section. It was accompanying 2male and 1 female RB Mergansers. The tide was high this morning so there wasn't much else around except a couple of female Goldeneye.

Also this morning at Hatch Pond the Scaup (that had been at Poole Park) was still with the Tufties although today was the first time I have seen it active and feeding. The GC Grebes were also starting their mating dancing this morning.

 

[pooleparrot]

Busy and Wet Week

Spent a fair bit of time birdwatching from the car this week. Baiter has produced a Slavonian Grebe off-shore although too distant for photos . Poole Park has had the normal Scaup back on Swan Lake and a female Goosander on the boating lake. What will the weekend storms bring in!

 

[greenfrog]

Where can I go to see/photograph some birds near Ferndown? The Slop Bog is nice but feel like a change.

 

[pooleparrot]

Slavonian Grebe

The Slavonian Grebe was off Baiter again this morning, sometimes less than 10metres off the shore. Got some record shots although they're not great as it was just before 8am in poor light.

 

[scary-canary]

Where can I go to see/photograph some birds near Ferndown? The Slop Bog is nice but feel like a change.

Longham lakes