Recent Vacation to Suffolk/Minsmere (1 Viewer)

[Ray.Scott]

Due to health problems my main hobby now Is photography and recently have moved on to taking wildlife and birds and would just like to share a few photo's from our recent vacation to Suffolk and the RSPB Minsmere reserve.

1 & 2 female marsh harrier, 2nd shot shows carrying recent kill, I think young coot. 3 & 4 shows the male harrier which did not show much during our week visit. Last shot Is another female.

 

[Ray.Scott]

A few more from Minsmere

The next few shots contain another first for me, the Bittern and a Hobby.

The first which I thought unusual but a pleasure to watch, yet alone capture was a fly past of 5 Bittern. As I say, I've never seen one before, so to see five at once was a bonus. Image 2, a brief hover of a male kestrel, Image 3, another first for me was the Hobby, Image 4, fly past by single Bittern and Image 5 Is one of the only shots I managed of a Bittern in the reeds, and If It wasn't for an eagle eyed birder I would never have seen It.

 

[Ray.Scott]

More from Minsmere

A few more from Minsmere and 1 from Dunwich Heath.

1st Image was taken from the bittern hide at minsmere when a Kingfisher hovered for a couple of seconds In front of the hide.
Image two, a rare site for me was the Dartford Warbler which was taken at Dunwich Heath, We walked a mile or so Into the heathland looking for this bird without any luck but when we returned to the car park this one popped up for a few seconds and I managed to capture It :t:.
Image 3 which was difficult to see was the Reed Warbler. Image 4, even more difficult to locate was Cetti's Warbler, yet another first for me :t:.
Image five, blue tit with spider.

 

[Ray.Scott]

A few more

A few more from Minsmere.

1, Little egret. 2 & 3 male and female shovler. 4, BT Godwitt there were quite a lot of these on the week we were there. 5, Barnacle geese.

 

[Ray.Scott]

Last few from Minsmere

Although I took hundreds of photo's I feel I've just about overdone this post, so here Is the last few from the trip.

1, Sandmartins. 2, Common Turn. 3, Avocets, 2 arguing Cormorants and the last one Is a swift.

This Is maybe not the sort of report you birders are used to but I hope someone enjoys looking at the photo's as much as I did taking them :t:.


Cheers, Scuzz.

 

[wee kayso]

excelent photos ,keep it up.......what type of camera & lense did you use....:clap::clap::clap:

 

[Ray.Scott]

excelent photos ,keep it up.......what type of camera & lense did you use....:clap::clap::clap:

Cheers Jim, the harriers were taken with 40D and sigmonster 300-800 lens some of the others were taken with the canon 400 F5.6 prime.

 

[wee kayso]

why dont you place your photographs in the gallery,birds of brittain and europe,i enjoyed looking at them ,there is also a photo of the month competition featuring certain poses, im sure other birders will enjoy them to.

 

[Dave Williams]

Stunning photo's Scuzz ...yes, what gear do you use ?!
I was there recently, one very distant and brief sighting of Bittern and none of Hobby. I did manage some Cetti's Warbler, Nightingale and Bearded Tit photo's though. All were lifers. Tremendous reserve, looking forward to going again one day.

 

[Roger P]

Wonderful as a collection - very evocative of the area.

It can be such a tiring drive from Shropshire borders but we always go once or twice a year. These make me want to go this weekend!

Just got myself a canon 100-400 IS and can't wait to try for some of your species.

Thanks - that's brightened up a lunch hour.

:t:

 

[wolfbirder]

5 bitterns at once - truly an amazing image! Good photos too.

 

[rentoncharman]

Very impressed with your Minsmere shots Scuzz.The marsh harriers are especially good. Just wondered how close you were to get those shots and how mouch are the photos cropped. Cheers.

 

[Ray.Scott]

Very impressed with your Minsmere shots Scuzz.The marsh harriers are especially good. Just wondered how close you were to get those shots and how mouch are the photos cropped. Cheers.

Cheers Renton :t:.
The first 4 Harriers were approx 100 to 150 yards away about 50% to 75% crop. Crop varied to Include some background, and the last was a lot closer as It flew past the hide.
On a few occassions they flew quite close to the hide which made It more difficult to get on them with the sigmonster, so I had the 30D with the 400 prime standing by for the closer shots.
You would manage no problem with your setup :t:.

 

[seggs]

Wow Scuzz!!!
What a great time you had here!...With some excellent birds not only seen, but excellently captured too:t:
That 5 bittern shot is a excellent, seldom seen image!

 

[rentoncharman]

You would manage no problem with your setup

Oh yes I do!! I was down at Blacktoft on Tuesday trying to get decent shots of Harriers. The problem I had was trying to get the exposure right and a lot of my shots were underexposed for the dark feathered birds. I found I needed sometimes as much as +3 EV when metereing against the sky then when the bird flew lower against a darker backgraound the shots were grossly overexposed. Maybe I should have used manual exposure setting!

I also got a series of 20 shots of a bittern flying past with +3EV against a dark background - all overexposed and a missed opportunity!

You got your exposures spot on Scuzz - did you use evaluative metering and if any, how much compensation?

 

[Ray.Scott]

Oh yes I do!! I was down at Blacktoft on Tuesday trying to get decent shots of Harriers. The problem I had was trying to get the exposure right and a lot of my shots were underexposed for the dark feathered birds. I found I needed sometimes as much as +3 EV when metereing against the sky then when the bird flew lower against a darker backgraound the shots were grossly overexposed. Maybe I should have used manual exposure setting!

I also got a series of 20 shots of a bittern flying past with +3EV against a dark background - all overexposed and a missed opportunity!

You got your exposures spot on Scuzz - did you use evaluative metering and if any, how much compensation?

Most shots wer taken In Av mode, spot metering and compensating to suite the background. Just like yourself, I was between +1 and 3 against the sky and anywhere from 0 to +2/3rds against the marsh / grass area. It's just trying to remember and being quick enough to keep adjusting to suite the background, very difficult when the bird Is In flight, needless to say, I also had loads of under and over exposed shots. I suppose you could take some average readings and use manual but you'd still end up with varied exposure levels, but maybe more keepers, I'll try It next time I'm out.

 

[Quacker]

Was that your first visit Scuzz? Minsmere is my favourite birding location. It is 303 miles door to door - and worth every minute and penny spent getting there (and back lol). Ironically I had to cancel my April trip this year through ill health - thus breaking my run after 3 consecutive years.

Looking forward to next year already. A few of us from the NE go there for the weekend inc. surrounding areas/specialities such as Woodlark, Stone Curlew and Golden Oriole @ RSPB Lakenheath (If we ever get lucky).

Cracking pics, but man that Sigmonster is tto much lol.

Steve

 

[Ray.Scott]

Was that your first visit Scuzz? Minsmere is my favourite birding location. It is 303 miles door to door - and worth every minute and penny spent getting there (and back lol). Ironically I had to cancel my April trip this year through ill health - thus breaking my run after 3 consecutive years.

Looking forward to next year already. A few of us from the NE go there for the weekend inc. surrounding areas/specialities such as Woodlark, Stone Curlew and Golden Oriole @ RSPB Lakenheath (If we ever get lucky).

Cracking pics, but man that Sigmonster is tto much lol.

Steve

Yes Steve It's my first visit, but I'm sure It'll be the first of many. I could quite easily have spent a month there. The Sigmonster's a bit much to lug around but It's Ideal If you Intend staying in one hide, on a couple of occassions we were in the hide for 5.30am and managed some of the shots before the hide got crowded.
On other days I just carried the Canon 400 prime, A lot lighter :-O.