Winter Light

Photography is all about using light to show your subject at it best. For me, this is about using natural light as I don't use flash. Many years ago I tried some flash photography trying to capture small birds in flight and was so disturbed at the response of the birds that have not used it since. I don't have any problem with the use of fill flash during daylight for those that want to use it. However,  Aacurrent trend I find particularly worrying at the moment is photographing owls at night with multiple flash set ups at baited posts. With their highly sensitive night vision, this must be impacting on the birds with temporary blindness and their long term hunting success. Now I know there are all kinds or arguments surrounding this concerning the negative effects which I not going to enter into. All i can say is this practice seems wrong and it bothers me greatly.

For those photographers who just use natural light, winter is a very special time of year. The low elevation of the sun produces beautiful soft warm light to work  through large parts of the day. Unfortunately, living in cloudy north west England,  such days can be few and far between and so you have to make the most of them when they do occasionally arise. On occasions it can feel like an eternity of cloud between sunny moments. The other benefit of course is that it easy to get out at first light without the need to set your alarm to ridiculous o'clock, so you can have a nice relaxed start to the day and still be at your chosen site at sunrise to catch the first important rays. Even at this time of year, both ends of the day tend to produces the most evocative images.

The collection of images below are from my recent winter wanderings and in no particular order.

I have spent a little time down by the huge area of local salt marshes hoping to capture some short-eared owls. As with most photography of hunting owls it is a game of luck and whether they fly close to your chosen position. Given the size of the marsh, success rate can be fairly low and it requires many hours effort to be rewarded with only a few images. Given the time requirements, the moments when the sun is out and the owls are close occur even more infrequently.

When the sun does shine at this site in the afternoons it tends to be at a tricky angle and ranges from side lit through to full backlit.

Sat waiting by the marsh for long periods you do see plenty of other birds, particularly raptors such as hen harrier and marsh harrier although often at too far a distance for photography. Occasionally one does come closer. This is a silhouette of a marsh harrier hovering over the reeds at last light.

While waiting by the marsh, there are usually some small birds around the edge to pass the time such as Stonechat.

Another place I find myself waiting around quite a bit during the winter is one of the local marine lakes. This gets some interesting birds on it and can be good for photography as it allows in places for you to get right down at that water level perspective. However, with it covering an area of around 60 acres and having high numbers of visitors, catching the birds close to the edge requires paitence. I usually visit at first light when the number of people and dogwalkers around is low.

A Cormorant surfacing at first light.

There are usually several Red-breasted Merganser on the lake each winter.

This winter they were joined by two female Goosander.

One benefit of the number of visitors is that the wading birds are relatively accustomed to people which provides some photo opportunities while waiting. In this case a Redshank in flight.

One difference this winter is that there have been very high numbers of Brent Geese overwintering on Hilbre Island off the north west corner of the Wirral peninsula. Usually they stay on the island but some have been venturing over to the mainland this year which gave a couple of opportunities to put these long distance travellers in front of the lens for the first time.

Moving closer to home. At the end of the street where I live is the River Mersey, which gets reasonable numbers of waders on the intertidal area. For some unknown reason, I rarely venture down there with a camera. To get it at its best all the right conditions need to coincide with late afternoon sun and the right state of tide i.e as the tide is coming up to high water or ebbing away leaving a narrow strip of shore for the birds. As I work from home now, a couple of weeks back the weather and tides came together for a quick mid-afternoon break from the computer for an hour. It was an enjoyable brief session photographing a foraging Curlew and some Oystercatcher picking around the rocks for crabs and mussels.

Maybe I should try and visit the end of my street more often! It is all too easy to overlook what is on your 'doorstep'. Unfortunately it does not look like the sun will put in an appearance this weekend, such is the way of winter weather, but there is more promise in the forecast for next week for maybe a quick work break session. Fingers crossed for some more of that glorious winter light to come before spring is upon us.

Roaming in Romania - Day 4: The Bounty of the Delta

Sleep deprivation was now setting in as I struggled out of bed to the  4:45am alarm call on the 4th day. A customary glance across the balcony to check the weather, as I dressed, saw a group of white pelicans pushing themselves upstream on slow powerful wing beats above the incessant chorus of frogs. The untimely breakfast of omelette's went down no easier than the previous day even with a large mug of freshly brewed coffee.

We set sail and this time head off a short distance downstream before turning off into a medium sized reed bordered channel. The quiet, heavy atmosphere of the previous afternoon had departed as the skies had cleared and the Delta had sprung fully into life once more. The biological productivity of this vast wetland truly has to be witnessed to be believed. The first bird that stalled our progress was a tiny Little Bittern I had spotted but by the time the boat had back tracked it had skulked back into the security of the reeds. After about 30 minutes travelling along an ever narrowing channel, it suddenly opened out into a vast lake bathed in soft pre-sunrise light. 

Ironically the first bird species we came across was the last one we had caught a brief look at the previous evening in the gloom of dusk, the Dalmatian Pelican. This species has been in rapid decline and is now fairly scarce within the Delta. All the pelicans seemed surprisingly shy despite their huge size and this one soon took flight with the approaching boat to relocate to a different part of the lake. 

This was only to be the start of several encounters with these birds over the course of the morning. As the boat was manoeuvred towards two more Dalmatian Pelicans, we paused briefly to take some photographs of a Cormorant that was drying out its waterlogged feathers in the early sun. 

I also managed a photograph of drake Pochard, its head glowing in the early light, as we slowly chugged through thick weed beds and lilies.

We eventually got into position for pelicans from what seemed to be an increasing frequency of positioning boat instructions from the four photographers. We took some portrait photographs of the two birds in the margins while the boat drifted ever closer to the birds until it entered the invisible 'circle of fear'.

All birds have this surrounding fear  zone which once breached will cause them to put more distance between themselves and people either by walking, swimming or flying away. The two pelicans settled for the latter allowing some full frame flight photographs of these magnificent birds.

Next stop on our circuit around the lake was an extensive lily bed  which was hosting a large colony of Whiskered Terns.

We took some more photographs to add to the collection of images taken the previous morning. The birds were busy building what appeared to be precarious nests, comprising a jumble of various water plant,s on top of the lilies. Occasional a Hooded Crow would swoop in a grab an unguarded egg whilst being pursued by a noisy group of terns.

Some of the terns had obviously learnt that it was quicker to build your own nest by plundering the materials from one of your neighbours. After a prolonged stay with the terns we headed across to an channel on the far side of a lake where a Pygmy Cormorant was drying off. I always think there is something very primitive in the appearance of these birds and it is quite easily to visualise the reptilian ancestry. 

We left the lake through a narrow channel and sailed through the weed-chocked waterway for around 20 minutes before entering a small lake. Zoltan, our guide, had brought us here to photograph Red-necked Grebe, a new species for the camera and one I was hoping to encounter during the trip.  A pair were present with the bonus of two chicks. The boat was positioned at distance so as not to disturb the birds and by waiting we were rewarded with the birds coming close on several occasions. A pleasure to watch and memorable time was had photographing these small grebes even though the light seemed to temporarily diminish while we were there. 

After staying there for a quite a while, the grebe family were left, and we finished off the morning session as it had started with further and very close encounters with Dalmatian Pelicans on a medium sized lake.

It had been an excellent start to the day with two new species at close range in front of the camera surrounded by the joys of the pulsating biological abundance of the Delta. As we moored up back at the hotel I was already wondering what avian treasures the evening session, our last on the Delta, would bring. You might have already guessed, given the number of photos above, that will need to wait now until be  my next blog post :). 

Hungary for Birds - Day 5: The Long Wait

Another early start on day 5 was met with the sun creeping up slowly over the horizon in to a cloudless sky. Our full day of photography was scheduled for the 'Pygmy Cormorant Hide' but unlike the hide of the previous day we were not on 'lock down' due to some screening around the enterance allowing for some comfort breaks. The access to the hide was by walking a long raised board walk through a huge dense reed bed and involved a bit of mosquito dodging in the cool dawn air.

The large hide, which you stepped down into, was set down at water-level with a large one-way glass window. We settled in to the hide and took in the view. In front of us was a large circular reed fringed pool, covered in yellow water lilies. To the left a channel connected this pool to a large lake. It was a very attractive view in front us but there were two probelms. Firstly the hide was facing into the light in the early morning. Back-lit photos can look good when the sun is low but it was quickly arcing skyward. The second problem was there were no birds to photograph except for a solitary coot picking its way through the lilies. This is how the scene before us stayed the next 7 hours! There were birds to be seen and heard during this time, a constant passage of Whiskered Terns, Marsh Harriers floating over the high reeds, various herons flying over, and deep within the reed bed the loud songs of Great Reed Warbler and more distantly a Cuckoo. All of them out of photography range. This is the difference between bird photography and bird watching, with the former requiring close encounters even with long lens we use.

During the 7 hour wait cabin fever started to set in a bit for the waiting photographers. At times I was surprised not to see tumble weed blowing across this 'avian desert'.  By the time the first bird arrived the sun had fortunately swung round and the light was at a more favourable angle. A Great White Egret came in and start stalking through the lilies. By this time quite a bit of cloud had built up with the heat of the day causing variable light conditions.

This bird departed but another returned towards the end of the session when the light had softened down very nicely in the early evening.

Still no sign of the Pygmy Cormorants which were the main target species for the day. A Coromorant arrived and started fishing around the pool unsuccessfully before hauling itself out to dry its water-logged feathers.

We had seen the small dark shapes of a couple of Pygmy Cormorants flying over and eventually one circled round and came into land like a scene from pre-history. Of all the birds I always think that the cormorants show the greatest closeness to their reptillian ancestory.

This bird was soon joined by half a dozen others who were either fishing around the pool or 'loafing' on pieces of wood to dry out their feathers. The light was getting better and better for photography with a beautiful reflected golden glow from the surrounding reeds.

One particular bird came right in close to the hide and was successfully and repeatedly surfacing with small catfish which after a bit of playing around to subdue the fish eventually disappeared down the large gape.

A one way trip for the catfish.

However, the best bird of the day, I will save for the next blog post. This is a species I have wanted to see and photograph for a long time and I was not disappointed when it arrived. In fact it probably rated as one of my favourite birds of the whole trip, the beautiful Squacco Heron.