What have you seen
Comments
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Cutting along the northern rim of Cheddar Reservoir (en route to a decent pint) when we saw an unusual bird at the waters edge. We didn't have any binos with us but asked a man nearby with a telescope if it was a Phalarope. It was, a Grey Phalarope that he kindly let us look at.
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Walking around Lacock village yesterday and heard something twittering above us. 2 House Martin chicks with their heads sticking out of the nest!
Out today near some water and there were hundreds of House Martins feeding just above the trees. A few Swallows and a couple of Sand Martins.
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At Meissendorf reserve this morning, lots of ducks, geese and swans. Best spot for me was a frog 🐸 which I haven’t identified yer and a hobby sitting at the top of tree and didn’t seem bothered that I was just below. Best decision, not going in the hide as there was a hornets nest there.
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Hi GL
Its’ having a rest at the moment while we travel around France.
I am very pleased with my decision thankfully as it was a big step after 30 years with Canon. The controls are not as well set up as the Canon, but the results are very impressive. The most important thing from my point of view are that if the pic is not sharp , I can understand why and is usually my fault.
My bin rate has gone down considerably and as long as I have filled the frame sufficiently the image is good. If the bird is to far away, that is my most common fault, can’t help but press the shutter.
The D850 is a massive improvement on my 5D and I now return home tired but no longer frustrated with the pics or the kit. 95% of failures are operator error.
The decision was expensive but correct one. I borrowed a D500 and was equally impressed before my purchase.
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The Mayor of Dinan says you are welcome to visit at any time.
I just could not stomach the disapointment every time I took the Canon out, it ruined every trip, so had to take a leap in the end. There are some great pics on Flickr taken with Canon, hope you get yours sorted.
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Still waiting.....if the engineer says that he can't find any fault, I think it is going to go.
I may give up taking pictures....not sure I want to spend over a thousand or more for a hobby, we will wait and see.
Just mounted prints for our club exhibition and they are all pin sharp, but they are all no more than 50 yards away from the camera, anything over this is rubbish.
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Spotted 3 all white deer crossing a golf course close to the site we're on near Okehampton. They were too far away for a photo, or a proper indentification, but some research seems to indicate that they were Roe Deer, and are know as Judas deer as they give away the presence of a herd.
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GL
I recall you do not like looking at other folks pics, but if you look at pics on Flockr snd then click the exif tab, you can scan down and see what lens was used and the distance of focus, which will give you an idea of what others are achieving and how.
I am sure 50 yds with a bird is a pretty large crop. This will always quite drastically reduce quality.
using details from others efforts is a great way of improving our results.
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Well that was easier than I thought, downloading the trail camera to the pc. So whilst we were sleeping, nightlife goes on around our pond which is obviously useful as a drinking spot.
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Great to see those photos, brue. One never knows what is out there when we're in our beds.
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We moved the camera last night to a completely different spot, 8.30 pm the fox was trotting past, it's surprising how early various creatures are out and about. I am pleased to see the fox in good shape as in previous years they have been hit by scabies and looked in very poor health.
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Brue - Good to see your wild life. Have often seen fox out and about during our daytime walks but badger only 3 times each late morning once very clearly scurrying across a frosty field. This is our most recent fox photo on a walk from Cheddar club site. When it saw us it just turned and walked away. (used phone camera)
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Hi GL
The info I gave earlier was almost correct. The "show exif" link in Flickr only shows focus distance for Canon users, not Nikon. Looking over a few Canon users pics that I know, the larger birds are good quality up to 100yds, but are taken with 500 or 600mm lenses and 1.4 converters the camera is 7D (24mp i believe) or 5DR with 50+megapixels so a large crop retains detail. Smaller birds are taken much closer. If you have pin sharp pics up to 50 yds, perhaps it is the degradation of distance lack of pixels and large crop.
I looked over my pics taken with Canon and have this issue as the distance and crop grow. I was also experiencing a complete lack of focus ability even on close birds whilst perched and the camera on a tripod, however when in focus the image was good.
For a comparison I have attached a link to my pics in Flickr, also suggest looking at Phil Gower who uses a 5DR and Ann and Chris who use 7D.
The newer pics are on Nikon and from the first Puffin onwards were taken on Canon
Their focus distances are shown under the show exif tab at the right of the page. You will need to scroll down about 3/4 of the info to find Approximate focus distance.
Hope this helps.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/162666019@N03/
Not sure how to make the link live, but if you put it in Google, it will find it.
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Footnote to the above GL, these links do not include the endless amount of rubbish that I took to achieve these pics and perhaps others.
Just to use as comparrisons for focus distances and kit used.
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Thanks OP
Home from France a couple of days early to avoid the high winds forecast for this mornings ferry crossing. Hoping the juvenile Osprey is still at Somerset levels.
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BM - Also enjoyed seeing your photos on the link though I know nothing about photography. Wondering what the bird in the grass is - next to what I guess are dragonflies.
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Thanks Jay, the bird you ask about is a male Bittern that had been displaying to a couple of females in the reeds. The bird emerged to gasps from the watchers in the Hide at Minsmere earlier this year. The feathers were stood on end and looked like a Mohican hair cut that extended down the birds back. Most watchers had not seen one like this before.
Hi Bakers, since we retired, my Wife and I have taken up a number of activities that we finally share after 40 years of different interests. We manage to combine our new to caravanning (6 years) with walking and visits to nature reserves which allows me to continue with my interest in photography that previously had been centred around sport. If you are looking on a computer or I-pad, clicking on the image shows it full frame and displays details of the bird and photo jargon.
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BM - Thanks for info Re Bittern and how to see details of your photos. Am one of those who has never seen a Bittern like that before. Only ever seen them flying at Leighton Moss & Ham Wall. Hope you get to see the Somerset Levels Osprey.
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A second visit to Westhay in the hope of getting a photo of the Osprey fishing was unsuccessful, but several flypasts from Bitterns helped pass some time along with the acrobatic fishing dives from the Black headed gulls in winter plumage. The water was like a sheet of glass and the female Gadwall gave a nice reflection.
The Osprey sat on a distant perch for a while then flew westward.
I was advised by a couple of locals of a strain of Mute swan called a Polish Swan where a gene is passed to the signet which shows up as a white bird with a pale bill rather than the usual grey with a darker bill. To far away for a pic.
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Thanks BM. every year I say to myself "must go" over to the moors and Westhay or wherever and have a look at the Bitterns etc. It's too close to home, a bit like being by the sea and not noticing it. Your pics might jog me into action soon!
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Hi Brue
The Bitterns and Osprey can be seen from the 50 acre hide at Westhay. I don’t recall seing the Bittern so active as they are at the moment.
Make sure you have nothing on display in the car. There have been a number of break ins.
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A fifty acre hide? That must hold a lot of twitchers.
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Didn't see it today - but in September - but here's a photo of our 'house gecko' (note his/her rounded toe pads) which lives on our roof terrace and comes out at night to eat the insects attracted by the light. We disturbed him/her by moving the slabs which act as weights for our sun parasol!
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