Woodpecker Pair

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I have long had a bit of a thing for green woodpeckers, and equally they have long been my nemesis, frequently taunting me with fleeting glimpses or their distinctive calls, but never turning up somewhere I could actually get a decent photo. My fortunes changed on a visit to the RSPB reserve at Sandy where, after a pleasant but uneventful walk roud the reserve I spent a couple of hours in the main hide.

This hide is usually fairly reliable for smaller birds, I had seen greater spotted woodpeckers there before but never the green. Well lo and behold on this day not only do both species turn up while I'm there, but both decide to perch opposite each other on the same tree! It didn't last long before they clocked each other's presence and the larger green saw off the greater spotted, but was quite a unique sighting while it lasted

Technical information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/1600
ISO - 800
Taken using a folded up jumper as a makeshift beanbag

Fieldfare

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Bit of a shot of opportunity this one, on a snowy day I wandered down to the river near where I live to take a few winter landscape shots and see if there was any active bird life. Didn't actually see anything down by the river but both on my way there and my way back again, when I passed a berry bush at the front of somebody's driveway a flock of birds erupted from the bush

On my way to the river I simply logged the location in memory, but on my return walk I carried on along the pavement far enough past the bush so that the birds wouldn't feel threatened by my presence and would return to feed. Sure enough within minutes they did and I was then able to creep slightly closer until I was at the point where my shadow was nearly level with the bush and stopped, as I think any closer would have been that little bit too far and I didn't wish to disturb them from feeding (at least not any more than other passers by did)

Having lined myself up I simply stood on the pavement with the sun behind me, handholding my long lens (I hadn't taken my tripod with me and wouldn't have used it even if I did as I'd have blocked the pavement) and rattled off a couple of hundred shots over the space of about half an hour watching the birds feed. Of those couple of hundred only a few came out well (a combination of handholding in waning light and my Sigma 150-500 simply not being a top of the range lens), but I was very pleased with this as I was determined to get a shot of one with a berry in it's beak, and this was the sharpest and best angled shot of all the ones that came out well

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 400mm (600mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F8
Shutter Speed - 1/800
ISO - 800
Taken hand held

Posing Puffin

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From my experience on the Farne Islands it's quite rare to have a puffin stick around very long anywhere near the walkways, with them normally bombing straight down their burrows or hanging around on the further rocks. This little poser however landed right in front of me on Staple Island just after I finished getting all my kit out of my bag and set up and waddled around for a few minutes within a few metres of me. Not sure whether he lost track of where his burrow was or just wasn't in a hurry, but he stuck around long enough for me to take quite a few shots, this being my favourite

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G AF-S ED VR + Nikon TC-14E AF-S Teleconverter II
Focal Length - 150mm (225mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F4
Shutter Speed - 1/1600
ISO - 800
Taken hand held

Redwing

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This was taken at the same time as my berry eating Fieldfare shot, so same notes apply. I went for a bit of a different crop with this one as unlike the Fieldfare, I didn't manage to catch any of the Redwings with berries in beaks that were anywhere near sharp, and also didn't want to end up with 2 shots of similar birds that were nearly identical in composition. Obviously I'm slightly biased but I think the composition I eventually chose for this shot works pretty well

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 400mm (600mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F8
Shutter Speed - 1/1000
ISO - 800
Taken hand held

Reed Bunting

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Not a terribly original shot, but I really like the background colours, a little bit different to your typical green and/or brown bird on a branch shot

This bush was next to a well frequented bird table, the local birds were very used to humans so I didn't need to break out the camouflage, I simply set up my camera and tripod in front of a garden bench across the path from it (just 6 metres away if my EXIF data is accurate) and sat still. Within minutes the local inhabitants realised I wasn't dangerous and resumed fighting for a spot on the bird table or waiting in the bushes for a slot to open up

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/2000
ISO - 800
Taken using a Manfrotto 055CX3 tripod and Manfrotto 393 long lens bracket head

Sunset Seal

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Taken late in the day when I visited Donna Nook, most of the seals were just chilling out at this point and as the sun was beginning to set the sky began to take on some interesting, almost pastelly muted colours which I thought made a nice peaceful backdrop matching the clearly very relaxed attitude of the seal in question

I had the tripod I was using at the time set up in a bit of a convoluted way to get ground level shots, Manfrotto's XPROB range are the ones with centre columns that are fixed but swing to horizontal potision. Now obviously you can't drop the tripod to ground level with the centre column in vertical position as it would get in the way (you can get an extra short replacement column but even that isn't short enough for ground level shots), so I had it swung to the horizontal position and then had my camera dangling from the ball head by the lens collar. Not an ideal solution but it actually worked surprisingly well, albeit I somewhat prefer the setup I have now of a tripod with a removable centre column, thus allowing the tripod to be collapsed to completely flat without anything getting in the way

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/500
ISO - 400
Taken using a Manfrotto 090XPROB Tripod and Manfrotto 488RC2 ball head

Shag Portrait

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Arguably a very unoriginal portrait shot of a Shag on Staple Island, but I like it as I think the background colours frame the bird quite nicely. Taken at fairly close range on Staple Island, most of the inhabitants that perch or nest near the edges of the marked areas that you are allowed to walk on are extremely placid and not remotely fazed by photographers aiming big lenses at them, this fellow didn't bat an eyelid while I faffed about getting my tripod in the right position

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G AF-S ED VR + Nikon TC-14E AF-S Teleconverter II
Focal Length - 280mm (420mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F5.6
Shutter Speed - 1/500
ISO - 800
Taken using a Manfrotto 055CX3 tripod and Manfrotto 393 long lens bracket head

Mine!

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Not at the top of my list of best photos from a technical perspective as it is quite a heavy crop, is not pin sharp and unfortunately has some foliage encroaching on the corner of the foreground, but still I couldn't resist including it in this collection as it was a bit of a unique capture and always brings a smile to my face

The puffins on Inner Farne regularly run a gauntlet of black headed gulls eager to steal their hard earned catch of sand eels and seeing them getting intercepted or chased down their burrows isn't an uncommon sight, however I caught this shot at the end of a burst while following an incoming puffin and by sheer chance caught the moment that both birds reeled back in surprise. As I say not my most technically perfect shot, but I just love the expressions!

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G AF-S ED VR
Focal Length - 200mm (300mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F5.6
Shutter Speed - 1/800
ISO - 400
Taken hand held

Lundy Pony

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Although not fully domesticated, the wild ponies on Lundy Island are very placid and unfazed by humans, this one in particular seemed quite content stood half asleep in place so it wasn't a great challenge to line up the shot I wanted.

I decided to avoid the cliche of the close up portrait in this case (almost ironic as there is generally a challenge to getting closeups of wild animals whereas these guys are so laid back it would have been easy!) and instead go for a wider shot to include some of the lovely landscape of the island

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX
Focal Length - 18mm (27mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F5.6
Shutter Speed - 1/1600
ISO - 400
Taken hand held

Squirrel!

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Now I fully understand why so many people hate the grey squirrel, they decimated the red squirrel population and can be pests, however I personally find it difficult to dislike any animal for basically being too successful and can't help find these little guys quite endearing

I'm sure any amateur wildlife photographer in the UK will have at least a few grey squirrel photos floating around somewhere as they one of the most commonly seen mammals and my hard drive is no exception, however this is my current favourite, a simple but effective portrait of a squirrel at the RSPB reserve in Sandy, enjoying whatever he's foraged in nice evening light

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/640
ISO - 1600
Taken using a folded up jumper as a makeshift beanbag

Peeking Lapwing

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Taken at Rutland Water, I was actually sat in a hide for 5 hours hoping to get photos of the well publicised ospreys at the reserve, however as their nest is by design on the far side of the shore to the hides well out of range of my longest lens and they weren't feeling inclined to come fishing over by the near shore, I instead focussed my attention elsewhere

I quickly discovered that lapwings are great fun to follow, very active with a very unique call, and brave little things, I watched a pair repeatedly fend off some nearby jackdaws on one visit. I eventually collected a few reasonable (if unoriginal) shots of them milling around, but this was my favourite as it was at least a little bit different with the little chap peering through the gap in the grass

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/640
ISO - 1600
Taken using a Manfrotto 033CX3 tripod and Manfrotto 393 long lens bracket head

Seal Pup

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I came away from my day at Donna Nook with, predictably, hundreds of shots of Seal adults and pups alike, ranging from good to boring. This was my personal favourite pup photo from the day, the light is actually a bit flat but I just like the pose

I had the tripod I was using at the time set up in a bit of a convoluted way to get ground level shots, Manfrotto's XPROB range are the ones with centre columns that are fixed but swing to horizontal potision. Now obviously you can't drop the tripod to ground level with the centre column in vertical position as it would get in the way (you can get an extra short replacement column but even that isn't short enough for ground level shots), so I had it swung to the horizontal position and then had my camera dangling from the ball head by the lens collar. Not an ideal solution but it actually worked surprisingly well, albeit I somewhat prefer the setup I have now of a tripod with a removable centre column, thus allowing the tripod to be collapsed to completely flat without anything getting in the way

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/500
ISO - 400
Taken using a Manfrotto 090XPROB Tripod and Manfrotto 488RC2 ball head

Hungry Swallow Chicks

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This swallow nest proved a convenient but still challenging photo opportunity, up in the rafters of a stable. On the one hand it was easy to get an angle looking straight at the nest through a rear stable window (when I say window I more accurately mean just a large, neatly cut rectangular opening), on the other hand there wasn't really any way of my sensibly setting up my tripod and the light was inevitably pretty poor in the rafters

I was grateful here for my 70-200 F2.8 lens and the high ISO capabilities of my D300 as that combination was the only way I was able to get a shutter speed high enough to stand a chance of getting any sharp shots! Without a way to sensibly set up my tripod, I instead braced both elbows against the edges of the window and used my arms as a sort of makeshift bipod, not ideal but worked well enough to keep the camera reasonably steady and the aforementioned Aperture and ISO combination of my camera and lens enabled me to get the shutter speed high enough to get a few decent results. Obviously the D300 is no match for the high ISO performance of professional grade cameras and the ISO of 3200 I was using is pushing the boundaries of what the D300 can still produce usable results at, but it did a good enough job in this case to my eyes

I deliberately shot wider than I could have here and cropped afterwards, as I had been trying to catch a shot of the adults feeding the chicks and I would most likely have clipped the wings out of the shot had I gone for full zoom. Due to the still far from ideal shutter speeds I was working with however, I only got one or two sharp enough shots and none of them at the angle I really wanted so this one remains my favourite of the exercise

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G AF-S ED VR
Focal Length - 155mm (232mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F2.8
Shutter Speed - 1/250
ISO - 3200
Taken hand held

Sanderling

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An unexpected added bonus from my trip to Donna Nook was a few Sanderlings legging it up and down the beach. Incredibly quick on their feet, it took many attempts and a combination of anticipation and luck to track one well enough to get some decent shots, This was my favourite with the reflection and the underlining layer of sand at the bottom of the shot, a little more 'animal in environment' than just a plain portrait

I had the tripod I was using at the time set up in a bit of a convoluted way to get ground level shots, Manfrotto's XPROB range are the ones with centre columns that are fixed but swing to horizontal potision. Now obviously you can't drop the tripod to ground level with the centre column in vertical position as it would get in the way (you can get an extra short replacement column but even that isn't short enough for ground level shots), so I had it swung to the horizontal position and then had my camera dangling from the ball head by the lens collar. Not an ideal solution but it actually worked surprisingly well, albeit I somewhat prefer the setup I have now of a tripod with a removable centre column, thus allowing the tripod to be collapsed to completely flat without anything getting in the way

Technical Information
Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Focal Length - 500mm (750mm equivalent with crop factor)
Aperture - F6.3
Shutter Speed - 1/1250
ISO - 400
Taken using a Manfrotto 090XPROB Tripod and Manfrotto 488RC2 ball head