Discussion
It's that time of year when everything is out and growing like mad, so inspired by the Sea Eagles of Mull Mrs CVP & I decided to see what was out and about.
Turns out the back garden is not too bad a spot. Bit of a shame about the parent bird but I was working at an angle and couldn't get the depth of field required and maintain shutter speed at the same time.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44398566/large.jpg[/pic]
Then we cheated and went to the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey
This little chap ("Milo") has been hand reared and is very used to humans, so much so that he can be stroked. Beautiful and soft, but make no mistake there's a big beak and a pair of heafty talons there too. No flash and high ISO have not helped the detail too much here.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44416437/large.jpg[/pic]
Lots of foxes running around. This little chap looked a bit overwhelmed by the whole big wide world experience but soon found his bravery and was scampering round. Regardless of if you think they are vermin, at this stage they do tick the cute box.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44416431/original.jpg[/pic]
Then a call in at WWT Barnes just to see how things were going and we were lucky enough to have this guy up close and personal. The light was a little flat but it was great to be able to get so close to a wild bird that is normally quite nervous and shy.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44398564/original.jpg[/pic]
Overall between us all here we could challenge old Bill & team (well apart form the Sea Eagles maybe ;) )
Chris
Turns out the back garden is not too bad a spot. Bit of a shame about the parent bird but I was working at an angle and couldn't get the depth of field required and maintain shutter speed at the same time.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44398566/large.jpg[/pic]
Then we cheated and went to the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey
This little chap ("Milo") has been hand reared and is very used to humans, so much so that he can be stroked. Beautiful and soft, but make no mistake there's a big beak and a pair of heafty talons there too. No flash and high ISO have not helped the detail too much here.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44416437/large.jpg[/pic]
Lots of foxes running around. This little chap looked a bit overwhelmed by the whole big wide world experience but soon found his bravery and was scampering round. Regardless of if you think they are vermin, at this stage they do tick the cute box.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44416431/original.jpg[/pic]
Then a call in at WWT Barnes just to see how things were going and we were lucky enough to have this guy up close and personal. The light was a little flat but it was great to be able to get so close to a wild bird that is normally quite nervous and shy.
[pic]http://www.pbase.com/cvp/image/44398564/original.jpg[/pic]
Overall between us all here we could challenge old Bill & team (well apart form the Sea Eagles maybe ;) )
Chris
GetCarter said:Yup, unfortunately though, Simon's not on Mull anymore, he's in London looking at peregrines this week. Those sea eagles were fantastic though
Springwatch on again tonight I think... must have a looksee.
Fantastic photos Chris, I love the owl and fox especially
>> Edited by Graham.J on Tuesday 7th June 00:44
GetCarter said:
Great pics Chris.
We were on Mull recently and saw mum and dad Sea Eagles - they are H U G E I think over 8 foot wingspan and nearly 4' tall.
Lucky man, I'd love to see them. I know the kit the natural history guys use means I'll not be able to photogrpah them just see them through binoculars but..
Now here's a plan...time for a long weekend up north and to let Zuffhausen's little monster of the leash for a good run around. See the Sea Eagles, photograph the little one in beautiful countryside. This has potential methinks.
Chris
Graham.J said:
Yup, unfortunately though, Simon's not on Mull anymore, he's in London looking at peregrines this week. Those sea eagles were fantastic though
>> Edited by Graham.J on Tuesday 7th June 00:44
Yep, he's at the WWT centre in Barnes where Mrs CVP and I do a lot of of picture taking, I told you all it was worth a visit
The Sand Martin bank is very cool, it's just a shame they don't have the cameras in there all the time and pipe a feed back to the main centre. Chris
beano500 said:
... WWT Barnes ... Is it fairly photo-friendly there, then? Just a set admission price and roam free? or what? What's to see/shoot???
Very photo friendly, much better than the British Wildlife Centre. Fixed admisison price (IIRC about gbp6) or annual pass to all WWT sites (roughly gbp 20-30 I think).
Roam free to a certain extent. You're not allowed to go off the paths too much but seeing as the paths go right up to the water's edge in most cases it's not a problem. Quite a few hides for viewing over the lakes plus lots of smaller ponds that you can get right next to.
Re what's there it's a mixture of captive birds and wild birds.
Captives are a lot of diving duck species, a few geese and things like that. There's quite a lot of these, but the really great species are the ones that just turn up on spec.
Wild ones are birds such as the Great Crested Grebe, more coots and moorhens than you can shake a stick at, lots of geese, usually a decent number of grey herons who just come and go as they please, often birds of prey such as hobby and peregrine, dragonflies & damselflies, cormorants, snipe, lapwings, plovers, redshanks, little tit type things, jackdaws, magpies, other geese, swans (one of the lakes is a great take off area). Also the Sand Martins (although you probably won't be able to photograph these due to the angles and access allowed) and there is also a Kingfisher bank which apparently has residents but I've never seen the little critters, also frogs.
Overall lots to see and it's duckling central at the moment. If you wait another couple of weeks then the Dragonflies should be out and about.
I like the place a lot as it is photographer friendly (no wire mesh etc) and you can get up close to the animals, the majority of which can come and go as they please. Mrs CVP and I use 300mm maximum focal length on D100 and D70 and get good images. For the Kingfisher I've added the 1.7* converter and that shoudl get me almost full frame if it ever turns up at the bank so carefully created for it.
WWT website is www.wwt.org.uk and this has links to each centre (11 or so around the UK) and then there is a centre report showing what's around at the moment. It's often a few days/weeks out of date but it does give you an idea.
Early on Sundays is good as it opens 9am, full brekky available and does not get too packed until 11:30 or so. Food available is really pretty reasonable there too.
Chris
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