Spring has sprung, Part 2

In this bumper episode I’ll find some more wildlife to add to my ‘first photographed’ list while still getting to grips with my new lens.

What I have discovered about spring is that the lighting has improved drastically but the leaves and undergrowth haven’t quite fully blossomed making it much easier to photograph birds. This is probably the most ideal time to get out with the camera.

This Blue Tit is a good example. Had I taken it a month or two later I’d have only probably seen half of its body.

ep12_2
ISO 320 – F5.6 – 1/640

Again, the same apple tree is visited by a Goldcrest. Considering how erratic its movements were I am pleased with the shot.

ep12_6
ISO 250 – F5.6 – 1/400

This is my first Dunnock photograph. I always enjoy getting home, looking at my photos in Lightroom and then trying to identify new birds I’d seen that day.

ep12_10
ISO 100 – F5.6 – 1/640

This Great Spotted Woodpecker is another first for me. It has also proven to be the trickiest bird for me to capture, as I had spent many weeks going to the location of either the pecking sound or its laughter. Every time it evaded me, so it was a complete surprise when I looked up to find not only was it perched and pecking at the wood, but that it hadn’t spotted me yet! It was very high up in the tree. (A good 60+ ft)

You can see the bark flying from one of its rapid pecks, and it flying away (As usual).

Yet another first. This Chaffinch was shot while I was hunting the woodpecker (Prior to me capturing the above shot). I wasn’t quite sure what I was photographing as I fired off a quick burst so I was quite surprised to have identified it. While a common bird, it is one that hasn’t been on my radar up until now.

ep12_7
ISO 400 – F8.0 – 1/1000

Another Chaffinch, another day, another song.

ep12_16
ISO 125 – F8.0 – 1/640

This beautiful Wren is another bird I’d yet to see or photograph. I heard something singing quite enthusiastically and eventually found the culprit. I wasn’t able to get any closer shots, for I spooked it upon moving closer.

I really like the pattern on its wings and those grey eyebrows.

ep12_5
ISO 400 – F5.6 – 1/500

This is the first time I’d seen both male and female pheasants together. They even leaned in for a quick kiss.

ep12_4
ISO 400 – F5.6 – 1/640

I was able to get closer to the female on one day and just capture its head as it poked out from the tall grass.

ep12_14
ISO 400 – F8.0 – 1/640

Finally a photo of the Jay in the light! I’ll put it down to luck, that I was in the right place at the right time since this guy is extremely camera shy and nigh on impossible to track down.

ep12_13
ISO 400 – F8.0 – 1/640

A shady squirrel, up to shady business.

ep12_9
ISO 400 – F8.0 – 1/640

This rabbit has enjoyed many a carrot from the allotments where it rests close by in the shade during the warm sun.

ep12_12
ISO 400 – F5.6 – 1/320

A Speckled Wood butterfly enjoys the May sun.

ep12_8
ISO 400 – F8.0 – 1/1000

I don’t know if it was rather late in the year for these to be breeding, but I shot these in the first week of April. I never did see any tadpoles or frogspawn afterwards though 😦

Compared to winter, I had not seen many robins around. In fact, they had become pretty rare, so it was nice to have finally spotted one on the branches of a blossoming apple tree.

ep12_15
ISO 400 – F5.6 – 1/640

A blackbird unearths a delicious worm.

ep12_11
ISO 400 – F8.0 – 1/640

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s