Friday 28 June 2013

Skuas in the Wind

I had mentioned in a previous post about the strong 40mph winds, whilst I was on the Outer Hebrides. These winds did have their benefits in the form of migrating Skuas being blown very close to shore. Literally thousands of them came past, sometimes in large flocks of hundreds. They would terrorise the flocks of waders as they passed through, they worked together like an organized gang, trying to isolate a Dunlin from the tightly packed flock. You knew when they were approaching as all the waders would take to the air in fear.

It was difficult to get shots of them, as they moved very quickly. They disappeared as quickly as they arrived. I managed to get a few reasonable photographs of the three species - Arctic, Pomarine and the scarcer Long-tailed.

bird, nature, wildlife
Arctic Skua

bird, nature, wildlife
Arctic Skua

bird, nature, wildlife
Arctic Skua

bird, nature, wildlife
Long-tailed Skua

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Pomarine Skua

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Pomarine Skua

Wednesday 26 June 2013

A Quick Session with the Buzzards

I had time for half an hour in my hide yesterday to photograph the Buzzards. I am working on getting some close up flight shots, which will be an on-going project. For now though, I have to make do with one landing.

bird, nature, wildlife

Tuesday 25 June 2013

TV Programme

Since I returned from Scotland I have been very busy with various projects and haven't really progressed as well as I would have liked with processing images. The next few weeks should see a lot of images added to my site and a few more blog posts.

One project I have been involved with is working on a BBC TV programme called Urban Jungle. This is one of a three part series of half hour programmes which will be shown later in the year. It's aimed at getting people more involved in the wildlife on their doorstep. I spent a day showing presenter Rani Price how to take photographs of urban wildlife.

Having not done any TV work before, I was a little nervous at first, but was soon put at ease by Rani and the team, headed by producer Ged Clarke. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day with plenty of pictures taken and plenty of sunshine for a change. I'm not sure whether I am looking forward to seeing myself on television, but I think I did okay. Many thanks go to Ged for the opportunity to do the programme.

This was the last shot at the end of the day. Rani had rushed off to catch her train, so here's sound man Rob, Producer Ged and cameraman Paul.

Urban Jungle, Ged Clarke


 

Monday 17 June 2013

Corncrakes

For any wildlife photographer visiting the Outer Hebrides in late spring, one of their target species would undoubtedly be the Corncrake. A small migrant that is only found in this part of Britain throughout the summer, where it breeds.

Probably due to the very cold spring, the Corncrakes seemed to be very late displaying and in the first week of my trip I only heard the occasional one calling. Usually by the middle of May they should be heard in abundance. The fact that the vegetation hadn't really started to grow was possibly another factor, giving them little cover and making them vulnerable to predators.

With temperatures down to 3 degrees centigrade and a wind that was regularly over 40mph, it wasn't the ideal conditions to be trying to photograph Corncrakes. I had almost given up the idea of getting any shots of them at all. Then, towards the end of my second week, there was a warmer, calm day and by chance I came across a bird that was showing well alongside the road. A good hour was spent contorting out of the car window with the camera as it moved around, occasionally calling it's unique "crex crex" call. It just shows what a decent bit of weather can do, as there were many more heard calling that day.

More images on my website - Steven Round Bird photography

bird, nature, wildlife

bird, nature, wildlife

bird, nature, wildlife

bird, nature, wildlife

bird, nature, wildlife

Tuesday 4 June 2013

My Scottish Trip - Birds on Posts

I have just returned from three weeks in Scotland. Two were spent on the very windy Outer Hebrides and the third was in Speyside. I will be posting a few images of the many species I photographed over the coming weeks, as I add them to my main site. To start off I thought I would show some of the birds perching on posts, this is a common sight on the Hebrides as there are plenty of posts and not many trees.

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Corn Bunting

bird, nature, wildlife
Oystercatcher

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Redshank

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Short-eared Owl

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Snipe

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Corn Bunting

bird, nature, wildlife
Meadow Pipit

bird, nature, wildlife
Meadow Pipit

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Redshank

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