Young Swallows

Back in July I spent quite a bit of time photographing Swallows.  My main aim was to try and get shots of the young being fed, they sit on the fences and wait for the adults to come with insects, the tricky bit is that the adults don't actually land, they hover and push the food into the young birds mouths, this all happens within a couple of seconds so catching this on camera is quite a challenge.

Leach's Storm Petrels

Well this week has been one of those weeks when the conditions were just right for the Leach's Storm Petrels to be pushed into our shores.

In mid September here on the Wirral if we get strong North Westerly winds for a few consecutive days, these small birds are forced into Liverpool bay and the Mersey estuary, they then work their way West along the North Wirral coastline, often right along the edge of the shore.

Photographing them is a real challenge, firstly the wind is gale force and just standing up is hard enough, pointing the camera at them and trying to get them in focus is another story, along with being sand blasted and getting covered in salt spray, it is quite exhausting. This week I have put in 26 hours in these conditions and I felt like I had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.

It's frustrating that the light wasn't better, I managed to get very few shots with the sun on them, but there may be another chance this year

In Flight

A quick post of some flight shots I have taken over the last month.

Common Buzzard
Black-tailed Godwit

Cormorant

Tufted Duck

Sandwich Tern

Lapwing

Brimstone Butterfly

I was really pleased to spot this Brimstone Butterfly, apart from it being a very obliging subject it was in perfect condition, a lot of Butterflies at this time of year have very worn or damaged wings, but this one looked very fresh. I spent at least 45 minutes with it until my son finally managed to drag me away.

 

A bit of Macro Photography

At this time of year bird photography becomes a little quiet and so out comes the macro lens.  I don't usually go out with the intention of photographing anything specific, it's more of a case of whatever I come across, I only really dabble as macro photography is an art in itself. Here are a few of my recent attempts.

Hoverfly

Common Blue Butterfly

Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

Six-spot Burnet Moth

Brown Argus Butterfly

Honey Bee

Magpies

Whilst photographing the Jays I have had a pair of Magpies coming in to feed, I think their beauty is quite overlooked as they are not the most popular of birds. I'm posting a few shots here to try and show how striking they actually are.

Young Jays

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been trying to photograph the young Jays in my garden. It has been quite a job as they seem to prefer to hang off the fatball feeders than go for the easier photogenic option of peanuts on a log, paired with the poor weather over the last month, getting them in the right spot with the sun out hasn't been easy. One plus point is that they seem slow to mature and still look like juveniles.

Here's some of the best shots so far starting off with an adult for comparison.