winter
Good month for coots
Well, more like a good month for my coot pictures really! It was very nice indeed to get the front cover of Birdwatch but to also get the inside of Bird Watching and a sale by my agent, all from the same session, was quite unexpected.
They were taken at Arundel WWT in Sussex, January before last. I spent much of the day photographing at the main lake, most notably wigeon, but as the day drew on I turned my attentions to a frozen pond harbouring mallard and coot. With the sun slowly setting, the light was perfect and for the next hour I lay flat on the ground with the 300 f2.8 lens resting on the ice in order for me to get as low as possible. As the coots are much darker than middle tone, I set the camera to deliberately underexpose by -1 stop.
Bird Watching
Getting low
With a fresh fall of snow forecast last week I thought I’d give my laying-down hide a whirl. I’d been using a standard hide over the last month with a good degree of success but now it was time to get a different perspective. Using this hide is always a challenge for two reasons. Firstly, it’s quite a hassle setting it up and secondly, it’s darn uncomfortable! But, and I stress the word but, the resulting images can be very rewarding which hopefully makes up for the discomfort endured.
Male blackbird
I use a modified bivvy-style tent with a lens opening sewn in as well as 2 side viewing panels with one-way mesh. I first put down a length of tarpaulin which the hide lays on to prevent sticks, stones, thorns etc penetrating the nylon and a large piece of camo netting is then draped over and guy-lines secured. A rubber-backed picnic blanket is placed inside to silence any sounds from within which also acts as an insulator and then a roll matt or self-inflating mattress is put on top of this. In order to support the camera I use a foot square piece of ply with tent pegs in each corner and a 3-way pan and tilt head attached to this. It’s a very secure and stable platform from which to work and slow shutter speeds are not a problem with this. I guess you could use a beanbag instead but then that restricts smooth movement of the camera. Very important when shooting shy birds. To complete the set-up I take in a cushion to support my chest and to prevent the inside of the hide getting messy, I take off my boots outside place them in a bag and they come in with me. See what I mean by hassle?! Needs must though and once inside, movements need to be kept to a minimum since there isn’t a great deal of room.
laying-down hide
There wasn’t quite as much snow as I would have liked. A few more centimetres would have given a better covering, providing a ‘cleaner’ ground.
Robin
I have worked like this a great deal over the years, photographing rabbits and waders amongst others, sometimes for periods exceeding 12 hours. The negatives are obvious. The positives are aside from the intimate perspective you create, wildlife becomes accustomed to this low profile way of working far quicker than with larger, more conventional hides.
Playing by the rules
On this day last year I fulfilled an ambition I had had for years, to photograph common buzzards in the wild, in Kent. Why? Well, up until 7-10 years ago they were quite a rare sight around these parts (North Downs) but over the years they have moved further and further east to a point that it’s unusual not to see one while out on the hills. There are now several hundred breeding pairs in Kent and I personally know of 3 nests which I am dying to work on over the coming years which will invariably require me to build a tree-top hide.
OK, so they are incredibly common in the west and north and hardly golden eagles but there is just something about them, the way they soar, their call…….. and as I visited my feeding station over the years to photograph woodland birds the desire would burn deeper and deeper to photograph this beautiful bird. I have access to a lot of land within their territory and so the previous October decided to commit the following six months to this project. But everything, and I mean everything had to be by the book. Birds of prey are notoriously shy and keen-eyed birds so unlike a blue tit at a nut feeder where you can come and go from your hide without them so much as batting an eyelid, with buzzards, in this part of the world, not a chance!
The following was then carried out.
* 5′ sq wooden hide erected at site under cover of darkness so buzzards didn’t associate it with humans.
* Hide left alone for several weeks.
* Stockpile of road-kill rabbits stored in freezer. Thanks Martina!
* December. Once a week. Rabbit put down pre-dawn in front of hide. At night, if rabbit not devoured by birds, was taken and put up tree to stop foxes taking it. Put back down following morning…….
* Wait for hard weather to commence photography
In mid January we had hard frosts lasting a couple of weeks so I took the opportunity to get some shots. I entered the hide 2 hours before sunrise. 11 hours later one arrived and fed but the light was poor. It got terribly cold in the hide, very rarely going above freezing. I would therefore occasionally ignite the stove for a few minutes, wrap a blanket around me and wear a balaclava. Winter, neoprene lined boots made by Le Chameau helped keep my feet warm (though they froze after 5 hours). I tried again a few days later and this time one appeared in good light but something was missing….snow!
Then, at the end of January we had heavy snow with poor visibility lasting for several days. I needed a break in the weather to entice the buzzard’s from where they had been sheltering from the terrible weather. I then had the forecast I’d been waiting for. A clear day, blue sky all the way. Perfect! This would surely tempt them out to look for food. I got everything ready the night before and woke at 3. With all the snow I knew it was going to be tough driving and there was no guarantee that I would reach the hide. I gingerly made my way to the spot where I needed to park the car but first there was a hill to get up. I had a bit of a run-up but the Mondeo only made it half way. Four attempts later it got me to the top. When I reached the hide, there was over 18 inches of snow. I staked the rabbit down (this is to avoid it being carried off), set up everything in the hide, took snacks out of wrappers (to avoid noise) and sat back waiting for light.
Then, at about 10 o clock one arrived and fed for over 30 minutes. It took my breath away to be this close (15m) and knowing that all the hard work had not been to avail. I got the low angle by using a ground-pod pushing the lens through a sleeve about 6 inches above the ground. I had installed one-way glass so I could see clearly outside without being seen.
Several hours passed and then an immature bird turned up and just like the one previous, spent around 30 minutes feeding, oblivious to the photographer, who at this point, was the happiest man on the planet!
To see a video of what I saw please click here. It was filmed on my point-and-shoot camera so please forgive the rather poor quality.
All images were taken using a Nikon D2x with 300mm f2.8 and 1.4x converter (sometimes without) with right-angle finder attached. I ached for days having spent several hours with my head between my legs peering through this!
Of all the projects I have undertaken this has certainly been the toughest but without question the most satisfying. Hamilton Holt’s quote comes to mind….”Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Work, continuous work and hard work , is the only way to accomplish results that last.”
Winter on the marshes
The weather over the last week has been dreadful here in north Kent. Ok, so snow makes the country grind to a halt but at least it offers possibilities for strong images but when it’s just blanket grey (sigh) what can you do? Well, I edit images and prepare them for the agent but eventually you just scream for sun! I went out at first light this morning hoping for some sunrise shots and the forecast promised a bright day. Well if it did happen, it certainly wasn’t anywhere near me! I did get my sunrise shots however and it was nice but it lasted all of 10 minutes and then the cloud rolled over. So I thought I’d dig out a few images from 3 weeks ago when the light was a little more interesting.
Around two months ago I secured permission from the Environment Agency to access their land which connects to a local nature reserve. It now means rather than getting so far on the reserve then having to turn back, I can now do a loop as it were. If only there wern’t so many gates! It was a bitterly cold afternoon, the ground was solid and the sky was clear. I had spotted this hawthorn some while back and waited for the right conditions in which to illustrate it within its habitat rather than a straight silhouette.
I know what you're thinking, the horizon's not straight! Well, if you use a wide angle lens and keep the camera level this is what happens.
As I drove slowly back across the marsh, light lingered in the sky and as I passed a clump of teasel I thought I would try something a little different. I enjoy this kind of work, mixing flash with daylight and always use off-camera flash to give the subject modelling. On this particular instance, with an exposure of 1 second at f8 and the flash set to Auto f8 (not TTL), I set the camera to self timer, walked around to the right then manually set off the flash when the shutter opened.
Pleasant surprise
In the News section on my website some of you will have noticed that last month I was awarded both category winner and a highly commended in the online magazine www.wildlifeextra.com UK Wildlife Photography Competition. As a result one of the prizes was the newly released book Where to go wild in Britain. A lavish coffee table book basically outlining great places to watch wildlife in the UK.
I have to admit that when I received the book one of the things I did was go straight to the back to the picture credits section to see if any of my own images appeared in it through my agent FLPA and indeed it did. Several in fact, the most notable being a double page opener to the month of December.
The image was taken on the North Kent Marshes one very cold, foggy morning. Conditions like this always prove a challenge for the photographer especially when the rising sun is rapidly burning through the mist.
Success at last!
Following on from the last post, I finally managed to get to my winter bird feeding station in Wormshill. This was after taking a trip to Surrey on Saturday afternoon to invest in some all-terrain tyres. Due to the nature of what I do, I regularly drive in the countryside and the others were wearing a bit thin anyway and were due to be replaced. More snow was forecast and after reading numerous ‘tyre’ reports I decided upon some General Grabber AT2’s. Widely regarded as the best AT tyre around and having now used them in very adverse conditions on the Downs and marshes I can see why.
Robin
I therefore felt confident enough to get to the birds but of course you still have to be careful, especially on the icy-slush and made my way gingerly to the woods. I really wanted some typical snowy shots of birds, especially robins and in my experience these, along with others like dunnocks and chaffinches prefer to feed on the ground rather than on the suspended feeders. I sprinkled food on the ground, set up a low perch and retreated to my hide. Immediately they started to use it including one species which I have never before photographed, the dunnock. The dunnock or hedge sparrow looks like a dull sleek sparrow and always looks to be nervous and agitated, constantly flicking it’s tail and wings. It went through a serious population decline in the 1980s and indications are that it is now recovering.
Dunnock
Great tit in flight. I wanted to try something a little different so took numerous shot as it flew from its perch to the feeder. In order to stop most of the movement I selected a shutter speed of 1/2000th second, iso 2200. Anticipation was the key.
Just prior to the heavy snowfall when we had more of a dusting, I headed to to the marshes and captured this frozen landscape set against a very dramatic sky.
Frozen marshes.
I also came across this pair of red-legged partridges and using the car as a mobile hide, managed to get close enough to secure a handful of images.
Red-legged partridges
Quiet
Firstly, a happy new year to one and all. Without sounding too much of a humbug, as much as I enjoy the Christmas period, I am rather glad come the new year to get back to some kind of normality. Things have been a little quiet over the last week on the photography front as a result so here are a couple of images taken over that period when we have had further snow. I am visiting this location every few days to top up the feeders and due to its elevation, snow occurs more regularly and lingers longer than where I live close to town some 3 miles or so away.
Bramble covered in frost.
I have worked this patch for the past 10 years now which also includes several 100 acres of adjacent woodland and downland, with the permission of its landowners. The elderly couple that own this field, amongst others, have farmed this same area for over 40 years and I thoroughly enjoy popping by for a chat, particularly over Christmas to give them their card and just to say thanks. They are quintessentially ‘country’ and only pop into town for their weekly shop. Indeed they lived just a few miles apart from each other in nearby villages before meeting and getting married. They have stories of how the countryside was back then and how it has changed. Birds are nowhere near as plentiful as they were back then. They graze livestock so are not responsible for the use of insecticides etc. And as for foxes? “I live and work in the countryside,” he says, “so must expect a few losses once in a while. It’s a small price to pay and anyway, I enjoy seeing them.” How refreshing I thought.
Catkins
I didn’t expect much during a late afternoon stroll through local woodland. I had left it quite late but just needed to get away from the computer and stretch my legs. I came across a low, drooping hazel branch full of catkins and looked at possible images. They seem to appear earlier and earlier as each year passes. In the past I had photographed them against a blue sky and shedding their pollen using flash and with the sun rapidly setting I looked at a possible silhouette. I reached for the 105mm micro and hand-held, moved around the catkins until I was satisfied with the composition. The D2x was them mounted onto a tripod and the scene composed. Focus was critical since I needed to use a very wide aperture of f2.8 or f4 in order to achieve the effect I was after. This in turn resulted in a relatively fast shutter speed of 1/100th sec at iso 100 which helped as there was a slight breeze.
I always enjoy the feeling of coming home with something, even just a single image, that I know is a little different from the norm on days when I don’t expecting anything at all.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Maybe it’s because it very rarely happens these days or perhaps because it offers new challenges for a wildlife photographer, but am I the only photographer out there that fills up with excitement and anticipation when it snows?! I just love it, even though as a country we are particularly useless at dealing with the white stuff when it comes to a stand-still. I am amazed, given the warning, that hardly any gritting took place on so many major roads where I live and even more so, the speeding idiots who think their car will stop even on black ice! I own a 4WD and it has proven it’s worth over the last few days, but that hasn’t stopped several near misses with those driving way too fast. I’ve driven for many years along local country roads and always expect the unexpected so whilst driving gingerly at under 10 mph to my feeding station several miles away, I wasn’t at all surprised to come face to face with a van hurtling towards me then locking its brakes and as a result veering here and there. It stopped just a few metres away where my expert use of international sign language came into use!
So late Friday morning I headed to my feeding station in the hope of obtaining images of birds in the snow. They were coming in thick and fast, so much so that there was hardly sufficient time to frame the image. Eventually I managed to get a few half decent ones, including this splendid goldfinch. You can see the effect of the snow on the ground, acting like a giant reflector.
Goldfinch. Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, manfrotto 055 with gitzo head, dome hide.
Great-spotted woodpecker
My favourite image however is this one of a robin perched on a fence post. It was pure chance and to me sums up the English countryside in winter, much more so than close-up’s. Perhaps one day it’ll get used as a Christmas card!
It never lasts long enough though and the day after, most of the snow on the trees had disappeared. A few weeks of snowy weather would allow me to relax a little and think of interesting images rather than trying to get as much as possible within 2 or 3 days and the way the climate is changing I guess there is less and less chance of prolonged severe weather. What a shame.
Heading home at sunset.
Birds at last!
In my previous post I mentioned how slow the birds were in coming to the feeding station I had prepared for the last 6 weeks. This was obviously due to the mild weather and there being plenty of food in the woods and fields to satisfy them. But with this sudden spout of cold weather they are now coming in in droves! Species so far as follows though not all photographed…blue tit, great tit, coal tit, marsh tit (pretty sure not willow), chaffinch, goldfinch (yes!) robin and great-spotted woodpecker.
Tuesday was my first attempt. I positioned the two feeders (one with nuts the other with niger seed) about 2m away from what I think is a blackthorn bush (sorry, I’m not totally sure…happy to hear from someone to put me right) and photographed them as they perched before going to the feeders. I often go for this way of working as opposed to placing perches for them to alight on since you get a variety of poses in one sitting. It also looks more natural I think since that is how we more often than not view them…flitting in and out and amongst hedges and trees. There are times however when I will strategically place perches particularly if I am after a clean background. It was a beautiful day and although the p ictures certainly looked punchy and colourful, the light just seemed too harsh and the images lacked ’soul’.
blue tit
I decided therefore to use a technique I’ve employed in the past when photographing plants which is to shoot either end of the day and while the subject is in shade the background is illuminated by the early morning/late afternoon sunlight. The effect is unusual but I have to say I like it quite a lot. You need to use a wide aperture to really throw the background out of focus and there is just a small window of opportunity before the light on the background becomes too harsh. I arrived shortly after sunrise and once settled the birds began to perch and feed giving me just enough time before the sun illuminated the bush.
I also went this afternoon and obtained more images, yes even more blue tits! But the highlight was at around 3 o clock a common buzzard flew within 4m of the hide and perched in an oak tree just feet above me. It was so close that as it flew towards me I thought at one point it was going to join me in the hide!
About Robert Canis
Robert Canis is a professional photographer specialising in the natural world.
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