bracken
Spring happenings
As with the rest of the country, spring arrived very early indeed with flowers blooming a good 10 days earlier than usual. I love spring. It’s my favourite season by far. As we emerge from the winter gloom and the days lengthen we at last feel that we have time on our hands to actually do stuff! Late April through to late June invariably finds me getting up very early to shoot dewy flowers or bird and hare activity on the marshes. Wood anemones and bluebells are only around for a short time so I try to make the most of them and set about photographing them at first light. Why so early? Several reasons. The light is soft, wind almost non-existent and the countryside as a whole is much quieter, human-wise anyway, allowing you to experience the dawn chorus. After a few hours photography I pack up and go home, just when everyone else is getting up and going to work!
This first image of a wood anemone was taken at 07.20 hrs at a local nature reserve called Cromer’s Wood where I have been assistant warden since it’s conception in 1990. I had this shot in mind and so it was ‘simply’ a matter of looking for the right specimen. If only you could see me dashing up and down the pathway, bending down, laying down, searching! As the sun rose, I shielded the flower from the sun to retain detail and also to obtain this contradiction of hues of the coolness of the anemone with the warmth of the background. I used a wide aperture of f4 to throw everything except for the lip of the flower out of focus with the resulting shutter speed being 1/25th sec. The same technique was also used for the bluebell image, several days apart but along the same path.
Wood anemone
Bluebell
Prior to the above image being made, I visited a beechwood just a few minutes away to get some pictures of the rising sun bursting through the trees illuminating this swathe of bluebells.
Bluebells in beechwood
I deliberately chose not to add an ND Grad to the image, below, since I didn’t want any detail in the trees. As I composed it I thought it had a rather heavenly, dreamlike quality so left as it is.
To round off the session in this particular wood I shot this young bracken surrounded by the bluebells.
Bracken and bluebells. Nikon D300, 200mm, iso 200, 1/40th sec. f5.6, Manfrotto tripod.
Our earliest flowering woodland orchid, the early-purple.
Another early morning flower shoot. This time of a common dog violet. I just can't get enough of them dewy mornings!
I do photograph other things other than flowers….honestly! A few evenings were spent laying close to a rabbit warren in the hope of capturing the youngsters. I only had fortune on my side the first evening but will continue to shoot (pardon the pun!) them throughout the spring and summer.
Rabbits outside warren
Young rabbit. Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, 1.4x teleconverter, iso 400, 160th sec. f5.6, beanbag, full camo clothing.
Male pheasant displaying. It doesn't matter how often I photograph this behaviour, I just can't help myself. Although an introduced species, I cannot imagine the countryside without them. It would be like losing the cuckoo though sadly, if one were to disappear, it would most likely be the latter.
Cock pheasant displaying
Although suffering a rapid decline, corn bunting's are still, thankfully, very common throughout the North Kent Marshes.
Warm days followed by cold nights are providing wonderfully atmospheric conditions in which to shoot in at the moment and since the mist reduces the sun’s harshness for another half an hour or so, this in turn extends my photography a little longer. This brown hare was captured a few days ago as it nibbled on some grass.
Brown hare at sunrise. Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, iso 800, 1/2500th sec. f5.6, beanbag.
These yellow flag irises were spotted a few days prior to shooting them and was fortunate enough to have great cloud formations, something which simply cannot be guaranteed. Positioning the tripod was the biggest problem here with two of the legs in water and another at quite a peculiar angle in which to move the camera slightly overhead. I was careful not to leave it unattended through fear it may well end up in the drink! Due to the exposure range I used two ND Graduated filters. A 0.3 (1 stop) at a 45 degree angle covering the sky and ditch and a 2 stop (0.6) covering just the sky since this was brighter than the water in the ditch.
Yellow flag iris at sunrise
It’s easy to for us to take this season and all that it offers for granted thinking “well, there’s always next year to photograph them.” As a recent personal event reminded me, there may not always be a “next year” so we have to grasp every opportunity and, indeed, make a concerted effort to enjoy this very special time of the year.
Heathland and Avocets
With the weather looking decidedly dubious over the next few days, I thought I should make the most of the last two mornings which were forecast as being fine.
So yesterday I headed for Hothfield Heathlands (as it is now called, not Hothfield Common as I said in a previous post), to (hopefully) catch a misty landscape with the heather in full bloom. It was a beautiful morning but as is so often the case, I found myself frantically searching for a decent composition, seeking out young bracken to act as my anchor point. Eventually I found what I was looking for then just stood and watched the day unfold.
Nikon D2x, 12-24mm at 16mm, 1 sec. f14, iso 100, O.9 (3 stop) ND Grad.
In the distance, I could make out the huge shapes of highland cattle that are currently grazing the heath to keep the scrub under control. Once the sun had burned through the mist the light was too harsh for shooting landscapes, so the next 30 minutes was spent photographing the cattle.
Exposing for the highlights rendered everything else to almost black, giving the image a more moody quality.
As yesterday, I awoke at silly-o-clock and arrived well before sunrise at my hide on the marshes. It was a great sunrise with a spattering of clouds and the avocets came just within camera reach. They have to be our finest bird for silhouettes, no question. With its upturned bill, head sweeping from one side to another and the graceful way in which it moves, they are instantly recognisable.
It’s no wonder they are the symbol for the RSPB though it is not just for their appearance why it was chosen. About 160 years ago they were wiped out due to fen drainage and man using it’s feathers and collecting it’s eggs. Then, after the second world war it is thought they were dislodged from their breeding grounds in the Netherlands by the flooding of the polders and they began to nest on Minsmere and Havergate Island in Suffolk. Recently, on the Southend RSPB website, I read that their preferred breeding conditions of shallow pools and low islands which are uncommon in this country, was artificially created by a wayward bomb from a nearby firing range at Havergate , blowing a hole in the seawall which allowed the tidal river to flood in. At Minsmere, the marshes were deliberately flooded to halt invading troops and when the water drained away, shallow pools remained creating ideal nesting conditions. The RSPB bought both as reserves and today over 100 pairs breed on both with a national population of around 400. A real success story.
About Robert Canis
Robert Canis is a professional photographer specialising in the natural world.
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