north kent marshes
Winter Sunrise on the Marshes print
To say I am overwhelmed by the popularity of this image would be somewhat of an understatement! I put it up on 500px yesterday and already it has been viewed by 1600 people and counting! Thank you for all the nice comments and to the 111 that have added it to their favourites. Surprisingly, I hadn’t put it on my website within the galleries but, I have now where you have the opportunity of purchasing it as a fine art print.
To purchase one, please click on the image below which will take you to website gallery page.
Here’s a little background information. It was taken on Elmley Marshes National Nature Reserve in North Kent, an area I have been documenting for the last 15 years. Conditions such as this are not all that uncommon over there where, with the combination of freezing winter temperatures and fog, rime frost is formed and produces spectacular conditions in which to photograph. Having spotted the image I had to work quickly as the sun was rapidly rising and burning through the mist. With the camera secured to a tripod and set to its maximum height, I had to stand on tip-toe to prevent the fence posts from merging with the land.
Nikon D2x, 12-24mm @ 16mm, 1/15 sec. f16, iso 200, 0.9 ND grad filter, Manfrotto 055 tripod, mirror lock-up, cable release.
The image was used full page in an extensive article I wrote for Practical Photography magazine on Discover Winter Wetlands. The article can be viewed here.
Sunrise over Elmley Marshes
February
Well, I don’t need to tell you what a dreary February it’s been! And so, as a result, it hasn’t been the most productive month in terms of taking pictures. Hides are in position and hares on the marshes will have started doing what they do best….running and boxing, but, the light is so darn awful! It has, however, given me the chance to catch up with all image processing and agency submissions which in turn should (hopefully) free up my time over the next month or so to concentrate on taking pictures. Here are a selection taken earlier in the month when the weather was more favourable.
Those of you that follow me on facebook (that’s where you will get my latest news on projects and workshops) will know that for the last month or so I have been attempting to photograph barn owls. A permanent wooden hide is in position and so far my efforts haven’t been rewarded as much as I would like. Activity at present is quite sporadic so I’m hoping that with the possibility of young to feed in late spring and summer, I’ll have stronger pictures to show here.
Lapwing numbers are incredibly high at the moment reaching several thousand strong on the marshes. Courtship displays have already begun and once again I am sure I will endeavour to record this aspect of their lives. Due to all the rain, breeding condititions are good too with lots of pools and flooded areas throughout the area.
Northern Lapwings in flight
Lapwings will take to the air and form long, tightly packed flocks, gradually gaining altitude if approached by a bird of prey such as a marsh harrier or peregrine falcon.
Reedbed
Shortly after sunrise on a perfectly calm, misty morning, I began shooting general views and close-ups of a reedbed.
A small pool behind provided a clean backdrop.
In order to retain detail in the highlights and obtain a high contrast, graphic image, I exposed for the background then stopped down 1 1/2 stops.
All these reed images were taken hand-holding a 300mm f2.8 lens, something I don't often do when photographing plants as I prefer to use a tripod. But, due to their location, rapidly changing light and the fact I could activate the vr, I was confident of securing sharp images.
On the way back I noticed a pair of swans and lay on the ground with the 300mm f2.8 resting on a beanbag. It was still quite misty which not only injected atmosphere into the scene but cut down the overall contrast.
Stories
The first ‘story’ of an new addition to my website has just been completed. It’s about my favourite bird, the Lapwing or Peewit. Possibly, the greatest breeding population in the UK resides just a stone’s throw from where I live, which, over the last 10 years, has afforded me the opportunity of recording their life history. The story section differs from my ‘collections’ in that they tell a story (no surprise there then!) with extended captions. Click here to go straight there. More stories will follow which I will let you know about as and when they are added.
Males defending their territories at sunrise. Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, 1/1250th sec. f5.6, iso 200.
Female incubating. Hatching occurs after approximately 28 days which gave me sufficient time to 'very' gradually introduce a dummy camera housing. This was introduced over a 2 week period starting from a point, 50m away from the nest then moved forward, at intervals. It was then replaced with a sound-proof housing containing a Nikon D300 and 12-24mm lens. The camera was fired via radio remote from my car, 100m away.
Four-legged lapwing!
Resolutions
Making New Year’s resolutions is one thing I usually steer well clear of. Those that I have made in the past invariably get broken in the first week anyway! Does anyone actually make them and keep to them? If they do, they are either liars or have incredibly strong will power. But, when Practical Photography contacted me asking if I would do 50-60 words on my plans for 2011 for their New Year’s Resolution feature for the January 2011 issue, how could I refuse?! But this wasn’t personal resolutions, to give up drinking and hard partying (in my dreams, though I’m not sure I have the energy anymore) and so it actually took me a lot longer than I expected. To my surprise I gave it serious thought and if I achieve all that which I stated, I will be a very happy man. There is something to be said for putting it down on paper. It kind of makes it definite and not just a thought that may never materialise. This is what I wrote…..
“I’m determined to increase my coverage of invertebrates of the North Kent Marshes, obtain more landscape images of the South Downs and attempt to photograph wild boar.”
Roll on 2011!
Looking towards The Seven Sisters, South Downs National park.
Project barn owl
This is probably the best picture I have of a barn owl. Compared to many out there, it’s nothing special at all. The lighting’s flat and it’s a little too much over to the right. The one thing I do like, however, is the wing position. It’s not hovering or floating but heading straight for the camera. It was taken some years back on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent on a small patch of grassland that is a mini nature reserve. I attempted photography from the car through a gap in the hedge but clear views were few and far between and more often than not the bird would hunt the far side of the field.
Barn owl
Although barn owls can be seen quite regularly throughout the North Kent Marshes, their movements are rather unpredictable, preferring large expanses of rough grassland and marsh as opposed to following the predictability of a reedbed. Indeed, many of the top barn owl images you see today have been taken in Norfolk where their population densities are greater than here in Kent.
Over the last week I have secured permission from the land owner to place a couple of permanent hides on the site so, with Christmas and New Year out of the way, normality can resume and I can start work on attempting to get some half decent images of this beautiful bird. I’m not sure I can produce anything better or significantly different than what has already been done but I’ll certainly have fun trying! Over the last few months I have seen short-eared owls regulalrly use this site as well as marsh harriers and hen harriers so I look forward to spending many cold mornings and afternoons in my hides.
Frost and snow
The following images were taking during the (obviously) snowy period we had a few weeks ago and, by the looks of it, there’s more to come by the end of the week. If you’re anything like me and reside in southern England, when we do get it I kind of go into panic mode, frantically thinking of places to visit. Bird feeding station? Marshes? North Downs? It’s unpredictability prevents us from planning, slowing down and thinking more carefully about what pictures to take.
These woodland scenes were taken at a local nature reserve called Cromer’s Wood, just south of Sittingbourne. I’ve been a voluntary assistant warden here since it’s conception in 1990 and although not a huge area (62 acres) it does have some very interesting plant species as well as a large pond where, amongst others, sparrowhawks occasionally come down to bathe.
Nikon D300, 28-105mm, 5 images stitched using PTGui Pro.
I deliberately kept this image light to accentuate the graphic lines of the grasses.
Freezing fog regularly occurs on the marshes and as I drove along a track early in the morning I noticed this pair of pheasants feeding on a hawthorn.
Partridges
I thought I should post this sooner rather than later while the heavy snow most of us experienced is still in everyone’s mind.
Here in north Kent we had a severe dumping in the early hours of Thursday morning so the following day I headed off to the marshes to see what I could get. At the entrance to the reserve a covey of red-legged partridges scraped the ground to find food. They formed a tight group and it began to snow providing me with a window of opportunity.
Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, iso 400, aperture priority, 1250th sec. f4, +1 exposure compensation, beanbag over car window.
I drove on a little further but it soon became clear that as well as I know this area, I would be foolhardy to continue as I couldn’t make out the difference between track and marsh.
Wing tagging Marsh harriers
Apologies for the lateness of this post. I really should have added it shortly after Marsh harriers Part 2, back in mid October but I have been awaiting detailed information regarding this practise before committing it to a post.
A month into photographing a pair of nesting marsh harriers, I accompanyed two very experienced ornithologists, Rod Smith and Brian Watmough who were hoping to find a number of nests in order to wing tag the young birds. This is a relatively new practise and 2010 was only it’s second year. Initially, ringing the birds was the only option but of course the only time data could be collected was when the bird was deceased. With wing tagging however, simply looking through binoculars can inform you both of it’s origin and year it was tagged. It is therefore far easier to collect data such as age and where it goes throughout the year. One bird, for example, that was born on the Isle of Sheppey, has been seen in Lincolnshire! But why I ask myself should a bird leave an area that has an abundance of food and fly 100+ miles? Just one of those things I guess.
If I remember correctly, 4 nests were identified as possible sites to tag the birds. The first 2 revealed nothing even though I had myself been photographing the parents bringing in food to one of them. This isn’t unusual however. Reedbeds are so dense that visibility can be just a metre or so and when you have a large area to cover, regardless of how much you have pin-pinted it’s location, you can quite literally be on top of it and still not see it. After around 30 minutes they decided to move on to allow the parents to return and resume feeding. On the third nest, we got lucky. As I stood, some distance away from where they entered the reedbed, I could see a huge pair of wings flapping among the reeds. A sure sign they had located the young and were now in the process of gathering them.
Three, four week old Marsh harriers being brought out of the reedbed by Rod Smith (who is pin-pointing its location on his GPS) and Brian Watmough.
Once brought out they were taken to the car where both ringing and wing-tagging would be carried out. Two tags were attached. A blue one which indicated the year (in this case 2010) and a white one which indicated location which in this case was for the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.
As I looked on I could see how experienced Rod was in doing this. Totally confident in the way he handled them and maneuvered the birds to get them into the position he needed.
Blue tags for the year.
And white for the location.
After exactly an hour (to the minute actually according to the image EXIF data) they were taken back to their nest. I had never seen a nest of a marsh harrier before so upon borrowing a pair of waders, I followed.
I was instantly amazed just how deep the water was. At at least 2 feet deep it was the ideal place to keep the eggs and young safe from predators such as foxes.
Upon reaching the nest site I had just a few seconds to get pictures since as soon as the birds were released, rather than modelling perfectly in the centre, they scattered in all directions!
Immature Marsh harriers in nest.
I have to say I was a little disappointed with the nest. I had visions of a monster structure, perfectly entwined amongst the reeds. Instead, it was a simple nest of flattened reeds. But it was practical. It served it’s purpose, which afterall is what it’s there for.
It was a perfect conclusion to two months spent photographing these magnificent birds of the marsh and with approximately 30 nests on Sheppey, it looks as though they are going to flourish for many years to come. Hooray to that!
Marsh harriers Part 2
Having spent weeks positioning the hide, my real desire was to obtain images of the parents bringing food back to the nest. Talons clasping marsh frogs and birds for example. However, allowing for light, wind direction and not wanting to move the hide and alert the adults, I only obtained a few images that although were nice to get weren’t quite as I had hoped. With this kind of work you really are at the mercy of the elements. The following images were taken over 3, 5 hour sessions. On some occassions I didn’t get any pictures at all though I always saw them. In total I spent 30 hours over 6 sessions.
Marsh harrier carrying prey. Full frame. No cropping.
The image below has been cropped considerably so you can see exactly the prey it was carrying. A young rabbit as it turned out.
Considering it was taken at iso 800 in order to get a fast enough shutter speed, I am extremely happy with the quality the Nikon D300 produced.
Male bringing in another young rabbit. Other prey items include marsh frogs and birds, from lapwing to coot.
A long-shot showing clearly the outline of this fine bird. Broad wings and tail giving it plenty of buoyancy and maneuverability. Unlike other birds of prey, marsh harriers aren't put off by inclement weather. I have witnessed them in the rain, howling wind and snow quartering reedbeds.
The final image is one of my favourites. It’s all about the wing positioning with the late afternoon sunlight illuminating it’s underside. Although not the fastest birds they were quite hard to track. Indeed, when you are in a hide, your vision is restricted and so I would go by the mobbing calls of lapwings to alert me of their presence. I would then frantically look through each peep-hole to try and locate it. For all the images a 300mm f2.8 lens with either the TC-14EII (1.4x) or TC-20EII (2x) tele-converter was used on a Nikon D300. Stopping movement was the prerequisite so I selected an iso of 400 or 800 (depending on how late in the afternoon I was shooting) and the camera set to either shutter priority or manual.
Female arriving at nest
It was a wonderful experience witnessing and photographing marsh harriers from such close range and even with the amount of preparation involved, I am sure in the future I will attempt to improve my coverage of this stage of their lives. In the next installemt I accompany licenced handlers ring and wing-tag the young birds.
About Robert Canis
Robert Canis is a professional photographer specialising in the natural world.
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