Yorkshire wildlife & landscape photographer

Wildlife photography in Spain: Bonelli’s eagle, golden eagle and Great bustard

May 3, 2016

Wildlife photography in Spain | Bird photography in Spain | Bonelli’s eagle | golden eagle | great bustard | Spain wildlife

wildlife photography in Spain

Just returned from a few days of wildlife photography in Spain where the target species were Bonelli’s eagle, golden eagle and great bustard. I’m glad to report all these species were successfully photographed and a whole lot more besides! The images below are my first edits and just a small sample to give a flavour of the trip. As well as the birds, the wildflowers were spectacular and I would have liked to have had a few days longer just to photograph some of the incredible variety of plants as well as the superb landscape. We were based on the Spain-Portugal border for the eagles and then moved to the Steppe area around Villafafilla for the bustards. I will post more images and details over the next week or so, but first, I have to catch up with the edits from all my commercial shoots taken just before I left for Spain as I have a whole raft of shoots over the next few days which will create even more of a backlog for me. My commercial work can be seen over at my John Gardner Photography website
wildlife photography in Spain Bonelli's eagle, Spain

by John

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Gannets on Bass Rock and Puffins on the Farnes

June 20, 2015

Just got back from a couple of days on the Farnes and a trip round the Bass Rock to photograph gannets diving into the sea. Got some images I’m really pleased with and will have on the blog in a few days. Here’s a taster of what’s to come……………

I loved this shot of a juvenile starling with the fisherman in the background painting his boat. I could have done some amazing images here if Nikon would only understand there IS a requirement for a flip-out screen on their flagship DSLRs!!!

by John

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Duke of Burgundy Fritillary in Yorkshire

June 9, 2015

It’s been a long time since I saw Duke of Burgundy Fritillary in Yorkshire so the effort of climbing the hills around Hawnby for this beautiful butterfly was well worth it. I feared we may have missed this tiny insect which was on the wing while I was in Hungary but fortunately, the late spring meant there were still plenty around, including this beautiful fresh male. They were basking on the heather fronds that were just beginning to unfurl in the warm summer sun and approaching them was quite easy. the 200mm macro gives me a better working distance but care is still required not to disturb the bracken with a tripod leg!

by John

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Bird photography in Hungary | Yorkshire wildlife photographer | Wakefield wildlife photographer

June 8, 2015

Bird photography in Hungary

With around 50 species under the belt, a week’s bird photography in Hungary just wasn’t enough time to enjoy the spectacular environs of Hortobagy National Park. This was my first trip to Hungary and I wasn’t disappointed even though the weather was against us! Over the course of 6 day’s hard core nature photography working from hides for around 10 hours a day, I notched up 50+ species all photographed to a high standard – normally I’d expect to do a few birds really well then have some ‘fillers’ but on this trip there were so many ‘portfolio’ images. I did dip on one of my target birds, the spoonbill, but things like black stork and red-footed falcon went some way to assuaging me. I would have liked more action from the red-foots but it wasn’t to be though at the drinking pools we had non-stop action from finches, warblers, thrushes, woodpeckers and even sparrowhawk.Turtle dove, such a rarity in the UK these days, was very common and a regular feature from several of the hides. I still have many, many images to edit down but I decided I had to post a few as I’ve other stuff I need to get on the blog from more recent shoots in the UK. Here are just a few of my favourites so far, including the ‘wide angle’ shot of grey heron created with a 500mm for that gorgeous shallow DOF.

by John

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Bird photography in Spain | Yorkshire Wildlife photographer |

April 28, 2015

Bird Photography in Spain: Spring on the Steppe

I’ve just returned from a a few days bird photography in Spain where I spent some time in hides for various species, including my target species, little bustard. The weather was not as kind as it could have been so the light was not always as good as I’d hoped, especially on the third day in the hide for the little bustard when the male performed his amazing jumping display for me. A four hour session in the little owl hide resulted in the bird appearing for around 10 seconds before having the life frightened out of it by a Montague’s harrier that suddenly appeared from below the ridge just a few inches from the sleepy owl. Still, I managed a shot of the Montague’s which I am pleased with. We also were down on our luck in the vulture hide when low cloud, heavy rain and strong wind put paid to our afternoon session with these magnificent birds. I came away with fewer species than I’d hoped for but nevertheless it was a good trip to a fabulous area for birds. I’ve put together a little slideshow to give a flavour of birds and the area.

by John

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