A few images of red grouse. A lovely bird and easy enough to photograph in Yorkshire at any time of the year.
.jpg "Red grouse male calling. Yorkshire")
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Dropped by Seckar Heath this morning to try for a willow warbler that I heard singing there the other day. Newly in from Africa, these tiny warblers are giving it their all to establish a breeding territory by singing their heads off to announce their presence, However, although the willow warbler was there, I didn’t have much success with him but I did manage a close encounter with a male blackcap who was also loudly proclaiming his territory. The downside was that he was low in cover due to the cool windy conditions; still I got a few shots of him that I’m pleased with.
.jpg "Male blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)")
.jpg "Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)")
.jpg "Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)")
Had a walk onto the coal measure heathland between Wakefield & Barnsley to see if I could catch up with a few spring migrants. Although there were singing chiffchaff and my first willow warbler of the year, I didn’t manage to get anything decent. Lots of chaffinch and linnets around too, as well as yellowhammer and woodpeckers. Will try again in a day or so but here’s a robin singing about the blue skies and sunshine we had this morning.
.jpg "Robin (Erithacus rubecula) singing")
Headed down to Derbyshire to try for water voles for the second time this year and, after not having much luck last time, it was nice to score with these adorable cretaures and capture them on film. The Nikon D4 at 1600ISO had no problems in getting me the images and I have to say that the HD video I shot with the D4 is outstanding – got some really nice footage. I was helped a lot with the video by my new acquisition, the Hoodman cinema kit pro which is a great aid in viewing and focusing the camera while shooting video. A few shots here for now but I’d like to try and get some video on here if I can get it small enough for upload/download speeds.
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The hedgerows are full of birdsong at the moment in this very mild spell we’re having. Migrants are arriving daily and the residents have all taken up song, like this dapper yellowhammer belting out his ‘little bit of bread and no cheese’ chorus. Shot from the car in harsh light so only a record shot, just testing the Nikon D4 really. Will return to do his portrait justice over the next few days.
.jpg "Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)")
Nikon D4, Nikkor 500mm f/4 and 1.4x. ISO800 +0.3EV
