Goldie M

[Goldie M]

Great News Bugboy and Wurzel, I'd not seen one before but know there at Penn flash, so I was excited to see it in my Garden, couldn't get the bird book out quick enough, thanks for verifying it Goldie

[David M]

Nice sighting, Goldie. I haven't seen a siskin for years!

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, I was wondering if they are early, I don't remember hearing about them at Penn Flash until about March. I must go to Hall-Lee-Brook ( weather permitting) I think the Nature Reserve being so near to us maybe encouraging them to come here, I hope so Goldie Roll on Spring

[Goldie M]

We had great weather over the Week-end, very cold but much better than all the awful rain we've had.
My daughter was visiting so she got us out in the fresh air We went to Penn Flash again and this time we saw the the Kingfisher, trouble is he saw us first so no photos still it was great to him/her.

On Sunday we visited Chester Zoo, the Safari boat is great, it's pulled by cord or chain under the water so you don't actually see it, it was so cold we didn't see many animals outside either but one Orangutang made us laugh out loud, it'd covered itself with an old sack which it carried about like a shawl

The Butterfly house was nothing like Wisley BH which was disappointing , I only saw a few different species, there was a lot of Chrysalis though and some were on the verge of emerging.

There was a great new Summer house with various, Spiders, Snakes, crocodile, and many different Birds so all told a great day out Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great shots Goldie, especially the Orang I watched one at Dudley Zoo years ago and all of a sudden it disappeared out to the other side of it's enclosure and started waving it's arms about and clapping its hands over its head. As the keeper came round the corner with a barrow full of fruit I realised he 'encouraging' the keeper to get a move on as he wanted his grub

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Thanks Wurzel, the Lions were walking about doing the same thing, waiting for their keeper and food

I took a couple of shots again of Heron whilst at Penn Flash, I've never seen so many, also a Bitern had been sighted twice so I must go back and and take another look ( weather permitting ).

I've included some photos of the Birds we saw at Chester Zoo Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great flight shot of the Heron Goldie I'm not too sure about your Kookaburra - looks more like type of Hornbill Can you imagine what would happen if one of those Crown Pigeons got out and met some of the local pigeons - it would be the butt of a lot of mickey taking, the Woodpigeons would be doing the bird equivalent of rolling around creasing up!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, I should have taken a photo of the sign I asked my daughter what it was because I'd forgotten, so I'll blame her if I'm wrong I'd never seen one like it before, I thought it had three Beaks at first
Glad you like the shot of the heron, I've been lucky lately, they just seem to take off when I'm there and ready to shoot
I want to go back to Penn Flash to see if I can find the Bittern,( hope fully I can shake my cold off first.)
The Pigeon had lovely colouring Wurzel, I didn't do it justice, I loved it's copycat Peacock feathers though, I think the other pigeons would be jealous Goldie

[jenks]

Hi Goldie,

Liked the photos. The bird, by the way, is a Great Hornbill ( Buceros bicornis), fairly common in northern India and the Himalayas. They are huge and have a strongly undulating flight, almost as if they are so heavy they need to pause between wing beats !

Jenks.

[Hoggers]

Hi Goldie, those Flamingos look gorgeous! Beautiful colour- I wish they lived in our countryside !

Best wishes

Hoggers

[Goldie M]

Hi! Jenks and Hogger's, glad you liked the birds

I realise the bird is an Hornbill now Jenks, my fault for not taking a shot of the name I saw so many birds and animals i got things mixed up and had to ask, they were as wise has I was There's so much to see there Spider's, Snakes , even a Crocodile

Hogger's, the Flamingoes took my breathe away, their lovely colour was outstanding more so because there was so many of them clustered together, it would be great if we had them here like you said.

It looks more like Spring outside at present the Daffodils are coming through and the grass needs mowing, even though it's still February the grass doesn't seem to have stopped growing all through the Winter and is quite high, maybe in the next week or two we'll see the first BF's (hope fully) Goldie

[Goldie M]

Today was a beautiful day, the Sun was shining and for once no breeze to blow you off your feet We decided to go to Penn Flash again to look for the Bittern, no luck with that but has we walked to the different Hides every person we passed seemed to be in a good mood, all wishing us a good morning which made a big change from," hoods up, quick to the next hide out of the cold"

In the very first Hide some one pointed out a Buzzard in the far distance, the lady next to me had a huge lens on her camera and the photograph she took was fantastic, I took a number of shots with my camera but the photo is nothing to shout home about, needless to say I must look for a long distance lens Money, money, !
It always raises it's ugly head!

After that at the very last Hide this Woodpecker made our day has it flew down on to the hanging Peanuts, then two Swans arrived out of the Reeds and enjoyed themselves at the Bird Tables They were lovely and white when they arrived but after wading through the mud they didn't look quite so bright in the end, I must say I've never seen Swans at Bird tables before Anyway, the morning turned out to be very enjoyable.Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great bird shots Goldie, especially the Woodpecker

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Thanks Wurzel, I wish I'd been nearer though to the Buzzard, I'd never seen one before and would love to have had a closer view of it

I went to hang some clothes out this afternoon in the hope the'd dry and I couldn't help but take a photo of some Crocus in the Rockery, it's still very cold but not freezing cold, just the wind when it hits you, the Sun though is lovely and warm, feels like Spring is just around the corner now.
Yesterday we went to Southport, got some Fish and Chips had a walk round the shops with my Cousin and on the way back came Blackburn Old Road way, I took a photo of the West Pennine Moor,(Cousin lives in Rossendale) still rather bleak and some snow still around but I've heard a great walk round the Reservoir( Which is hidden by Fir Tree's ) because last year some one counted between 20/30 Green Hair Streak along there, sounds like a Must for this year Goldie

[MikeOxon]

I've been enjoying your bird photos, Goldie. One of the (many) highlights of my Borneo trip last year was seeing Hornbills in the wild - they were quite common in some places but always extraordinary! You can see photos of various species on my website in the Sabah birds collection. I think yours is the Rhinoceros Hornbill.

Regarding long lenses, console yourself with the fact that, not only are they very expensive but also very heavy! You have to be dedicated to want to lug one of these things around. My Nikon 300mm f/4 was heavy enough to put me off carrying it, as I get older, and that is nothing compared with the monsters many of my birding friends use. One friend uses a shopping trolley to cart his around. Some people say that the best photos are always obtained by field craft and no more than a 300mm lens, which can be used without a tripod for capturing birds in flight.

I hope your cold is abating - mine is being very persistent.

Mike

[Goldie M]

Thanks Mike for the name of the Hornbill, I'll add it's title to my collection Mike I've got a 70/300mm Lens and I went out with it today to Mere Sands.

I've also been practising with my Camera on different aspects, for instance today at Mere Sands, the weather whilst dull at times and very cloudy did have it's very bright moments. I decided to try the different ISO on the camera to see what results I'd get, also the f factor I've not played about with much Keeping it mostly at f8 and ISO 200 in the Summer and using the 70-300 lens most of the time.
I found though when taking photos of Butterflies in my garden last year that my 18-55mm lens was great and the shots seemed much sharper but taking shots of Butterflies from a distance with 70-300mm lens was also good but a steady hand was needed. I didn't need to get to close up with this lens but could take shots that would probably have scared the Butterflies off if I'd been too near them.
My 18-55mm lens only seems to get f/5.6 , it will go higher but seemingly not lower.
The 70-300 will start from f/4 so I've been trying out the different variations also ISO and speed.

I hope you can understand me, I'm hope less at explaining

I like to use my camera with the 70-300mm at 200 ISO if it's bright and 400 if dull, I like a fast speed 1000 if not more for birds etc, but I don't seem to vary much with the f/ keeping it at mostly f/8 , anyway today I took this lens and thought I'd have a go . I've put some shots on with the different positions.
Any way, I can't see me carrying large lens about if they're so heavy, this one is heavy enough. I bet your having a good laugh at my explanations , I'm least I'm still learning Goldie

[MikeOxon]

Goldie, I would never dream of laughing at someone who is clearly keen to learn I think it is great that your are experimenting with different settings. Digital cameras are really good for learning, because you can try all sorts of things without it costing anything!!! - you just throw away the duds ... but do make sure you learn why they are duds.

For very many years, I didn't even try to photograph birds, because they are so difficult. A digital camera, auto-focus, and image stabilisation made all the difference. Don't be afraid to use a higher ISO if you need a faster shutter speed - I find that up to ISO 1000 is fine for most DSLR's. When using a 300 mm lens, I like to steady it with a monopod. It's much more flexible than a tripod but still takes out a lot of wobble, and you can use it even while you are following a bird in flight.

With butterflies, nothing beats a good close-up shot but, especially in Spring, when they are always very flighty, I find it is better to use a longer lens - better to get a shot from further away than scare them off

Mike

[Goldie M]

Hi! Mike, I've not tried Manual photography yet, I did a couple of times but felt it bit over my head at the time, so decided to get used to the settings first.
On my camera it gives an Aperture priority as ( AV) and for Speed ( TV ) then ( P ) for Program so when I set the Speed and Aperture , I use the ( P ) to combine both and take my photos with this (P) program.

My Camera only gives me ISO !00/200 for daylight, ISO 400 for shade and the rest 800/1600/ etc are for mostly dark scenes. I can of course change daylight etc.
For Speed the camera starts at 60 up to 4000 and gives the faster speeds for fast moving objects and the slower for motion blur.

I've been using the faster speeds when needed only up to 1200 up to now, with the ISO between 100/200 for brightness and between 400/800 ISO for shade and darker scenes ( when I've remembered ) which I didn't on a couple of occasions .

I will try Manual this year some time to see if I can improve even more, I value your advice and wished I had more people around that was interested in photography like me, I feel like the blind leading the blind some times Goldie

[MikeOxon]

Goldie, The sometimes controversial Ken Rockwell calls P mode 'Professional' mode because it is what professional photographers use most of the time. So long as you keep an eye on the shutter speed and aperture that the camera is choosing, then it is fine for most things.

When you need to think for yourself is if you want to make the subject stand out from the background, by opening the aperture for less depth of field, or if you wnt to 'stop' a moving subject, by setting a faster shutter speed. That's where the A and S modes become useful. There's another time when you might want to over-rule the camera and that's when a subject is back-lit - like a bird against the sky. Very few cameras can deal with that situation automatically and the bird will come out too dark, unless you 'compensate' the exposure - usually by opening the aperture of the lens to give more exposure to the bird.

Actually, when I'm after birds (or butterflies) in flight and simply want the camera to choose the fastest possible speed in the light conditions, I select the A setting and make sure the lens is wide open (smallest aperture number). That way, the camera will set the fastest shutter speed for correct exposure with that lens. Try it for yourself and watch how the camera sets the speed in the viewfinder display.

Mike

[Goldie M]

Hi! Mike, I'll have to get my head round these different things you mention, it all sounds interesting and I'll try it ( when the weather is better)
I didn't know the P position was popular with pro's. I've been thinking back though to how I came to use it,
It was when I was at HLB one day and I got talking to a man who said he'd just moved here. He was interested in what I was doing and said there wasn't any special species of Butterfly round HLB and carried on to tell me he'd been all over the world taking photos of Butterflies. I thought at the time he was a bit of a know all.
He told me to use the P mode but he didn't say any thing else about it, I found out though that I could do different things with it like I've explained so I more or less stuck with it.
I do want the subject to stand out more from the back ground so I'll have to try opening the aperture more
I don't think I've got an S mode on my camera just M for Manual, TV, A, P.
I'm not sure I can back light with my camera, I've read posts where people have mentioned this but I've not really got the know how.
My other computer had all the soft wear on it for my camera but it broke down and my Husband bought me a new Lap Top which is great but it doesn't take disks so l'll have to check that out
I can't wait to try out these things you've mentioned Mike roll on Spring and the Butterflies and a big thank you for all your help. Goldie