www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Nice catch on the tree sparrow, Shaun. I haven't seen one for years.

I heard the "cronk, cronk" call of a raven from a large redwood near me today. Didn't get any photos though. Great tits were very vocal. They really put their whole body into their amazingly loud call.

Shirley, I notice from the EXIF data in the shot that your shutter speed was 1/30 second, so you did well to hold it steady. But the aperture was F8. F4 would have been fine with that and would have enabled either a higher shutter speed and perhaps a bit sharper picture. Nevertheless, the use of the twig makes for a nice natural shot. It's well placed to give a smooth background too. Good one.

Cheers Eccles,
I could hear the Tree Sparrow but couldnt see him and by the time I could I managed 2 pics and he buggered off
Nice to hear the Ravens are doing well,10 years ago Wales was the only place I had seen them now you can see them just about anywhere . improved background with
the stick Shirley, can I suggest Just a single branch so you dont get the bird or background to obstructed.
Shaun

All last evening I struggled to change the shutter speed and I've just dicovered where the joy stick was having read the manual again, it'll be 12 months nearly since I've had the camera I thought that something else was the joy stick. As my nephew says all the time RTBM. You can work that one out for yourselves. I'll do the single branch to-day, thanks Shaun. Were still in the mist and my kittlen has just killed a Greenfinch, little sod. I mean the cat.
Shirley

Shirley, can you use aperture priority auto mode? It's usually on a dial and marked "Av". Using that, you can set a relatively wide aperture for birds and let the shutter speed take care of itself. Stick to iso100 unless the shutter speed is too low to capture moving targets. Review your pictures on the camera screen often to see the effect of what adjustments you make.

3 shots of a Mute swan from today,I got quite a few like this while it was washing and preening.
Shaun

There a web site called Bird Guides, there's lots of photos on this thread including those lovely swan photos that would be accepted. I think you might have to use your real 'names'. In the mean time I took this one to-day, I'm not sure what camera settings, I'm a bit mixed up at the moment. Doesn't take much Shirley

If it means you take delightful photos like this then I suggest you stay mixed up.

Only a few good ones to-day and I haven't got an Av on my camera, DSLR only I expect. I've had to move the bird feeders because underneath was getting very muddy so different background. Blackbird was yesterday.

HI,

Like the top Blue Tit pic Shirley

Here's one from today.

Nice one, Jerry.

Shirley, the Av setting is marked as 'A' on your camera dial. This is aperture priority automatic. It enables you to set an aperture and the camera will adjust the shutter speed according to how much light is available.
You also have 'S' which is shutter priority automatic. This is where you set a shutter speed, allowing the camera to adjust the aperture to suit.
Another setting is 'P' which leaves it up to the camera to decide on shutter speed and aperture. It is similar to full 'Auto' mode except 'P' enables you to set the iso separately.

Don't often get these near Cambridge, but I was very pleased to see a pair about 5 minutes drive from my home today. First time I have ever seen one, although I've wanted to since I was a kid. I was even more pleased that they eventually came down from the top of a tree and gave me the chance to get a few hurried photos.

Trev

Thanks Eccles for pointing those letters out to me, that is exactly where I was getting 'mixed up' because I was trying each of those A P and S and had not an idea what on earth I was doing, so now I think I like the sound of 'P' best. Something else I've learnt the difference between zoom and telephoto. The zoom is for general use but the lens for wildlife, birds in particular is the telephoto. The photos on bird guides usually come with the camera and lens and most of the good cameras, I mean the DSLR have the telephoto lenes, that the difference. The smaller telephoto lens 300mm cost about £2000 and then 500mm and then if you want to go really silly there's an 800mm, prices are with the birds, in the clouds. But, nearly all these photographers have for example Canon 40d with 400mm. The other day there were photo from an A700 Sony and they matched the Canon photos.
I think because I'm not used to spending big sums of money, I do not know what the answer.
To-day went for a walk on the local golf course and I saw a Buzzard on a pole as you do and although I took loads of photo, there were ok but not want I would have liked. The first photo is how it was taken, the second is cropped and to crop it again it went blured and then it went in the bin. I'm going back on the golf course tomorrow and look for a Stonechat, I'll be able to sneak up on those, not a Buttterfly anywhere. Nice warm day anyway.
Shirley

Hi Trev,
Nice Waxwing and a great 'first' to get. I watched a group of ten on the outskirts of Worthing today. A 6MP compact in poor light hardly qualifies as a suitable tool for the job, but they were so obliging that I at least got some reasonable record shots.
Neil

Beautiful photos of Waxwings, restored my faith in compacts.
Shirley

Great catch Neil!
Shirley, as you say, the best lenses are very, very expensive, and the shots you see on the front of RSPB and other birding magazines are usually taken with such lenses.
However, compacts can get good photos provided you learn to use their strong points and try to overcome the weak ones. The strongest point is that you can stick it in your pocket 'just in case' so even if you don't get an ideal shot it's better than if you only had a DSLR and left it at home.
Another strong point is that many decent compact have highly effective lens-shift antishake systems, and provided the subject isn't moving very much will allow surprisingly slow shutter speeds and still give sharp pictures.
Weaker points can be:
Slow autofocus - with birds in motion, there's not a lot you can do to avoid this apart from fire away multiple shots in the hope that one or two will be in focus. Try to snap birds as they pause from whatever they're doing. Passerines will do this to check for danger.
Limited telephoto range - get close, usually the closer the better. Within reason, this is true of all cameras and lenses. I have had the odd occasion when my camera with the 500mm mirror is too close and have had to move back a bit to get the bird in focus, but it doesn't happen very often and I have cropped most of the shots I've posted here.
Lens flare - some compact lenses, especially those in superzooms, are quite complex and can flare easily when shooting towards the sun. A hood can help, but birds usually look better when lit from the side or from behind you. Unfortunately, birds are least comfortable if they see you when looking into the sun.
Automatic iso setting - sometimes called digital anti-shake, this is not the same as true sensor or lens shift anti-shake. Instead, it is a horrible way to mess up detail as unless the light is perfect, the camera will often set the iso that will enable a drug crazed hippie on LSD to take a shake free shot. But the resultant noise will either be a mass of coloured blobs or it will be smeared away with all the detail and end up leaving your photo looking like a water colour painting. Selecting the 'P' setting will avoid this, allowing you to set a slightly higher iso when the light isn't so good but remember to keep an eye on your shutter speed, and when the light is good, remember to set the iso lower again.
Shirley, as you say, 'telephoto' isn't 'zoom'. A telephoto lens is one that magnifies a small part of the scene, whereas a wide angle shrinks the scene to 'get more in'. A zoom lens is just a variable focal length lens. The one in your FZ18 can zoom through a large range from wide angle to telephoto.
That Panasonic of yours is one of the better superzooms out there, and you've shown that you can shoot pleasing photos with it, so persevere. Learn how to use the more technical modes such as 'A' and 'S' and understand what they mean as you can be more creative with their use than the simpler auto and 'P' modes.

Oh yes, I forgot to post this shoveler duck that I snapped yesterday at Orchard Pools near Severn Beach.
Sony A700 with the 500mm AF mirror lens.

Hi all three pics from today,
Meadow Pipit, Buzzard and Heron.
Shaun

Nice ones Shaun. You did well to get that buzzard.

I snapped this chaffinch this afternoon at Chew Valley Lake.
A700 + Sigma 100-300 with new Sigma 1.4x TC, a much better match for this lens than the Kenko Pro300.

Robin in the greenhouse at RHS Wisley.
Cheers

Sezar

Very nice Robin Sezar, Eccles, nice Chaffinch, just interested here, does the bigger lens the 5oomm fit the 1.4 tc, not that it needs it but I just wondered , mind you, this lens that you have just used is fantastic.
Regards Shirley one from a window.