A mixed bag for a mixed day

A day that promised lots of sunshine, took up inland along the Tyne this weekend.  Between Newburn and Wylam is an area I will visit between May and August because of the Sand Martins that nest along some of the banks.  There are also a number of ponds dotted around the area, of which one of them I stopped off at.  What caught my eye was the colour and pattern the reeds were creating at the back of parts of this particular pond – a nice backdrop for a picture of a bird I thought.  Only trouble was, it wasn’t exactly a hive of activity and there was only two sections that stood out and had a clear view of, so I decided to get my camera out at a low view point and wait. The only obvious birds around were a nesting pair of Swans, two pairs of Moorhens and a Mallard family.  At first, apart from the Swan, the others were wary of my presence and stayed at the far back in the reeds.  After about half an hour, they started to swim around, cautiously at first, but eventually ignoring me.  The only trouble was none were going past either of the two ‘ideal’ locations.  It was an hour before the Moorhens started to go past the furthest of these spots though moving quickly making it difficult to get a good picture, especially due to the very low angle (I was lying down flat) and it was hard to see through the view finder correctly, keep a straight horizon and focus accurately.

After a while, it became obvious as to why the Moorhens were moving quickly back and forth past this spot, it must have been the territorial boundary between the two pairs of birds and a fight broke out, with eventually all four birds involved.  Unfortunately for me, as had been concentrating on photographing a single bird at distance and had just attached my converter on the lens to give me a bit more reach but a slower focusing speed, a narrower depth of field and slower shutter speed.  The action was over in a flash, sweeping from right to left and with my camera set on a slow frame rate and the other disadvantages, I wasn’t able to get a decent image.

A few minutes later, everything was back to normal,  a Swan swam past as did a Mallard family and the Moorhens had withdrawn to their respective parts of the pond.  By this time I was back down to a bare 500mm lens, which was fortunately as, while positioning the lens on an ideal spot of reed for what I was expecting a Mallard to swim past, instead he took off and all the disadvantages I had previously had with the Moorhens were gone and managed to get a series of decent image of the bird as it went past.

Of course the main purpose of the trip, was to check on the the Sand Martins this year.  I’ve been watching them for a number of years and recently they had moved further up from their previous nest site, but, unfortunately, due to the fewer nesting opportunities there has, correspondently, been fewer Sand Martins.  The image below shows the bank where they used to nest.  It’s changed.  There has been no obvious erosion from the river or from the top, but the bank is not as steep has more of a slope and so grass has managed to get a better hold, making it easier for predators to access the nests within the bank.  Previous examples of my successes here at this same spot (and a predator attack) in the past when the birds were successfully nesting here in large numbers. There was then today very few Sand Martins compared to others seen at the same spot at the same time of year on this day.  It could still be early and it still seems quite cool, but I’m guessing the nesting area will have moved elsewhere for the most part.

Panoramic view point of the same spot

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Along the River

Nothing planned on this day, no getting up at the crack of dawn to catch any particular wildlife at the ‘golden hour’, it was just a case of going out and enjoying this rare spell of warm, dry and sunny weather and where better to spend a day than by a river and watch nature go by. At first glance the river seemed completely quiet with just the sounds of songbirds in the bushes and trees but staying out of sight.  One of the best things you can do to see nature is just stop, sit down somewhere quite and wait, which is what I did.  The surface of the water had swarms of flies above it and it seemed strange to me that nothing was taking advantage of this possible glutton of food, but after a few minutes there would be the sound of a splash and the sight of a ripple then later, I would just catch sight of a fish leaping out, then another and another. Fifteen minutes later a female Mallard with her chicks came along and was clearly an opportunity not to be missed as both she and her chicks went into a feeding frenzy.  Unfortunately, conditions weren’t favourable to get a decent image to portray this.  Despite the bright late morning sunshine a combination of bright reflections on the water and shadows of nearby trees created a massive difference in exposure and 1/800th was the best I could do at f5.6.  This meant sudden movements to grab the flies resulted in their being either out of focus or blurred.  Additionally I had a cheaper card in the camera and the buffer was struggling at the ten frames per second I needed to hopefully ‘catch the moment’. You can see the flies in all the images including where they are going for one.  The highlighted out of focus circles you see are also flies giving you an idea of their numbers.

Sharing a family meal

Just out of reach for this little one!

On the wider more open parts of the river, the same swarms of flies were feeding the Sand Martins and I gave it another attempt to photograph these nimble flyers as I had tried last week.  I had the same problem of only managing to get a focus lock on them whilst they had the sky as the background, once they went below the tree line, focus was gone.  Without wanting to get too close to the nests I managed to find a way down to the rivers edge giving me more of a lower view point and so more sky.  Unfortunately I also had a limited viewpoint due to trees to my right and left and after watching them for a while to see any flight patterns, I noticed they often came in from my right before heading for the nests.  I couldn’t focus on them while they were behind the tree coming in, but I could still track them in my view finder and when they came to a clear spot, hit the focus which then gave me barely a second and a half to lock on, and take as many images as possible before they reached the trees on the left.  I was just getting the hang of this when I realised the rivers tide was coming in and was now at my feet so had to abandon my position and make my way back up to the top of the bank. It’s certainly one of my photographic ambitions to get a good in flight image of one of these summer visitors – Sand Martin, Swallow, Swift or House Martins.  I feel it is possible under ideal conditions but I will need to find a better location so will probably not be happening this year.

A quick note about my camera My main camera and the one I used for this is the Canon 1d Mk III which some may know had, when it first came out, complaints and issues with the focusing.  My camera is within the list of early model numbers ‘effected’ by this issue though to be honest didn’t give it any thought as it seemed no worse certainly than the Mk IIn I was using before.  It also doesn’t have the ‘dot’ in the battery compartment to show it has been sent in to be fixed, so I have been wondering if my camera should be better at focusing than it is.  The problem is I have nothing to compare it with other than the Mk IIn.  I believe it can still be fixed free of charge so may do this.  If it is supposed to focus better than it does especially against backgrounds that are cluttered, then this is an amazing camera despite it age now.

On the way back I noticed Sand Martins in the distance mobbing what I thought was a Buzzard.  It was gliding along the air currents typical of a Buzzard but when I saw it flapping its wings I thought Sparrowhawk, but I’ve never seen a Sparrowhawk, typically a woodland bird, flying high circling like a Buzzard would.  Once I took a picture and enlarged it on the cameras LCD screen it was clearly a Sparrowhawk, female.

Above - Sparrowhawk doing a Buzzard impersonation.  Below – enlargement clearly identifying it as a female Sparrowhawk

Below a few more snap shots this time of the first Swallow I’ve seen this year (and for a few years)

Finally, an image of this magnificent beast in very idyllic settings

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A Week in Spring

With holidays taken to fill in the period between the extra long bank holidays, I’ve had an extra period of time off and with the weather also being settled, I’ve managed to get out quiet a bit and enjoy spring.  This is a selection of the photographs taken around the Tyneside area.

A misty start to the morning along the banks of the Tyne

Sandmartins checking out possible nest sites

Mallard chicks

A visit to the woods and the new undergrowth of ferns is everywhere.  Another month from now and these will be thick,  high barrier hiding much of the local wildlife such as Roe Deer.  The biting insects are also starting to make their appearance though not as prolific yet.

Bluebells

Peacock Butterfly

A Blackbird out in the early morning dew

Young Rabbits enjoying the sunshine

Warbler in full song

Male and female Roe Deer making the most of Spring food supply

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