Beast from the East comes to the North East

They named it ‘The Beast from the East’, the cold and snowy weather that hit the country last week.  Most people seemed content with staying in out of the cold but it was too good a photo opportunity to miss for me at the weekend, so I dug out my thermals, covered myself from head to foot in layers and went out to see what I could find.

One very good reason for going out is to find out what wildlife is around by checking the various foot prints and trails in the woodland.  The woods themselves were very quiet as if everything was trying to keep warm and under cover but it was immediately obvious from the tracks just how alive the woods were – at least nocturnally.

Everywhere there were Rod Deer tracks despite after 40 minutes and still early in the morning, I hadn’t actually seen one.  The above panoramic shows Roe Deer tracks in every direction.  Fox tracks were also prominent though not in the same numbers.  Probably one or two active Foxes.  I followed one set of recent tracks which in turn followed the trail, occasionally going off but soon returning but eventually leading off into the underbrush.  It was clear these were made in the last few hours as I new there had been a light dusting of snow early that morning which could be clearly seen within the imprints (see below).

I was surprised to see how many Rabbit tracks there were as I rarely see them here, but here they were very clearly around the woodlands. 

However, actually seeing anything other than for some birds which seemed to be far more ‘tame and approachable’ than usual, remained elusive.  Two brief sightings of a Roe Deer and that was it. 

I decided to sit down in a spot I have had previous success with seeing Roe and Foxes and started to set up my camera and lens on my Gimbal head and tripod when, snap, one of the legs broke at the joint.  I don’t know if the cold contributed to the demise of my trusty tripod but after what must be 10 years of great service, it is no more.  I would have been better to have happened at the end of my day than at the beginning as now I didn’t have any real support other than resorting to using my bag or knees whilst sitting low down.

After realising the autofocus wasn’t functioning on my Sigma 500mm lens, I checked the settings and everything seemed fine.  Batteries at full charge, etc.  I tried changing to a different lens – that worked so it was the big lens that was now not working.   So know with no support and only manual focusing available and still only around 9.00am, I was tempted just to give up, feeling just a little fed up, but I continued though I knew there would be little point in keeping the 500mm lens attached whilst walking because I know if an opportunity came about, I wouldn’t be able to hand hold it so changed to a 18-135mm lens.

I wasn’t really expecting to see anything at this point anyway and just thought I might be able to get some ‘winter woodland shots’, but despite the obvious beauty of my surroundings, I just couldn’t get any kind of composition.  As I continued on my way I glanced to my left and saw a Roe Deer close by just standing looking at me.  I expected it to shoot off so turned my back on it whilst I set my lens to 135mm just in case.  To my surprise when I turned around again, it was still there though had started to walk away.  I put my camera to my eye and took a couple of images and noticed there was another couple of Roe resting which had now popped their heads up.

They didn’t seem to bothered by my presence but did start to get up to move away.  I didn’t want to push my luck and decided not to alarm them any further and move off myself.  It’s good to remember that in cold weather like this, wildlife are always on the brink of surviving and having to use up precious energy to run away will not do them any good.

I spent the rest of the day visiting a number of locations and managed a few more photographs, though nothing special.  You really appreciate auto focus when you don’t have it.  Birds can be very twitchy and don’t stay long in one spot and Grey Squirrels are constantly on the move, so there was a lot of ‘hit and miss’ with what I did take.

At one point I decided to take a landscape picture just using my phone when that suddenly died on me!  It was really starting to look like it was not going be my day.  Luckily it turned out the cold had just drained the battery but I had a battery pack on it so charged it up again.  Still, 90% had drained in three hours of being out in the cold.

The good news (I think) is that it was the cold that seemed to have caused the auto focus to fail.  On my return it started to work again and with a little research found that the cold could cause this.  I’m not completely convinced that it isn’t a sign of some other problem waiting in the wings as I have taken this lens out in sub zero temperatures before without issue.  The difference then is that I had a 1D series body attached which research also suggested the power of the camera body could make a difference.

I guess only time will tell if it was just the cold or there is another problem lurking, waiting to happen again.  Meanwhile a new tripod is winging its way to me.

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The Iconic Robin

Famed for it’s appearance on Christmas cards and for its pluckiness, the European Robin has to be my favourite song bird.  Whenever I’m out taking photographs of birds I can almost guarantee it will show up.  How often have I been out for the day, took out something to eat and out of nowhere a Robin will flutter in, looking for any scraps.  As a child helping out in my parents garden, digging or weeding, one of these would be quickly be in and around your feet, poking around the overturned earth looking for worms or various insects that had been exposed.  In winter when other birds are far more cautious, a Robin can be fed right out of your hand.   They definitely have a character of their own and seem to interact and look at you in a way other birds don’t.  Probably my most photographed bird simply through its regular appearance and willing to ‘pose’ for me.  These are a few from recent weeks.

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A bit of hit and miss

3:45am and I’m awake.  I had set the alarm for 5:30 for an early start with my planned visit of the weekend.  I could either try and go back to sleep and when the alarm wakes me I would probably feel really tired and unmotivated to get up, or I could just get up now and feel the effects of the lack of sleep later.  I choose the latter.  At least the forecast’s for sunny spells, although the brief mild weather is gone getting colder again. Arriving on location by seven in the morning at my favourite woodland location, I planned to photograph Roe Deer.  I’ve been doing so here for about six years and have come to know the area well and, in particular, the habits of the small local population of the Deer that live here.  I have ‘my spot’ where I like to sit which is at an intersection of three routes used by the Roe coming in from their early feeding to their day time lay up.  There are two routes I can take to get there – the direct one which is usually uneventful or the longer one which is where the deer themselves follow or at least cross over in sections.  I decide on this route.  To make an analogy, it is like following a bus route.  The bus is only going every, say twenty minutes but stops every now and then.  Time it wrong and you might just always be behind (or ahead) of it and not see it.  Of course Roe deer are not a regular service (mind you nor are our local buses).  If you are quiet, move slowly, and you're lucky with the timing, you might be able to come right up behind one or more of the deer who have stopped to feed on route.  Some of my best images were gained using this method and my small 300mm f4 lens.  Carrying a bigger lens as I was today, can be too slow and clumsy as you need to be quick and agile.  It wasn’t long before I came across the first one but the recent strong winds had blown a lot of twigs and branches onto the woodland floor making stealth difficult, so it heard me before I saw it and, although wasn’t too alarmed by my presence, moved away.  Believing that was probably it for a while and because the part of the area I was moving into now I’d rarely seen any deer in the past, I sped up, taking less care.  Within a minute I stumbled across a male Roe who I hadn’t seen behind the tree ahead, metres away.  I don’t know who got the bigger fright!  Needless to say it ran off, making that barking sound that Roe do when alarmed. Magpies and then it seemed every other animal in a mile radius joined in the alarm chorus.  My ‘stealthiness’ was definitely blown. No more sightings and I reached my planned location, made myself confortable and waited.  Because this was an intersection of three routes, I sat so that I could clearly see two of these either side of me with the third behind where they would cross by me either to my left or right.  With my back against a tree and netting draped over me I had to choose which direction set my camera up to point and I chose right.  After about fifty minutes I thought I had heard some noise behind me and turned to my left.  A big mistake as two Roe Deer were metres away and my movement alerted them to my presence and like my previous encounter both legged it.  Had I just stayed put and let them walk pass, I would have been in a better position to have photographed them.  Annoyed with myself, I decided to give up and move on. Later I was able to photograph some smaller, but more obliging critters so the day wasn’t a total miss.

Classic Nuthatch pose – both landscape and portrait

Blue Tit

The idyllic and loveable Robin

Another Blue Tit pose

A not so glamorous Brown Rat

A Great Spotted Woodpecker makes an appearance

As does a Magpie

And another Rat

It’s a ‘Tree Rat’

Not welcomed by the Woodpecker

And so beats a hasty retreat

Making sure it’s gone

Back to normal

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Same again…but this time with sunshine

With the weather forecasted to be the same as last time I went out (wall to wall sunshine) I hoped this time it might actually be so, so decided to do a repeat of that day – macro, Sand Martins in flight and infrared.  First though, I stopped off at the Long Tailed Tit nest where I tried to photograph them and some tame Robins. Both the Robins and the Long Tailed Tits where beavering backwards and forth feeding their young and were being even more elusive to the camera than before.  I came prepared this time with some mealworms but, as the Robin seemed to like the pasty I was eating the last time I got another (no improvement in taste) and left some crumbs around again along with the mealworms.  Again, down came one of the Robins, but surprisingly, ignored the ‘tastier’ mealworms and went for the pasty crumbs!  Worse, it seemed to be taking it back to one of its fledglings.  Fortunately the other parent seemed to be more responsible and brought them insects. Lighting initially was tricky.  The perch was mostly in shadow but the background lit with sunshine.  As the sun moved up it was to the side and slightly behind making for a difficult and contrasted shot.  I tried various metering including spot and compensation.

Strike a Pose – Robin posing briefly before feeding fledgling

Poor Robin not looking its best with all the time spent bringing up its young

Junior waiting to be fed

Above – best of a bad bunch.  The Long Tailed Tit parents just wouldn’t land where I wanted them too or if they did, it was very briefly!

After more than three hours spent trying to photograph one of the Long Tailed Tit parents, I eventually gave up as they just wouldn’t cooperate by landing and staying still on the perch I had pre-focused on. With midday rapidly approaching and the sun miraculously still shining, I headed off to the Sand Martin nest sites along the banks of the river. Each year I visit this site and they frequently move slightly either up or down from the year before.  This year they stayed put unfortunately as, as with last year, I couldn’t get a clear shot of the entrances which would make for an easier photograph of these fast moving birds.  The original plan anyway was to try and photograph them in flight, try being the optimum word.  Standing on riverside bank meant I was looking down on the birds most of the time as that’s where most of the insects were and where their nests were.  Trying to focus on a small, fast moving bird with either the river or the far banks trees as the background was impossible, at least I found it so.  I have the Canon Mk III and which is within the range of serial numbers that was publically affected by focusing issues.  However, I don’t know if I’m expecting too much for it to be able to focus with such a cluttered background and a small, fast moving subject.  It just would not lock on despite trying different settings under these conditions.  Once flying with a blue sky as background, there was no problems in focusing or tracking.  Unfortunately they rarely stayed above the tree line and when they were, they did so at a distance so I was unable to get any close up shots. I spent two hours practicing photographing them and would have stayed longer but was starting to cook under the afternoon sun.  Although I was unsuccessful in achieving any good images, it was good practice and given more time, blue skies, sunshine and a higher factor of sun protection cream, I reckon it was very feasible to get a decent shot of one of them in flight. Once I got home and was able to look at the images, it was interesting to see these Sand Martins close up.  Seeing them normally, they just seem like streaks of blur flying around the sky catching insects for their young, but they were carrying various things in their beaks and not all could be identified.

Unsure what this bird was carrying – clearly not insects

Carrying a large feather, presumably for the nest

Little macro opportunities – this was highlighted against the dark, opposite bank of the river

A few opportunities came up to do some some infrared photography.  I didn’t bring my main tripod knowing I would be walking some distances and infrared not being the main reason for the outing.  I did bring a small tripod that I got free from the cover of a computer magazine that is barely six inches tall and folds flat, that I did bring along.  Putting my camera on that and that in turn on top of my back back and connected to a cable release  gave for a relatively sturdy platform especially, as there was barely any wind. Like macro, infrared photography is something I would like to give a real go at.  To get the best images, ideally you need to convert a camera but this costs about the same as a new lens or camera.  Next best option is the Hoya R72 filter, but for my main landscape lens which is 77mm this would cost close to £100!  Instead I got the cheaper Cokin square version but found this not only as less effective but it lets in a bit of light.  So I used an old protective skylight filter that I used to have on my lens, removed the glass and then reshaped the Cokin one so that it fitted its round frame and voilà, a round, light tight infrared filter. The conditions were ideal – bright sunlight and very little wind meant a ten second exposure and little tree movement blur.  I still need to work on the correct white balance to get the colours I want.

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