101 Posts

Missed the actual milestone of 100 posts since starting this blog in 2009, but didn’t think I could let it go completely by without some kind of mention.  Recently, I’ve not been sure whether to continue with the blog as my original main reason for doing it doesn’t really apply anymore and I don’t think it generates much of an interest so it might make more sense to just work on my website.  I did try and change the look of the blog recently and have ideas of further changes, but maybe I simply don’t have the blogging gene. Anyhow, I paid another visit to St Mary’s this weekend, but unlike last week tidal conditions were more favourable as it was coming in at just the right time.  The sun rarely made an appearance but it was milder and little wind making it more pleasant for a long sit but though pictures came out flatter and the ISO had to be upped from last weeks 400 - 800 to 1600+ this time.  Still, it was worth it.  As the tide came in the wading birds moved closer and closer to me, having had plenty of time to get used to my presence.  At one point they were too close for my lens to focus and were on all sides.  One Turnstone got to within touching distance!  Last week it was Oystercatchers that made the appearance.  This time it was the turn of Sanderlings and Turnstones with a solitary Curlew.

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A Morning at St Mary’s

St Mary’s Whitley Bay, is one of those places you might see lots of wildlife, mostly birds, or you might just see nothing.   With a return to freezing temperatures along with strong winds though forecast to be sunny, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I stopped off firstly at one of the vantage points overlooking the wetlands area – usually the quietest part of the whole area!  After nearly an hour of waiting, I was about to leave when a Kestrel flew low and landed on one of bird tables (why did they put these things up? – they are never stocked and ruin the look of the area).  Just as I started to focus on the bird, someone came up behind me, took out his compact camera and took a few pictures, as if to say that was nice, and left.  I waited an hour in the freezing cold for something to happen and he just walks by just at the right time! The Kestrel didn’t stay long as it was soon hounded by a pair of Magpies, so flew off at which point a Crow took over and continue to mob the Kestrel out of the area.  I’ve always felt sorry for Kestrels.  Here they are, minding their own business, probably just looking for a mouse or vole and instead gets a whole lot of grief off a bird that’s as big or bigger than it and that’s in no danger from it.

Sequence of a Kestrel being ‘mobbed’ by a Crow

With the only bit of ‘action’ gone, I decided to head to the car park which usually has one or two food trailers – in this case two, Mister Whippy and one advertising ‘hot food’.  Hmm…winter, windy and freezing cold, Mr Whippy or some kind of hot food.  The decision wasn’t difficult and with my warm grub I headed towards the beach which, to my surprise was empty of the usual dog walkers and teaming with a wide variety of waders.  Initially I just sat down and ate my food, as the tide was going out making it difficult to get close to these birds, but the opportunity was just too good to miss, so I got as close as I dared and sat down.  With my camera backpack on, it makes a great back rest when sitting down and I could rest my lens between my knees.  After the birds got used to my presence, I just snuck a bit closer every now and then though this was negated by the tide going out which of course, they were following, however, the Oystercatchers were big and obliging enough to get a decent picture of. Conditions were almost perfect from a photographic point of view.  The sun was low behind me and bright enough for me to use a fast shutter speed and reasonably low ISO though I’m always willing to sacrifice ISO for a fast shutter speed especially when using the 500mm lens which, on this day, had the converter permanently attached.  If only the tide was coming in, this would have been a great session and I would have got some much closer images.

After around forty minutes the evitable dog walkers came along and the birds were chased off.  Still, with strong, cold winds coming straight off the North Sea, I was starting to feel the cold and needed to get some circulation going so decided to head back. One last opportunity.  In the fields on the way back, were three Curlews prodding around in the earth for, presumably, worms.  They certainly seemed very intent as they ignored me and I was able to get quite close to them as they methodically worked their way along the field.

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Out for a Sunday Walk

Today was just one of those occasions where I was just going out for a walk along the coast and nothing planned.  I didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to catch a sunrise or the early wildlife, the tide was all wrong if I wanted to photograph any waders (it was going out), it was just one of those lovely winter days – cold, sunny and no wind and since I haven’t managed to get out for a while with my camera, I took this opportunity. I started the walk off by going along the dog highway…err, I mean Whitley Bay beach, not long after sunrise and headed off to St Mary’s which is one of my haunts.  As the tide was nearly out, there was a lot of rocks and seaweed exposed which in turn had plenty of waders feeding.  I managed to get a few snap shots but didn’t try to take the extra care I would normally, which meant getting down at bird level and making sure my camera was steady, but because I was in pools water and wet seaweed recently exposed to the tide and there were dogs continually scaring the birds away, I didn’t make any effort and the images taken are accordingly, pretty much rubbish.

View looking back at Whitley Bay

Viewpoint looking towards St Mary’s Lighthouse in the distance

After reaching St Mary’s I had a quick walk around the lighthouse and then to the small patch of wetlands they have there.  There’s always a good chance, even by this late time of the morning – about 10:30am – that you might spot one of the resident Foxes and sure enough, after about 30 minutes of trying the various and some very muddy and water logged vantage points, a Fox in its thick winters coat, made an appearance only stopping on hearing my shutter go off.  Rather inconsiderately stopping in behind a patch of long grass!  I was originally alerted to the presence of the Fox by some birds in the reeds where it was, making alarm calls.  This was then taken up by a couple of Magpies who after I couldn’t see the Fox anymore in the undergrowth, showed me where it was by their location and the noise they were making. It continue to make a few brief appearances to seemingly keep an eye on me before reappearing with another Fox which looked older, possibly one of the parents.  Both looked back at me before disappearing.  Between the appearances, a Kestrel held vigilance on top of a tree.  Normally you would expect the Magpies to ‘mob’ this bird but they seemed more interested in the Fox.

Further around the wetlands were plenty of wetland birds – Mallards, Coots, Sanderlings, Gulls, etc. Some of these were sent flying when a motorized powered parachute flew by.  It looked like lots of fun up there though noisy even from where I was. As I packed away my camera and lens I noticed to my horror, mud splashed over the front of the lens.  Not sure I managed that or when and it came off ok, but when I got back to look at my images I noticed that many of the images, particularly the Fox ones were blurred.  I thought maybe because of the mess on the lens but the parachute image looks ok.  I had manually focused that and the Fox images, the latter because of the teleconverter attached and due to the tall grass that was in throwing off the focus.  It was very disappointing that so many images that I took particular care to focus, were so far out of focus and yet the one posted here was ok.  The only thing I can think of that is different between them was the out of focus ones were much further away though I don’t know why this would make a difference.  I will have to do a bit of research and some test shots to see if I can figure it out.

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End of Another Year

With my being laid up with the Flu over the Christmas period, I’ve not managed to get out and about, but instead had a go at revamping the look of my blog.  It’s become traditional at this time of year that television channels create cheap programmes by re-hashing what’s happened over the year, so unashamedly, I bring you 2010 through my Camera. It’s actually been a disappointing year for me, especially from a photographic point, with many of the opportunities and sights available to me in previous years, not happening this year.  This may have had something to do with the weather as the year started off colder and snowier than normal effecting the survival of many wildlife.  With temperatures below freezing, Grey Squirrels were more approachable and very photo generic.

As usual, the beginning of the year was slow but I did get my first opportunity of seeing and photographing Barn Owls, unfortunately these were lost when my hard drive crashed before I had backed them up and no future sightings of this beautiful owl were seen. Around the same time I made my biggest photographic purchase – a Sigma 500mm lens.  A second hand copy came up at a bargain price and after initial doubts I took the plunge and haven’t looked back, it’s a great lens and does everything I could want of it going past my expectations.  Since then, lenses, even second hand, have gone up so I was lucky to get it when I did.  It’s opened up new opportunities for me allowing me to get that little bit closer to wildlife and yet not be too heavy that I can’t walk about with it.

A nice surprise in spring was to see Red Squirrels again on Tyneside.  It had been a few years since seeing them last as the Greys slowly move northwards replacing them.  Unfortunately, this was the only time I did see them this year with sights in Northumberland also becoming rarer.  It seems inventible that it will become extinct from mainland UK.

It felt like I spent the first half of the year waiting for summer or at least some decent warm, sunny weather.  With the end of May and beginning of June being promising and with ‘experts’ saying the last time we had as colder winter as we did was back in 1976 then if was followed by a hot summer, it seemed this might be a good year, but no sooner than the good weather came, it was gone again -  back to a ‘normal’ June.

Despite being a little cool and often overcast, I made the most of the days I could with the coast being especially productive despite the endless stream of dog walkers ignoring signs and the enjoyment of others.  Unlike other years previously, opportunities for photographing certain wildlife seemed scarce, particularly Foxes.  I had particularly hoped to get the iconic image of Fox cubs playing outside their den and had the previous year, found out a quiet location.  Unfortunately after spending many a mosquito ridden hour waiting, it was obvious that the den was no longer in use. However, one Fox encounter I did have was very memorable when one came up within close distant and, despite my being in plain sight, it didn’t see me and eventually went on it’s way.  It was one of those times where just watching was more important than trying to photograph wildlife as using my camera would have scared it away.

With the summers breading season well in swing came opportunity of photographing this years young including one of my favourite places along the river Tyne where Sand Martins nest.

While still waiting for summer to arrive, spring came!  With this came plenty of chances of colourful photographs and, for the first time this year I was finally able to photograph some Kingfishers.  The last and best time came a week before the big freeze when a Kingfisher unexpectedly came within metres of me, but unfortunately had my converter on and was almost too close making a good sharp, clean shot difficult, that and having a slow card in my camera which soon had the buffer filling up.

Winter came early this year, ending 2010 much as how it started with record low temperatures and amounts of snow.  I seem to be one of the few people around who actually has enjoyed the snow.  However, it’s easy to forget how bad this can be for the wildlife not used to these kind of conditions.  No doubt it will have a negative impact on the coming year, already owl sightings are down and no doubt Kingfisher numbers will suffer again.  Plans for the coming year?  I think I will spend more time with my landscape photography.  Wildlife wise I’m hoping to photograph Short Eared Owls if they make a come back as well as Little Owls and Barn Owls.  Foxes will be on top of my list as usual, especially cubs.

Hopefully, 2011 will bring new opportunities as well as a bit of good fortune.

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