Wildlife Photographic Diary by Alan Saunders

My Blog

2012-01-21T14:43:00.001Z

If anyone is still following me, I will be starting to use this blog in the very near future. I have been neglecting this blog and concentrating on other things, but I will be starting again very soon.

Otters on the Isle of Mull - March 2011

2011-06-30T23:20:00.001+01:00

I first went to Mull in 2007 hoping to come back with some great Otter photographs, but to no avail. I again went to Mull in 2009 and again, no Otter shots. This time would be different. I drove up and down Loch Na Keal for a week hoping to spot the elusive Otter. This I did with great care, lots of patience and attention to how these Otters behaved, I managed to get some great Otter photographs. Not only of the adult, the mother in this case, but of 2 otter cubs together.I had to move into position very carefully and quickly without the otters seeing me.This I did by observing when the Otters went under to catch fish, as they went under I moved into position, when they came back up, I hid and kept still as best as I could.The mother moved further out into the Loch and left the 2 cubs next to some rocks which I was hiding behind.It was time to go to work. I crept up to where these cubs were playing, aimed my camera only to find the shutter speed was going to be around the 1/30 to 1/150 of a second. With grey clouds, being 4.30pm in the afternoon,raining and the otters moving around very fast,getting a decent shot was not going to be easy. I set the ISO setting to 400 and put it on aperture priority. I took the first shots to test out the image quality and they were rubbish. I thought no, I am in a great position and the weather and light have dealt me a dreadful pack of cards. I can't sit here looking at rubbish shots, I have to get a move on and don't lose this great opportunity which I have been trying to acheive since 2007. Again, I crept into position with these 2 young cubs at first not knowing they were being photographed. I had to be at my best to keep the camera still. Inevitably, the otters saw me but luckily for me they didn't swim off after mum, they just kept around the area looking at me very inquisitivley. They occasionally kept still for me to get some good stuff. I took about 100 photographs, some of which you can see here. The mother started to swim back towards the shore, not knowing I was there. Then she saw me, and swam towards her cubs. At this point I left them alone so I wouldn't stress out the mother. The cubs looked as though they didn't mind me being there though. The next day I found another Otter on Loch Na Keal, so I tried to get some good shots of an adult on it's own catching an eel or something like that. These are in my gallery section on my website.

Gigrin Farm - 11-09-10

2010-09-18T15:58:00.000+01:00

Leighton Moss RSPB - 3rd July 2010

2010-08-25T22:34:00.001+01:00

A trip to Leighton Moss RSPB, Lancashire proved to be worth a visit, as these Dragon flies kept landing near me. I have looked on the net to see what species they are, but was unsure as to what they are.If anyone knows what they are, please let me know.

They were taken with a Canon 1Ds MKII with a 100-400mm lens at the 400mm end of the lens.

Scotland at Fort George 6th June 2010.

2010-07-12T22:04:00.000+01:00

Here are a series of Oystercatchers I took during my visit to Fort George, Scotland. I know it was a Fort and these are birds, but I couldn't help myself. If there are birds about you will find me there. They were taken looking over one of the walls, while I was looking for Dolphins and captured looking through quite long grass. This enabled me to get the grass thrown out by picking the middle auto focus point on the bird, no other focus points were used. This made the grass close up, next to and behind the bird out of focus creating this, what I think is a great effect.

I tried the same thing here with these two Gulls, but not quite as good.

Here are some shots of Dolphins that I managed to get looking over the wall

Quite how this Dolphin did this with it's tail, I do not know.

Chanonry Point, Scotland - Sunday 30th May

2010-06-27T23:21:00.000+01:00

We went to Chanonry Point for half an hour, just to see if the Dolphins were coming in with the tide. This is the first time I have ever photographed Dolphins from the shore. It is very difficult to actually capture the Dolphins jumping up out of the water. When you look with your eyes, as appose through your lens, they jump up quite often, the moment you look through your lens, you can see them jumping up somewhere else, this you can see in your peripheral vision.I'm sure they know you have your lens aiming at them. Anyway, those are all excuses for only getting these shots below.

Inner Marsh Farm RSPB - Saturday 22nd May

2010-06-27T22:55:00.000+01:00

Walking down to the hide, this Little Egret flew over head. This is the only shot worth putting on, as all the other birds were too far away.

Connahs Quay - Sunday 16th May

2010-06-27T22:43:00.000+01:00

Another trip to Connahs Quay Nature reserve provided me with yet another memory card full of Black Tailed Godwit. So as not to duplicate a previous blog entry, I have only uploaded a few images.

Conwy RSPB - Saturday 8th May

2010-06-26T21:23:00.000+01:00

I am now playing catch up with this blog, being so far behind with my diary. I hope to be totally up to date in the next few days or so.Anyway, here are a few shots of some Goslings I took on that day.

Sunday 2nd May - Connahs Quay Nature Reserve

2010-05-26T22:30:00.000+01:00

A trip to Connahs Quay Nature Reserve was the order of the day to photograph Black Tailed Godwit. The tide was in when I got there and all the Godwit were on the fresh water pond over the banking, away from the Dee Estuary. There is a little island in the middle where what looks like 500 Black Tailed Godwit sit, as I know now, waiting for the tide to go out, and out it went. With approx 50m of the mud flats now showing, the Godwit's took flight and my god what site that is.How they new the tide had gone out to the distance it had, is beyond me. They put on a great aerial display before landing on the flats to feast.The way they all turn at once and at such great speed is amazing to watch. I took a series of shots during the day of the black tail's and various other birds and Rabbits which I thought you might like to see.

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Black Tailed Godwit

Wheatear

Wheatear

Wheatear

Wheatear

Rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbit

Whimbrel - as identified by Matt Latham

Male Chaffinch

Canada Goose

Saturday 1st May - Pott Shrigley

2010-05-26T22:18:00.000+01:00

I went to photograph the Badgers during the day, but to no avail. Although one did come out and had a good scratch against a tree, but it was too far and covered by trees, so I couldn't get the shot. However, It was a lovely hot sunny day sat in my cam hide waiting with camera poised on my tripod, when a Speckled Wood butterfly landed just in front of me, spread its wings and sunbathed for quite some time. These butterflies love to just sit and spread their wings and sunbathe, that's what they like to do the most. This shot was taken at the 400mm end of my lens at f5.6.

Speckled Wood

Sunday 25th April

2010-05-19T19:05:00.000+01:00

I had a trip to Burton and Leasowe on the Wirral for a few hours, to try and find the Short Eared Owl again, no show. However, I did see a Whitethroat at Burton and Leasowe. Also, a Goldfinch and Swallow. Not the most productive of days for the couple of hours I was there.

Whitethroat at Burton

Whitethroat at Leasowe

Goldfinch at Leasowe

Swallow at Leasowe - Who you looking at?

Saturday 24th April - Bempton Cliffs

2010-05-10T22:39:00.000+01:00

Well, yet another 4 hour, 250 mile round trip to Bempton Cliffs and again, without falling asleep at the wheel. I did that on the edge of a 300 foot cliff instead.
The weather was great, but the lighting was awful. I couldn't get a decent shot of a gannet in flight as the whites were always burnt out, even after turning my exposure down by 2 or 3 stops, it was far too bright, some cloud would of been better for the whites. However, I did get some shots of the cliffs for people who have not been there yet and some birds on the way.

The white cliffs of Bempton

Skylark

Gannet on the nest and in flight

Fulmar on the nest and in flight

Puffin

Male Reed Bunting

Sparrow

Kittewake peel away from the cliff in mass

Friday 23rd April - Poynton Pool

2010-04-28T21:32:00.000+01:00

Straight from work, forget tea, more important things to do. Like photographing rabbits for instance. Only there were none. That's wildlife for you. I lay in the grass, with my camera poised at the area where they usually come out and feed on the grass,getting funny looks off people as they walked by with their dogs, which insisted by the way, of coming over and sticking their noses where the sun don't shine, just like dogs do.why is this? Anyway, lying there, waiting for Roger to show up, I noticed a Squirrel on a very large tree coming out of a hole about a quarter of the way up.I instantly aimed my camera at this location, but my cracking joints must of scared it as it went back in. Whilst it was back inside I moved to a better vantage point and waited, yet again. Again it stuck it's head out and then quickly ran and sat on a branch. A short while later a second Squirrel stuck it's head out, it quickly ran and sat on the branch next to the first one. Then knock me down with a feather, a third Squirrel stuck it's head out. This stayed in the doorway for quite a while as the other two ran off up the tree.

Below is a series of Squirrel shots as they appeared out of their nest, one by one.I thought you might like to see these record shots of the event.

There was one

Then there were two

Then there were still two

Then there were three

Still three

I couldn't leave my Mute Friends out.

Until next time.

Saturday 17th April 2010 - Rutland Water

2010-04-25T22:30:00.000+01:00

I finally decided to go to Rutland Water to try and photograph the nesting Osprey. The drive, yet another 4hour, 240 mile round trip was achieved without me falling asleep at the wheel.On my arrival at 8.00am, the weather was clear blue sky and warming up nicely.I looked on the visitor centre chart of recent sightings and the map of Rutland Water to try and find where the best place to photograph the Osprey's was.I then ambled over to the right location and was told in the hide that the Osprey had not been seen for a day or two, and that I might not see them today either.Great, just what I wanted to hear, NOT.After a few hours in the hide with no show, I decided to go to other hides and see what was about. I spent most of the day there, but the Osprey never did show up, at least while I was there looking. On my walk around Rutland, between hides, I managed to get some shots.

Below is a series of shots taken on my visit

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Female Chaffinch

Female Chaffinch

Male Chaffinch

Male Chaffinch

Male Chaffinch

Male & Female Mute Swans having a moment

Greenfinch

Hare Running

Male & Female Tufted Duck

Saturday 10th March - Gigrin Farm in mid Wales

2010-04-14T16:24:00.000+01:00

These are just a few out of the 600 I took at Gigrin Farm last Saturday. Though it was a sunny day, there were too many shadows under the wings of the birds. You had to wait for the bird to be at the right angle to get a decent shot with no shadows.
The Leucistic White Kite showed up as well, I also removed the wing tags from the photographs of this bird.

A series of Red Kite Shots

Saturday 3rd April - Poynton Pool

2010-04-05T22:41:00.000+01:00

The weather was awful on Saturday, so I decided to go local and see if the weather would improve, it did slightly, ever so slightly.I arrived at Poynton Pool in Cheshire at approx 11.13am and 42 seconds, give or take a few seconds. It was very windy and the wind seemed to know which way my lens was facing and blew right down it making it very unsteady. There wasn't that much at the Pool to write home about. There were six juvenile Mute Swans, 10 Canada Geese, Moorhens, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Male and female Mallard, Cormorant, x2 Tufted Duck, Heron and the usual Black Headed Gulls. I seemed to concentrate on the Mute Swans for some reason, perhaps they were the only ones that didn't fly or swim off when I aimed my camera at them. The Mallard and Canada Geese stayed quite close as well actually.

Later that afternoon, about 1.30pm, I set off to Burton on the Wirral again, just to see if the Barn or Short eared owl would show up. I stayed there for 5 hours waiting near the field I saw them in last time, but they didn't show this time, may be next time.

Back home for a curry now.

A Pheasant in flight, scared off by a dog running loose in the field at Burton

Below are a series of images that I took at Poynton Pool, they are not the most technical of shots , but it shows you a record of what was there in the 2 hours that I was there.

Saturday 27th March - Connahs Quay Nature Reserve

2010-03-30T08:47:00.000+01:00

I have recently become a member of the Deeside Naturalist Society. This was a good move as the nature reserve is superb, right up close to the estuary.There are 5 hides, all of which are of superb quality with great views out over the estuary.There is also a visitors studies centre. A key is required to enter the site and you must sign in and out. The tide was coming in on my arrival and boy does it come in fast. I went in the west hide first to check it out and it is superb,I could just about fit my 100-400mm Canon lens through the hide window, so photographing things in flight was quite difficult, if it was right in front of you, you were okay.
I then went on the the other 3 hides towards the E-on plant. There were six Little Egrets in the distance, so I waited there for 2 hours to see if they wanted to venture over towards the hide I was sat in, and my luck was in , they did.

A series of Little Egrets - All taken with a Canon 100-400mm lens and a 2x Converter using manual focus, all at the 800mm end.

Sunday 21st March - Marina on the Wirral

2010-03-21T20:58:00.000Z

I went to Burton first to see the Short Eared Owl. I arrived at Burton at 10.00am and hung around there for a couple of hours.I didn't see any ring tails today though, neither did I see the Shorty. But the Kestrel put in an appearance. I then went on to Parkgate, parked up and had some lunch. I stayed there for about an hour. From there I then drove to the Marina and walked half way around and came back. As I got back to the front where the rocks are, there were some Knot sat on the rocks. see below.

Knot

Though the weather was very good today, for some reason, it was not one of my most productive of days. I got back to Burton for 4.30pm and stayed there until it clouded over and started to rain.No shorty either, so set off back home.

Until next time.

Cheers Al.

Saturday 20th March - Moore Nature Reserve

2010-03-21T19:38:00.000Z

I decided to go somewhere local, as the weather was horrible, Raining as predicted. Moore Nature Reserve is only a 30 minute drive from my house, so I thought, lets chance it, you never know, it might stop raining. And it bloody well did. I arrived there at 12.30pm just to see the elusive Bittern, but 3 hours later it never showed.
During that period of staring at the reed beds shown below and being convinced that the reeds themselves were morphing into Bittern's, I did photograph other things.

Reed Bed

The Hide with no roof

This hide has no roof, so anyone wanting to go to this hide , please note, if it starts to rain, you are going to get wet.

Looking out of the hide, something jet black caught my eye. I turned round to see it disappear over the ridge of the grass mound that the hide is built on. It came into view further down and to my astonishment, there it was, only a Mink. see images below. Due to the weather conditions,excuses again, they are not the best of shots, but you can clearly see, it's a Mink. It ran along the waters edge all the way along to the reed bed on the opposite side to where the Bittern is usually seen, and disappeared out of view. Brilliant.

A series of Mink Shots

The local friendly Robin showed up again,a Mute Swan and a Grey Heron put in an appearance.

Not a bad day after all, speak to you next time.

cheers Al.

Sunday 14th March - Flint - Dee Estuary

2010-03-15T22:19:00.000Z

Sunday was a day I decided to go on the other side of the Estuary, to Flint in this case.I wanted to see what could be seen and photographed from Flint Castle, as I have read about quite a few bird sighting reports from there. I walked along the Estuary to the end of the path, past the rugby pitch on the right, when there was this Little Egret in the field quite close. After 10 minutes or so, it decided to fly off over the marsh, most probably to get away from me and my camera.

Little Egret

I stayed there for a couple of hours, but there was nothing up real close to photograph again, as they were all way out in the distance. Great with the scope not the camera.

I managed to get a Red Shank flying some distance away.

Red Shank

I didn't manage to take many photographs in the couple of hours I was there, as I was really there to visit my better half's parents who live in Ffynnongroew.

I scanned the other side of the estuary with my camera and noticed Burton, so took a pic of it from Flint Castle.You can clearly see the field where the Short Eared Owl quarters, but not the Owl, my lens ain't big enough.I don't know what the white flock of birds are in the other image.

ta ra until next time.

Cheers Al.

Saturday 13th March - Burton - Dee Estuary

2010-03-15T21:25:00.000Z

I set off from Home approx 5.50am with the stars shining bright above my head. Half way to Burton the stars started to disappear. This was most probably the nasty grey cloud that was to be present for the remainder of the day, not impressed. I arrived at Burton at 6.35am and parked up on the side of the road. Camera poised, at the field with the two boxes in, for 45 minutes.Then, from the marsh, came the Short Eared Owl, gliding in without a wing beat across the road towards the field. It flew around the field looking for it's next meal for the next 10 minutes.

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl

The owl decided to land, as shown here, for the next 50 minutes, slowly moving to wards the long grass. It then took off out of site, not to be seen again until later that afternoon.

The above photo's are not the best due to the very poor light conditions. My camera was set to ISO 800 and the shutter speed for the above owls were approx 1/100 of a sec. not the best for birds in flight or noise on a digital camera.

A short while after the owl went away, A Stoat appeared out of the long grass, approx 30 feet way, and had a quick look round before it spotted me and ran back below the grass.

Stoat

After sitting there for another 2 hours with no show. I decided to walk towards Decca pools to see if the owls spotted there last week would be around. But I never saw them. A Mallard, 3 Greylag geese, Common Kestrel and 2 Curlew flew over head.

Mallard

Greylag

Common Kestrel

Curlew

I stayed at Burton all day waiting for the Short Eared Owl to show again and it wasn't until 5.00pm that it appeared again, as if out of the blue or grey in this case.Again, no light and again slow shutter speeds, but you have to deal with what the weather throws at you. Another day with the right conditions will happen some time in the future, I'm sure. Below are a few taken out of a series of some 50 shots. It's these or nothing. The sun did put it's hat on for about 15 minutes early in the morning, that's when I took the Mallard, Curlew and Greylag Geese.

Short Eared Owl

Besides all the above, I saw the Hen Harrier, Peregrine and all the other usual stuff, no rarities that I saw with the scope.

7th March - Back at Burton - Dee Estuary

2010-03-11T22:40:00.000Z

Well, I can't stay away from this place, I am hooked, and it's only a 50 minute drive away, which makes a change from the two and a half hour journey's I am used to doing at six in the morning.

I was hoping to capture the short eared owl again, but to no avail, no show where I was at Burton. Though I did find out later that 3 were seen near decca pools.Bring on next Saturday.

I managed to get some shots of a Long Tailed Tit and a Kestrel.

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Kestrel

Kestrel

A Buzzard flew over head shortly after.

Common Buzzard

Well, its back to work tomorrow, roll on next Saturday (13th March) where I hope to capture some Barn and Short eared Owls near Decca Pool.

Oh, I forgot about the Garganey.

Garganey sleeping

It's the one dead centre of shot with the distinctive white stripe on the head. This is Britains only migrating duck.

6th March - Moore Nature Reserve

2010-03-11T22:09:00.000Z

I have been to Moore nature reserve a few times now and have yet to see the elusive Bittern. Though every time I go, someone has either just seen it, or it was seen yesterday, but never when I am there. When I arrived, there was this photographer already there with his 500mm lens poised at the reed beds looking very cold I must say. He left after about 5 minutes of me arriving (must of been something I said)and said that I will need a lot of luck to see the bittern today, just as he was leaving.Thanks very much I said, see you again. Subsequently, I found out when I got home, after scanning the Internet, it was Steve Seal, The very guy who has 2 photographs either side of my Short Eared Owl on the homepage of the Dee Estuary website. www.deeestuary.co.uk. I never did see the Bittern, but did see a Mute Swan nearly fly into the hide I was in, see below.

Mute Swan

This little Robin appeared in front of the hide, on the grass feeding on some sun flower seeds I had just thrown out.

Robin

Robin

It then flew into the bushes on the right of the Bittern Hide.

4th March - Burton - Dee Estuary

2010-03-11T21:51:00.000Z

I had to return to Burton and Parkgate on the Dee Estuary, as I was very impressed with all the birds there. This being my second visit, I had now heard of all the different places to go and different birds to look out for. Thanks to people who I had met on my previous visit, they day of the high tide. I was told of a short eared owl that quarters the field at Burton, this is where I stayed from 3.00pm to 6.00pm, not without success. These are just a few of the Shorty I got that afternoon. This owl decided to show it's self at approx 5.30pm, which left me with 20 minutes before the sun disappeared over the welsh hills behind me.

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl

Now we are talking. I was chuffed to get these images, I took about 40 in all. 21 of which are on my website www.alansaunders-wildlifephotography.co.uk

This is one place I will be coming back to more often.

2nd March 2010 - High Tide at Parkgate

2010-03-11T20:23:00.000Z

I went for the first time to Parkgate on the Dee Estuary, where the annual high tide could best be observed. A 10.2m High tide was forecast for approx 12.29pm. Equipped with all my camera gear, scope and binoc's, I arrived at 9.30am to a reasonably empty car park. Then, as quick as the tide its self, every man and his dog appeared and in minutes the car park and surrounding areas were full. Lesson number one, get there early.

With my camera and tripod now set up and aimed at the estuary, I scanned the area in front of me with my binoc's and could see all the birds in the distance flying around like a load of mad fools.I couldn't wait for the tide to force the birds towards the shore and flush out any wildlife that was going to be in the tides way.

There were Kestrel flying behind me and in front of me and I managed to get these shot's of a Kestrel as it flew over the estuary.

Kestrel Parkgate

Kestrel Parkgate

Kestrel Parkgate

Kestrel Parkgate

Eventually, you could see the tide getting closer and closer and the birds getting nearer and nearer, getting excited now.

The incoming tide

The incoming tide

The incoming tide

This was something I didn't expect to see. These people sailed by from right to left and I was gob smacked to see them right where I was hoping to see some close up of birds. It was a strange sight at first, as they started to appear before the tide arrived and looked as though they were sailing on long grass and reeds.They soon disappeared into the distance.

Anyway, the tide finally arrived at the proposed time and settled up against the concrete wall. I watched it slowly getting higher and higher up the side of the concrete wall I was stood on, it then eventually stopped about 2' from the top. It was then that people started shouting, there's one and another. It was the small rodents that were being flushed out by the rising water.This rodent survived it's swim ashore and ran along the concrete wall edge to find some cover.

Small rodent - swim for your life

Small rodent - swim for your life

It was great weather all day with very Little wind to moan about. I spent most of the day at parkgate looking through my scope as the birds were just too far away to get any real close ups using my Canon 100-400mm lens.

Later that afternoon, a visit to Inner Marsh Farm was decided upon, my first visit there as well. Again, birds were too far away for any good close ups. However, on the way out I snapped this robin near the feeders.

Isle of Mull - June 2009

2010-03-08T22:49:00.000Z

This was filmed at Loch Spelve using a Viking scope and a hand held compact camera.The scope was at 45x and the compact camera at 10x. It is still quite steady considering I was all fingers and thumbs holding it all together.