Dungeness is a strange place but yet full of wildlife and also the the first reserve the RSPB opened. Its quite a large area with wetland, shingle and scrub habitat ideal for species like reptiles, waders and migrant birds.
i was mainly after one of these, the wasp spider a non native species that comes in on ships so often found in coastal areas. i'd heard they were on the reserve but never found one until i asked a local birder who told me to look near the ARC hide car park and sure enough found this large female! he also mentioned seeing a sand lizard though i didn't see any.
Hidden in the scrub was the this beauty a hawk moth catapillar.
the hazard of taking images on a bank holiday is lots of people are around so while creeping up on this marsh frog some kids ran over and spooked it!
This common blue butterfly was the highlight of my day with such vibrant colours though tricky to get close to.
The Cairngorms are the last true wilderness in the UK and home to a variety of wildlife with species like cappercallie, black grouse and pine martin not a impossibity (although did'nt help me much as i saw none of these!) i did however see many other species during my stay.
Crested tits are found all over europe but only found in scotland in the UK maibly due to there liking of rotting pine wood which is common in the highlands.
The red squirrel is another species that is often thought of thriving in the highlands but despite this they will live in warmer climates its just they can eat pine cones which the grey squirrel struggles to do.
By January most adult salmon have already spawned so this decaying salmon was no surprise to me, it was more of a surprise when i came back to find it had been moved and found that a otter had been watching me and moved 'his' meal.
Short video of me going after species
Some bloopers
Hints -
- During the cold tempertures animals tend to take risks more like coming close to you for food so a bag of seed or nuts is always handy to have
- Make no mistake the cairngorms is a dangerous place while staying there four mountaineers died climbing cairngorm! don't go alone to any location as the phone signal can be quite bad!
- May sound obvious but pack warm its bloody cold!
- Eat more, walking all day in the cold will burn lots of calories so you need to make up for it.
Having lived in Nottinghamshire most of my life I've often heard of Sherwood Forest but never taken the chance to visit the park until today. The actual forest covers historic landscapes over 181sq. miles from Worksop to Nottingham.
it was quite late in the day so not as many birds as i hoped to find but coal tits, blue tits and robins sited with nightjar and owls in the area.
one rather large bird was present a golden eagle!
it was however one of the attractions and not flying around the forest as it may of done jurying robin hoods time! fantastic bird huge.
Hints -
- Captive animals are as you might expect a lot easier to photograph then there wild counterparts and if photographed right can be made to lok natural.
- Forests can be very dark so remember to compensate with flash or aiming for a higher shutter speed.
- Get there early if you want a greater number and variety of birds by mid day most of them had fed and left.
So Today was my last day shooting and i tried for the Kingfisher once again and did get GoPro although it sat right on the far end of the branch and was tiny in the frame so not much use to me.
So i thought instead to have my last shoot at my favorite place to shoot in Nottingham, Colwick country park. Its not a nature reserve or owned by any trusts just a large wetland area with a few fishing lakes but it has a wealth of species.
a few migratory visitors like the golden eye (below) and mandarin (above) which lives there year round.
Many small fish inhabit the rivers and lakes in the area these being minnows i put in a glass tank which of course attract predators
Great crested grebe
its been good to be home and get a few shots but now back to Cornwall!
I got up early to try and see what wildlife would be around although the kingfisher was not to be seen though a couple of teal were hanging around which is rare for the area. I picked up my new camera a D7000 which combined with a 300mm 2.8 enabled me to really get my teeth stuck in with the local wildlife geting a few shots of garden birds hanging around the woodland
Dunnock
Great Tit
Blue Tit
I then turned my attention to the kingfisher, i placed a perch out with a Gopro video camera attached to it which i left running while i wondered of. i came back to find the kingfisher right behind the Gopro so not getting the footage which is disconcerting to say the least!
But when looking at the footage at home i found it had been infront of the camera for a while which i'll put into a video tomorrow after i've done some underwater photography and video footage of some of the fish life.
Hints -
- If you can make shots easier do it! there are hundreds of places for this kingfisher to land by placing a stick further out in a ideal fishing spot it greatly improves the chances of it landing there and you getting the shot!
- Be opportunistic if you cant find what your after dont waste the shoot go for whats around
- Camo Gopro
What you will need:
Camo fabric
Sellotape
stick
scissors
1. Cut a piece of the fabric that will fit around the whole Gopro, then cut out a hole just big enough for the lens to fit though.
2. Rap it around the Gopro and Sellotape into place.
3. Then put stick into ground make sure its secure!
4. Attach Gopro to stick via mount or Sellotape (i'd recommend a mount)
5. Press film and leave it until that blue flash comes by!
