Fairham Fishes

I decided to go down my local patch for a look at some of the smaller fish living in the river which often get over looked by people in favour of the larger ones such as pike or chub. They are a integral part of the ecosystem and feed many species of wildlife such as kingfishers who gladly gulp down thee minnows!

This is a bullhead or millers thumb (so called as its resemblance to a millers thumb) they are bottom dwelling fish looking a bit like a goby. They spend all their lives under rocks and come out at night to feed and can be quite aggressive predators takings anything that fits into its mouth! Despite this they are caring parents and guard the eggs until they hatch.

One of my favourite fish the humble gudgeon, like miniature barbel they filter the riverbed looking for food and like all small fish are a good indicator of clean water. Some fisheries have started stocking gudgeon as they have the habit of feeding on parasites of larger fish like leeches and lice.

It may look like a cross between the previous two fish but the stone loach is a stunning addition to any river system, like the bullhead they often hide in the day under rocks and come out at night. Females can lay up to 10,000 eggs in spring and prefer fast cleaning flowing rivers while its rare cousin the spined loach likes muddier slow flowing rivers.

I did manage to film a slightly bigger fish also while down at the river.

BBC Wildlife Local Patch Reporter
Jack Perks

@JackPerksPhoto
Facebook: Jack Perks Photography
Website: www.jackperksphotography.com

Test & Itchen Underwater Photography

Being a Angler & Underwater cameraman both of these chalk streams have been high on my hitlist to film for a while so when the Environment Agency asked me to come down do try and film its fish species i couldn't refuse them!

My main goal was to film Atlantic Salmon but with the chalk streams having a huge range of fish species i had plenty to choose from including a few firsts for me.

My first port of call was to have a snorkel around and work out how spooky the fish are which turned out very! salmon have been with a doubt one of the hardest species to film get on film. this time of year they are just coming out of the sea so very silvery and very alert to danger so when a 6ft long water monkey like myself comes along they flee!

One species that i was glad to see plenty of was eels! not to everyones tastes but they have declined by 95% in the last 50 years and a vital fish to our rivers. i was happy to find them all over the rivers from pencil thinkness to 3ft long!

a slightly lesser known cousin of the salmon is the sea trout which is basicully a brown trout that goes to sea. these out numbered the salmon around 10 - 1 and tended to come into the river to feed rather then breed at this time of year.

After three days and much hard work i got my footage of the salmon which i was very pleased with. unlike the pacific salmon the atlantic don't all die with around 20% returning to the sea to spawn again on a later date.

Heres a video of the salmon & sea trout

Grayling & Pike in the Peak District

Grayling other wise known as the lady of the stream are a truly beautiful fish and a member of the trout family. One of the things I've started doing is trying to capture fish behaviour in this case males competing for the prime position and females.

This grayling bumped into the camera a few times! normally they can be quite a shy fish

This male had chased all others away and stayed in this area for a while

Grayling Fighting Video

Not to far away in Cromford Canal there are good numbers of pike

I was a bit unsure what they eat as the only other fish i saw was a brown trout which was actually bigger then the pike and attacked them!

The pike seemed to be gathering for breeding and the pike in the canal also seemed a bit smaller then there river cousins likely because of habitat size and food availability.

Hints -

- Take it slowly the fish are very spooky!
- Visibility is everything and you need it to get the clear shots
- Make sure you wash off after as there are plenty of nasty diseases in rivers like weils disease



www.jackperksphotography.com

Castle beach dive & Sand lizards

Castle beach

I did a shallow dive along castle beach on monday not really knowing what to expect, having done numerous rockpool studies there is was interesting to find what lied just that little bit further

a few days later my other great love in photography, reptiles came to my attention as i went looking at my sand lizard site to see how many i could find. it was incredible with over 12 different sitings showing a healthy population.

Male sand Lizard

Male Common Lizard

Hints -

- When doing a shallow dive buoyancy is key so you dont stir up the bottom (i'll be the first to admit mine isn't perfect!) the 'backscatter' can really hinder a otherwise great image

- Try to visualise what your going to find, in this case a fisheye lens wasn't the best choice as most of the subjects were quite small but i made do with what i had.

- Timing is key! the lizards are super charged with energy by midday however in the morning they are slow and more accommodating the photograph!

www.jackperksphotography.co.uk

Rosemullion, Cornwall

Rosemullion is on the Helford river in Cornwall and joining fellow Nature Exposed Photographer Ben Protheroe we looked around the shore and rockpools for subjects to photograph. Ben concentrated on macro above water while i looked at fisheye under the water a personal favorite of mine!

Cornish sucker fish (above) are quite abundant in the rockpools of the south west and are quite unusual among fish as they dont have a swim bladder.

Edible crab 

Taking a break from the rockpools i noticed quite alot of flowers near this coastal location and as its something i very rarely photograph thought id give it go with some surprising results for me!

if your good with plants id welcome the id as i havent a clue what the bottom one is

Taken not far away this video shows me rockpooling and snorkelling at Pendennis, Cornwall

Hints -

- Be willing to work with others with the rockpooling i knew quite alot of the species where as ben knew the area well so team work can benefit both parties!

- Watch out for the tide coming in it can come quick another reason for a partner!

- Crabs have claws and aren't afraid to use them wear gloves for them!

www.jackperksphotography.co.uk

Minnow Madness!

April is here and love is in the water for the fish population at my local brook! i put away the fisheye lens and cracked out the 60mm macro for a change to document something a little different Minnows!

The Common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) is a tiny fish that lives in clean, clear streams in large shoals and the males have vivid colours across there bodies which is what i wanted to get.

 A rush of testerone in the males causes the bumps on its head called tubercles

They may be ready to breed but not stupid they hide near stones to avoid predators

Stoney Cove Diving

Stoney cove is a large freshwater dive site located in Leicestershire that holds a few species of fish like pike, roach and perch as well as the endangered White clawed crayfish. i was looking to photographing mainly pike and crayfish although the water was 7 degrees so most of the smaller fish and crayfish had gone to deeper water waiting for hr shallows to warm up.  

This video is shot on a GoPro with a eye of mine housing of the dive and little bit of comedy to!

because of the sunshine and it being a sunday the lake was very busy this meant the water was quite crowded and bit murky so the photography side of things didn't go quite as well.

Hints-
- Try going mid week when their are less people in the water
- Sunny days are best to maximise the amount of natural light
- Approach the fish from below slowly for best results

Underwater Swans

Taking a break from the fish i decided to have a crack at something a bit bigger! Swans are great subjects to work with, allot of photographers start with them as their size and confidence makes them easy to work with. Going to my favorite location Colwick country park the swans where more then friendly!

Showing how close you can get them

Over/under shot

Hints -

- Take a bit of food to encourage them closer bird seed is best to use as it makes them put their heads below the water

- Although swans are mostly harmless be aware if they have cygnets are show major signs of agression 

For more swan images check my site out below!

Swan images

Bissoe Newts

Having been to Bissoe a few times over the last year and my house mate James (who's been studying the place for his third year project) had told me about all the pond which i was keen to try something very rarely attempted in the UK to photograph wild newts in the habitat and NOT in a tank.

 Not that i have a problem with shots in tanks as its a lot easier to to get otherwise unreachable species and that not everyone has a underwater camera including me, i have loan it from the university.

Back to the newts Bissoe has a population of Palmate Newts they are quite numerous in Cornwall and the only amphibian that is currently increasing its numbers in the UK.  They tend to favour slightly acidic waters so i thought Bissoe would be ideal.

This Young palmate wasn't old enough to breed so not in the ponds found him under a rock, took the shot then gently let him crawl back under.

This female was rooting around the bottom as i edged towards her to get the shot. This is work in progress and hope to do the same with the other two species of newt in the UK.



Heres James lewis site check it out for plenty of Bissoe related images
http://www.jameslewisphoto.co.uk/index.html

Hints -
- The bottom was very silty so as soon as i went in the edge with my wellies it stirred up the water making underwater photography impossible so i only have a 5 or 6 second window on each subject before the clouds of slit fill the image with back scatter.

Nottingham Shoot: Day Three

Slightly colder the the previous days also happens to be valentines day while people stay in or whatever people ever people do on valentines im knee deep in cold river! Fish being cold blooded become very inactive in cold weather so they weren't as keen to come into the shallows as normal, where i get most of my shots. A Roach did briefly come up but quickly went back into the deeper water where the temperature is more constant. A lone juvenile heron was watching me also for a while. While wading in the water i came across a swan mussel a rarer site today.

 Roach

  Swan mussel

Juvenile Grey Heron

Trebah Koi

As part of my third year project ' How fish have adapted to survival in rivers ' im spending alot of time photographing fish and other species around river systems. For practice i went to Trebah gardens today to get underwater shots of Koi carp a large sluggish fish that would hopefully prove to be easy to photograph.

Having been Trebah many times in the past i'd never visited the koi pond which had a number of fish in there including two grass carp.

 The good thing with this was the fish are quite tame so it was easy enough to get shots close up

Heres a short video of the fish