Saturday 27 July 2013



Being just a Sparrow isn't really a benefit when it comes to raise awareness for a species. Tree    Sparrows were take for granted way to long. Still numerous in certain places we overlooked that the species was and is in trouble. In our modern landscape there simply was no room and suitable habitat left for the species, meanwhile things look a little brighter for their future. They are on a comeback in many areas. This encounter with a family of Tree Sparrows was one of memorable days out in the field. As it was late evening the ISO was up to 800 sometimes even 1600, fill flash was needed to balance the light on the birds with the often much brighter background.














Tuesday 2 July 2013

Puffins



A sunny day,  Farne-islands and Puffins....sounds like the perfect combination to make very bird-photographer happy.  Well if only the islands could be visited with the first light, the reality is that the light is more often than not brutally harsh and Puffins as all the other mostly black and white colored seabirds don't really photograph well in harsh light. But enough complained we had about 40 minutes of reasonable light before the boat brought as back to the mainland.  Luckily this also was the time when some Puffins thought it is about time to feed the young.  The 40 minutes would have been even better when the wind would have not blown the birds towards us,  wind blowing towards the sun is ideal as it slows the flying birds down and they usually land and start against the wind.  Nonetheless a great day out and some images which wills stay on the hard-drive.  All pictures taken with the old 400mm/5.6 L Canon lens- Camera body used either 5 DMK III or 7D.