Year 2010

Well 2010 is now over. This is the first full year I have spent doing wildlife photography and I have loved every minute of it. 2010 has brought along a lot of first's for me including kingfisher, puffins, waxwing and owls.

My fav of this year had to be watching the kingfisher's for several weeks, I never thought I would get so close to one let alone take photo's of them.

I have been looking through my photo's from this year and I can see a improvement as the year has gone, so hopefully I am doing something right :)

I would like to say a special thank you to my friend Ken who has been a mentor to me and helped my photography no end, without his help I would have never had the opportunity to take some of these photo's. Happy new year to all.

Some small birds

Yes another cold day at around minus 2, so with the weather so good I thought it would be a good idea to sit around and take a few shots of some small birds :(

I was joined by two other mad friends to keep me company.

The long tail tits were regular visitors which is always a bonus.

The regular Nuthatch's were also around.

A willow tit, I always find these hard to get a good shot of.

More Of The Red Fox

Spent the weekend trying to get some different shots of the foxes again. The foxes become active late in the afternoon and with the weather not being so good it was time to try some different techniques.

The below shots have been taken using the car head lights to help put some light on the subject.

As the light totally went I was lucky enough to see the cubs come out and play with the parents. As it is breeding season at the moment this ment the whole family were togther; mum, dad and two cubs.

This is father and son together.

Snowy Red Fox

Woke up to this years first snow on the ground. I haven't taken photo's of the fox's for a while and with the snow I thought it would make a nice change of shots.

On the approach.

I see you.

Snow on your nose.

Close up head shot

Mixed Bag

Just to prove I haven't spent all my time taking photo's of kingfishers and waxwings I thought it would be about time to show a mixture of birds which I have captured over the last few months.


Red legged partridge in some nice light

Great spotted woodpecker

Tufted Duck




Willow Tit



Blue Tit




Coal tit

Waxwings

Ok so I took a break from the kingfishers and visited Leek to get my first waxwing pictures.

I have to see these birds just look amazing close up.

They were located on a industrial estate bit we found them quite easily as there were already other togs there.

The waxwings seemed to come down and feed on the berries and then return to digest. Once digested they would fly around chasing each other for a while and then feed again.

Hopefully I will find them closer to home soon as I would love to get further shots of these great looking birds.

Kingfishers

Well the last 3 or 4 weekends have been spent sitting in a cold hide (very cold at times) taking more pics of Kingfishers. This time the perches were a lot closer which helped.

I have to say they are great catchers as they caught something prob about 75% of the time.

This seemed to be their fav perch but the back ground of the water can be a pain at times.

The one thing I really had to pay attention to and learn more about was the exposure. The white on the kingfishers neck can easily be blown. Also the light on the background can effect the overall look of the picture.

Another perch located further away from the hide but can also make a nice shot.

During the last visit to the reserve I was treated to something a bit different. The kingfisher dived down and emerged with this dragon fly. It took a bit to swallow but it did go down in one.

I have to say a special thanks to my mate Ken how let me use the 400mm lens and also showed me the location. I am sure there will be very more pics to follow later this year.