Here i was trying to capture Gannets in flight

 shot with a Nikon D300s at Bempton Cliffs East Yorkshire.

conditions were excellent with bright sunshine anabeling me to use a fast shutter speed so freezing the image which gave me sharp images

All the photos were taken free hand with panning

At Bempton you are right on the cliff face so making sure you are far enough from the edge before you loose yourslef in your eyepiece or you could be over the edge,a good sense of health and safety is very important at this site and you must respect the rules and obey all the signs and warnings as you could fall a good 2-400ft to the bottom of the cliff which could be fatal,so make sure you read all the signs as they are clearly visable and you must obey them .

You can get really close to all the birds so a standard lense would be ok.

 

Comparisons with Richard Ford Wildlife Photographer

I took the lower image and to me there is no comparison ,i have beat him hands down with this one ,mine is clearer,sharper,brighter,relaxed,nicely composed with a clear blurred backdrop.I should of cropped this picture with the bird more to the right as to give a better composition,I also think that the texture of the feathers stand out against a clean backdrop.

The two Little Owls are both sharp but the top photo by Richard Ford although slightly darker than mine (as pictured below) has better composition and the tap is not interfering with the picture ,instead it adds to the picture were mine is sat on a electric cable which spoils my photo.I do like the tap in the photograph as it gives the viewer the scale and size of the owl ie (little owl) .The focal point of each image is the owls eyes,sharp,clear with good colour and the too shots have the eyes spot on and extremely similar.

Here the top photo taken by Richard Ford has a relaxed Robin with good composure and no distractions ,a good sharp image with good colour ,i took the one below which is slightly over exposed on the log on which the Robin was stood on ,but the Robin itself  has a good posture with good colour tones with no distractions and still nicely relaxed.The top Robin has less distractions and has good space to move into and works well with the rule of thirds.

The top Bullfinch by Richard Ford is rather dull with the bird squatting down and looking a little agitated and cautious,it also has a branch at the front of the picture which is a little distracting as it leads the eye away from the subject.The Bullfinch below which i took is a lot sharper ,more relaxed and a more natural look altogether, i did have better light on this occasion and i think i got this one spot on. (but i would say that would'nt i) It looks like we both used the same focal point (its eyes) and the lines on my shot lead you down the slope and contour of the land.Not only is the Bullfinch's feather texture good i also think the grass in the forground has also got good colour and texture,in my shot i have the rule of thirds,texture,lines colour and composure.

The two Chaffinches i have chosen here  were taken in different light conditions,the top one i took and the tones are a lot richer as the light was duller the bottom one was taken by Richard Ford and although he had better light the bird looks duller in comparison,they both look nice and relaxed with good posture but the tones are to me quite different considering the light ,if i had had the same light i think mine would of stood out more as the colours are more richer.

Here are two shots of a Nuthatch,The first one is done by myself and the second one was taken by Richard Ford,I actually prefer my shot as the colours look more natural .The two shots are very similar with the birds stance ,as with the blurred background.The tones in both shots work well and the composure of the two shots are similar with good lines to follow and both images lead you to where the Nuthatch is going next,What i could of done was to give more space at the left side as to give the Nuthatch more space to move into.

Red poll

As i was waiting for the Yellowhammers these little Sparrow looking things appeard so i took them with a usuall f5.6 at1/250sec at400m with an ISO of 320.when i got home i got out my trusted book on British Garden Birds by Collins Nature Guide and low and behold i had bagged my first ever Redpolls .

As i am getting to know more about Cannock Chase i am in awe of just how much wildlife there is there,it covers 26square miles of woods and open land where you will find anything from rere butterflys,snakes,lizards,birds on migration and birds escaping colder weather ,they also have a good head of Red Deer and  Fellow Deer,There are at least 2 visitors centres were you can ask a Ranger for any sitings of any species you are after.Cannock Chase is close to Cannok in staffordshire,you can walk,cycle or Drive when there at your own leasure and is always busy at the weekends.The forestry Commision maintain the Chase at a very high level and are always clearing areas and re planting others.The only safety issues i have on the Chase are to take care when walking through the bracken as it does have a lot of Adders and a bite is not uncommon in the warmer months but thney usually slither away before you get to close.Another issue would be to remember  your way back as you can soon get lost,but if you do go there you will see a lot of wildlife in its natural habitat and its half an hour out of Burton.

For this  last shot i wished i had changed the aperture so both birds would of been in focus ,by changing the depth of field and slowing the shutter speed down the light would of stayed the same but with a sharper image of the second bird.

Tree Spparrow

Here are a slection of shots from Attenborough Nature Reserve on the out skirts of Nottingham were you can find a large and varied amonnt of waterfowl and all other birds.Here i have tried to capture tree Sparrows in flight before they landed on a bird feeder.I used my Nikon D300s with a Nikon 80/400 telephoto lense hand held in a hide with a fast shutter speed of 1/1000 sec to 1/1250th of a sec with an aperture of f/8 and an ISO set at 400 and the focal length also set at 400.I could of reduced the ISO but i would not of been able to shoot at the speed i did as the hide was poorley lit and the backgroung was in the shade with plenty of dark vegitation.I selectd a cotinuios shutter speed ot 7 shots per second and i also set the focal point to the left hand side of the view finder.With my right eye looking through the viewfinder i tried to look for the sparrows approaching from the left hand side with my left eye at the same time as looking through the viewfinder with my right eye and pressing down on the shutter button whilst keeping the camera as still as possible.with VR set to on it reduced the camera shake whilst being handheld leaning against a window sill.

NUTHATCH

The setings i used were on manual at iso 400
                                                                                          aperture 1/250 sec
                                                                                          with a full 400m focal length.

These were taken on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire,on a previous visit i had noticed the Nuthatch so i returned armed with my camera (nikon d300s) with a 80/400 nikon telephoto lense and a bag of peanuts as bait.When i got to the site i searched for a good branch that i set up close to a pole with a feeding bowl on a metal rod rest which i had taped a twig onto so i could take photos of the nuthatch with out the feeder being in the frame.I hand held the camera and waited for the bird to arrive.I also found a branch that was weatherd and i placed that next to the fedder .I waited for 10-15minutes and was rewarded with these images.

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Red Grouse

 This first shot was taken in real bad light with mist and an icy wind blowing which maybe ideal for Grouse but certainly not good for photographing them .To compensate i choose an ISO 250 which i should of set higher which would of allowed me to use a faster shutter speed rather than the 1/160 sec i had chosen which is a bit to slow when hand held.The aperture was set at f5.6 at 400 focal lenth as i could not get any closer without the risk or frightening the grouse off.

 As you can see here the weather was a big improvment which allowed a faster shutter speeed of 1/800 secwith an aperture of f/8 and my focal length at 400m.with the light being so bright  i ccould take quicker photos,so i could hand hold the camera with out worrying about camera shake but still had the VR on my lense.

 This was taken in a clear bright frosty day with  an aperture of f6.3at1/500sec with an ISO of 400 at 400m

 For this shot i cropped the original photo to see the Grouse's eye markings a bit easier to see.To get this shot i crawled on my knees slowly approaching as not to scare it away as i wanted the bright blue sky and the yellowing grasse's to be blured with the Grouse nice and sharp in front like a 3d picyure. i used an F5.6 aperture with a 1/1250 shutter speed at 185m focal length and an ISO of 400. if i could do this shot again i would try to get the sun more directly behind me so it would not appear under exspoed on the right of the grouse.I have chosen these images as they have very little or no distractions so your eyes do not wonder around the image

 this shot appealed to me as it lokked as if it were nesting but it was only basking in the warm winter sun.

when i was on the hunt for Grouse i stumbled across this well hiden Short eared Owl so  i grabbed the camera once again and got a couple of shots of just before it silently flew away as i was checking the image i had just taken.

These photo's were taken on the outskirts of Buxton in the Peak National Park heading towards Leak on the A53 at a small narrow road called Dale Head.The land is smootherd in Heather and whispy grasses that lie on a peat base.The land is very boggy in the winter months and the weather is extremly changeable with Snow,hail,sun,fog,rain and stong winds which can happen all in the space of a few hours so a weather check before setting out is a must.Here are a few shots with variable weather conditions.