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.

 

My final images and why i have selected them,1st the curlew ,

To capture this Curlew landing in the derbyshire moors in the conditions i was in was remarkable to keep the bird sharp and the slight proof of movement in gusty windy weather with awful light was a good challenge and with this image i would be stetched to get a better image even in good conditions,

My final 10 

2nd the coaltit

I have chosen this image for pure clarity and no distractions in the shot ,if i were to be critical maybe the bird would of been facing the other way.

3rd the male bullfinch

The reason for this shot was the amount of hours it took to actually get this bullfinch in the area i wanted it to be in ,and as you can see there are no distractions with a sharp image and a blurred background ,this was a very nervous and shy model to capture

4th the Bluetit

Probably one of my favorite little birds which are common in most gardens but this one just gets it for me with the dark background and the colours of the bluetit highlighted with the sunshine to me is perfect .A good clear photo which should appeal to any bird lovers.

5th The Gannet

Having driven for 2 hours and unsure what to excpect i was not dissapointed with the day that was in store for me,this was the one that i have chosen for the sheer speed at which they fly past and is just typical of the way they do their buisnees .This Gannet is sharp clear and plenty of colour with no distractions again.

6th The Nuthatch

What can i say about this ,after baiting him down onto a prop and then capturing it in good light with typical Nuthatch posture it is to me about perfect and it will take some beating even by a profesional photographer

7th Razor bill

This i have chosen for its pure simplicity,resting on the edge of a cliff and posing for me to take its picture with the depth of field perfectly set to blur out the background but keep the main image in perfect focus.

8th Red Grouse

Another favorite of mine .I have chosen this one for its stance in the picture which sort of reminds you of who is in control of the situation and believe you me, it was not me .

9th The Tree Sparrow

This one i have selected for it posture and again its clarity ,quite a rare bird now and to capture this in this pose is just what i was after.

10th Whitethroat

A summer visitor to our shores and i have chosen this as it sits well on the brach and trying to capture it in a clear shot was almost impossible so the stance and clarity of this image was as good as i could get.

Bullfinch

p4Male Bullfinch taken at F5.6at 1/250 with an ISO of 250 at 400m.Surprisingly low shuter considering the conditions.

A female Bullfinch again the same settings but i had to change shuttrt speed down to 1/200 sec to get it.

Perfect they have come down from the trees to get some seed that i have scatterd in front of my hide but they were so nervous i had to be quick but i am pleased with the result .The female was taken at 1/400 sec and the male at 1/1000 both at f5.6 at 400m with an ISO of 320.these two shots have to me cosidering the pair were on the ground a good colour and a nice composition as there  are no distractions in the pictures,just the birds that i had set bout to get.

The male here was getting slightly bolder and flew a bit closer but i still needed the full zoom of the lense to get him,this was a rare chance to get him without any branches in front of him.but with a clear sky behind him i managed to raise the shuttrt speed a little to 1/640 .

The skys darkened and this Female tones in nicely with the greyier sky behind her as she feeds on new shoots in the tree,again a change of shutter speed now down to 1/320 sec as the light changed.

This last shot looked stunning as it happened a perfect place to land with a dark background so the male here would stand out , i again slowed the shutter to 1/80 sec ,looking back i could of raised the ISO from 320 to around 800-1000 so i could of used a faster shutter but doing so could of led to a grainier picture which i did not want.

My mission today on the 18/3/11 was to photograph Bullfinches at Cannok Chase,the weather was perfect bright and sunny with little cloud (perfect)The plan was to use my Nikon D300s with a Nikon 80/400 telephoto zoom lense hand held as the Bullfinches are quite nervous and get spooked easily so setting up my tripod and then getting a fix on the birds might of been to long to fire some shots.With good light i could set a fast shutter speed and a low ISO as there was plenty of light.

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.

.

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.