Bill's Birding

16 January, 2013

Twice the Birds They Used to Be

Spent a while in Richmond Park this morning to test out a Sigma 2x teleconverter that I splashed out on at the beginning of last month. Attached to the 120-300mm lens, the converter effectively doubles its focal length, giving me a 240-600mm telephoto beast to work with.

Like with most good things, there's a drawback. The converter will also double the maximum aperture of the lens- i.e. the limit to how 'wide' it can get, and thus how much light it can take it- basically meaning less light; and its due to these compromises in image quality that the use of teleconverters has always been a bit of a marmite topic.

Still, with the help of a little sunlight at the right angle, I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the combo on one of the resident Stonechats down by Pen Ponds. Definitely still 'presentable' images, give or take a few minor tweaks in brightness and contrast at home...

Whilst Stonechats are naturally approachable birds, it was great to get the extra reach on a species that wouldn't normally be as accommodating- a Green Woodpecker chilling in the afternoon sun.

The 120-300 lens has always worked well with my 1.4x teleconverter, and from looking at the shots from today, I'd say it performs much the same with the 2x. When it comes to photography, I don't like to dwell too much on the facts and figures of it all- in the end most of it does comes down to how the photographer uses the glass- and whilst the converter won't perform all the time, its still a great little piece of kit to have in the bag for that moment when you just need the extra reach... we've all had it.

15 January, 2013

Waxwings vs Mistle Thrush

Whilst enjoying the Bearded tits in Hyde Park, news came through of a small flock of 9 Waxwing feeding in a rowan tree just outside Guildford. Not really breaking news, especially considering this year's massive influx of birds into the UK, but if there was the chance of a photograph or two, I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass.

Arriving along a quiet lane in Peasmarsh this morning, there was no sign of any Waxwings, or anyone looking for Waxwings. It seemed as though it had just been a brief, one-stop visit, before the birds continued to better food sources elsewhere. Still, since the Rowan in question had quite a few berries left on it, I decided to give it a little while longer just in case they returned. With the thought of central heating and good cup of tea becoming ever more appealing, I was about to call it a day when, low and behold, enter Waxwing A...

and B...

Straight out of nowhere and down onto the Rowan bush... Jurassic Park!

In no time at all, the full group of 9 birds had descended; taking it in turns to feed on the slowly diminishing crop of berries before returning to digest them in a nearby tree.

They stayed for most of the afternoon, and everyone was having a good time, until...

Enter Mistle Thrush...

Mr. Thrush doesn't like other birds eating his berries. Mr. Thrush has protected his berries all winter, and won't stand to see them all gobbled up by a group of pink punks. In fact, Mr. Thrush is so angry at the Waxwings, that he decides to sit in the same tree as them- making lots of loud noises- and chase them away whenever they try and land on his beloved tree, until they finally give up and fly off.

What a grumpy old bastard.

P.S. Apologies if you came here, after reading the title, expecting images of Waxwings brawling with a Mistle Thrush. Probably a bit of a let down for you.

14 January, 2013

Central London's First Beardies

It's not everyday you get to hop off the Piccadilly line in central London and be within a minutes walk of witnessing a birding 'first', but that's exactly what I found myself doing today on a very snowy, windy morning in Hyde Park, where central London's first Bearded tits have been spending the past week.

A rather retiring species normally associated with vast expanses of reedbeds along the East coast, Bearded tits are one of the last birds you'd expect to discover in a park in the centre of London, and yet these two remarkable gems seem to be quite at home in a tiny patch of reeds bordering the The Serpentine lake, feeding on seed heads within feet of the path, and providing a great opportunity to get up close to this species in an unusual location...

Both birds display a BTO ring on their legs, so hopes are high that, by piecing together the code on each ring, we can shed a bit of light into the history of this pair.

Even casual passers-by stopped to take a look, once it had been established that they were indeed looking at a bird (who would have thought that the phrase"there's a lovely pair of tits over there" could be taken the wrong way?), and by the end of the afternoon- despite the snow and wind- a steady stream of admirers had gone back home/to work with more than satisfying views of these two little beauties.

12 January, 2013

Firecrest... 4 years in the making

Every birder has a bogey bird. That one species that, no matter how hard you try, just likes to bugger off whenever you get within a mile of it.

With me, its the Firecrest. Ever since eagle-eyed patch birder David Campbell (click here for his blog, and here for his patch blog) found a wintering population along a small wooded path on his local golf course down in Banstead back in 2008, they have been back to the same spot every year since- as have I to see them, and year upon year, I've failed miserably. David would shrug it off at the time as bad luck, but oh no, this was something deeper. This was something personal between myself, and a vaseline tin- sized bird that was trying its utmost to stay off my radar.

And so the winter of 2012/13 descended, and as expected, the ~~bastard~~ Firecrests returned to their favourite location on Banstead golf course. However, instead of rushing down at the first hint of news, I chilled with a cup of tea (or a beer, one of those two). If there was ever a time I was going to see this bird, it would be in the New Year (fresh start, clean slate blah blah... all that cheesy crap), so I waited, and waited... and a few hours later, headed down there.

It was freezing on arrival, but there was still a lot of bird action going on. A flock of Long-tailed tit were slowly making their way down the path, and I stopped momentary to enjoy their acrobatics as they moved overhead with a very bright looking, funny crested, shorter tailed Long-tailed tit following behind- wait a minute- that's no Long-tailed tit, that's a... a... Goldcrest. So close.

A further 20 minutes of staring at bushes followed, before a sudden burst of squeaking from a holly bush deep within the shrubs grabbed my attention. It sounded like a Goldcrest, only louder, and much more insistent. After another lengthy period of time, a strong white eye stripe and flash of vibrant yellow finally came into view to clinch my first Firecrest... gotcha! As is compulsory, I fired off a few dozen shots, before realising that the camera was set to 'manual' mode, and every image had come out horribly over-exposed. Shiiaattt! A flick of the dial later and a miracle happened- the bird stopped and perched on one of the most well lit branches along the whole path, and this time I was ready for it.

Alas, most of the 50 odd images that came out were too blurred/too dark, but I managed the one keeper above, and my index finger got a work out too, which was nice. Win win.

10 January, 2013

Chaffinch... and some other bird

So there I was right, down on Bookham Common behind the train station, first outing of the year, casually photographing a perched female Chaffinch in the morning fog, when all of a sudden some fat bird comes streaming in, beak and all, lands right on top of the Chaffinch and ruins a perfectly good photo.

Hawfinches have no self-respect. It's a good thing they're scarce and elusive, otherwise I fear this could become a more serious issue for photographers.

Seriously though, if you are thinking of heading down to Bookham Common to photograph Chaffinches, make sure you don't go looking in the large trees behind the train station first thing in the morning, because you might come across a Hawfinch.

09 January, 2013

2012... in pictures

So, 2012 in the bag, and instead of writing one of those long, boring review of the year, I'm going to take the easy way out and just post a few photos from the different months, including a few never-before-seen images that hid themselves away on the SD card for much of the year (exciting stuff, eh?).

January (summed up in one photo)

Crow- somewhere boring