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……..Must be Going to be Cold Again

The Birds are on a feeding frenzy today….a sure sign that they detect that the weather is going to get much colder

2.2-Robin-5

The iconic Robin is not noted for its tolerance of other birds and even has a reputation for strong aggression towards other Robins  yet seemed to be prepared to share both ‘air space, perches and food with others.

No surprise that if food is on offer the Grey Squirrel will put in an appearance but even his presence did deter the Birds from feeding…..no doubt more aware of the weather than us they are topping up their fat supplies before it turns cold again.

 Grey Squirrel or not…the Nuthatch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Gold Finch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit and Great Tit as well as a Green Finch are all prepared to share the goodies

2nd February

(C) David Oakes 2015

12 thoughts on “……..Must be Going to be Cold Again”

  1. The Nuthatch straight down is awesome – I must have a go a shots like these – I recently got hold of a 150 to 500 mm so have the fire power which I didn’t previously. I am assuming Shutter Priority and blast off a few shots David

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    1. Hi Scott, the lens I used for these shots is 150-500 Sigma DG. All were hand held so OS system works reasonably well. These shots were for fun over a 20 minutes spell. If I had been serious I would have had the tripod (apart from anything else this lens is just damn heavy) out but this was opportunistic. Thinking says use Shutter Priority which is without doubt the proven theory….But me being me I use P. This means that I have to set the ISO at a high enough speed to allow either a good shutter speed or small aperture (so a quick meter check thru the camera does that) Then I use the command wheel under my right thumb to move speed or aperture as I want….gives me more flexibility for capturing movement or varying the DofF . You can then do all that without taking your eye of the viewfinder, works for me. But then again I have never professed to be a Wildlife Photographer. I know many of my friends who are dedicated wildlife guys now seem to have adopted the method of selecting the speed and aperture for the shots in hand and setting ISO on auto. With the modern sensors I can see the sense in that.

      I should add that the 20minutes was to give me a break from the desk on a day that never woke up was grey and all colour seemed to have been drained from the surroundings, so no woodland/landscapes yesterday for me.

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      1. David your usual brilliant feedback – intriguingly – I procured that very same lens 150-500 Sigma DG in the January sales (£150 off) and manhandled it with my D800 body and 3 other lens through Norwegian customs and around the North Cape – It is extremely heavy but I was really pleased with the results. I have never tried sports or wildlife photography but will almost certainly have ago now. I also used a much higher ISO in Norway than I have ever done in the past and was very pleasantly surprised to see that you can push it out there without fear of noise until 800+ pretty amazing considering where we were with wet film not that long ago. I am going to publish a shot on the blog which was one of my favorites from the trip using the 150-500. As always thanks for the feedback David invaluable.

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