Wednesday 19 March 2008

Forge Valley & Bempton Cliffs

Nuthatch
More natural, but the light was worse!
3rd time lucky?
Long-tailed Tit, nearly in focus....
...And with a pesky Blue Tit in the way!
Marsh Tit
And again...
Robin
Male Chaffinch
...and a female
Gannet with nesting material
And one without...
Male Kestrel
Fulmar

I had a day off today, so tried out the new camera at Forge Valley Feeding Station – probably the best feeding station in Yorkshire - with the bonus that you can use your car as a hide. The Nuthatch is virtually absent from East Yorkshire, so it’s good to go to a location where it is so abundant. Unfortunately, it tended to come when it was raining & the light was bad! I soon found that autofocus is hopeless when there are plenty of trees, branches or twigs behind the tables. I lost some really nice shots because the camera focused on some background detail at the last moment. I then decided to focus on one table, and just waited for something to land on it. This is how the Marsh Tit, Chaffinch & Robin were taken. However, when a Long-tailed Tit landed on a nearby table, I had to try for that too! In contrast, at Bempton on the way home I couldn’t have got any shots at all without autofocus. This was a great site to try for flight shots, but the northerly wind was so bitter, I couldn’t stay for more than an hour! Apparently, the auks have started to return, but I could only see Gannets, Fulmars, Herring Gulls, Jackdaws, Rock Doves, and a Kestrel. There were Tree Sparrows and Reed Buntings at the feeding station, and a Pied Wagtail on the roof of the visitor centre.

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